Surfing Fitness Tips

Exercises To Increase Surfing Fitness

The experts always say, there is no better fitness program for surfing than surfing itself! Whether you are a regular surfer, a weekend sportsman, planning to have a surfing holiday, or you just have a once-in-while tryst with surfing, boosting your surfing fitness ensures that you can surf longer and harder.

Surfing is a very demanding physical sport and your body needs to be prepared for it. Surfing fitness improves both the mental and physical focus that is required to surf well and improve skills and become successful. Surfing fitness can be enhanced by consistently training the body in the right manner and supplementing the exercise program with the right kind of nutrition and diet.

Surfing Fitness Exercises

These exercises can be incorporated into your regular workout program to make you functionally fit for surfing. Surfing fitness exercises ensure that:

•    You surf longer without getting tired or developing fatigue.
•    You become stronger and more flexible.
•    You end up with fewer injuries.
•    You find it easier to improve skills and move on to the next level of expertise.

It is also important that you do exercises to work the entire body and in the appropriate environment to realize the fruits of your efforts.

Surfing involves maneuvering, twisting and constant shift of weight in all directions on the torso.  Exercises should therefore be multidimensional and aimed at strengthening the core muscles, the upper and lower bodies, and improve flexibility as well. The joint motility can be improved with yoga and other stretch exercises.

Exercises that improve your stamina level are good enough to start with. Such exercises will help the endless paddling endurance that you require.  Running and jump squats to strengthen the leg muscles, swimming and push-ups for the upper body muscles, other exercises that tone your core muscles even in the standing position are all helpful. Running on hard sand near the waters impacts the joints less. It is a great cardiovascular workout too! Swimming uses just about the same muscles as surfing does. Swimming in the sea is strongly recommended.

You can get strong arms for paddling by training on weights. Using dumbbells improves upper body strength as well. It is recommended that you train on weights at least three times a week for optimum results.

Yogic exercises help you to develop joint flexibility, improve mental focus combined with clarity of thinking and enhanced breathing stamina, all of which greatly help surfing.

Improved Core Strength Aids Surfing Fitness

Core strength plays a very important role in providing balance for your body on the board. The core muscles are made up of the abdominal muscle wall, muscles of the lower back, and hip flexors, extensors and rotators. The abdominal wall guards the organs from injury, and helps to maintain posture. The lower back muscles improve both posture and balance that will keep you from falling and react better to sudden movements. They stabilize the vertebrae, and assist their rotational and extensional movements. Some important exercises for the core are squats, back extensions, exercises with the stability ball, one-leg squats, etc., being some of them.

Upper Body Exercises Help To Improve Paddling Strength

Paddling strength is indicative of surfing fitness. Surfers spend a lot more time paddling than riding waves. Paddle fatigue can be improved with upper body exercises. It is important to strengthen the shoulder muscles that include the trapezius, rhomboid and rotator cuff muscles. The shoulder is more stable when the scapulae are held together tightly against the rib cage and the rotator cuff muscles hold their contraction for longer times. Bench press, push-ups, pull-ups, posterior deltoid raises, rotation exercises for shoulder and the arm, bicep curls for the arms, tricep push-downs, etc., are recommended exercises for the upper body.

Lower Body Exercises Are A Must For Surfing Fitness

Lower body exercises help to increase strength of feet, thighs, and legs. These muscles help to maneuver twisting movements, improve ankle stability, etc. Your tibialis anterior muscle has to be strengthened. To increase strength of your lower body muscles, it is suggested that you do one-legged exercises, exercises with eyes closed, etc. In short, exercises that improve your balancing skills help you to learn the tricks of surfing quickly. Some exercises for the lower body include leg curls, hip extensions, reverse, lateral and front lunges, etc.

The Surfer’s Diet

Surfing fitness is also determined by the surfer’s diet. The diet should be one that provides energy, promote growth development and repair, and keep the body processes in check. Carbohydrates form the main source of energy, and complex carbohydrates form healthier options. Fats need to be of the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated varieties. Trans fats and saturated fats should be avoided altogether. Oils from fish and nuts are recommended. Lean protein is better compared to protein from animal sources. High-fiber cereal, eggs, soy protein, whole grain bread, yoghurt, fresh fruit and vegetables, olive oil, tofu, etc., are some foods that can be combined to form a healthy meal menu. You can also add a good quality multivitamin and multimineral supplement to your healthy meal.

Last but not the least, any exercise that makes you feel like you are surfing is sure to increase your surfing fitness and will take your surfing to the next level.