Surfing strength..?

[sarahjayne]

Well i finally managed to get back in the water last week had a 2hr one-to-one lesson and it's made me fall in love with the sport all over again! Managed to stand up a few times on an 8ft board after not going for aaages and hoping to get over about once a month and just keep practicing. Ive decided not to buy a board, firstly cos i dont drive n cant always bug someone to take me, and secondly cos i wanna practice for about a year or so first and see what my strengths are, which style of surfing i prefer etc so gonna buy a wetsuit and just keep hiring boards and test out different sizes and shapes as i progress anywayyyy after about an hour when everything was coming together again, my arms and legs were getting tired and i was struggling with my pop up. Ive been working out for the last few weeks, doing crunches, working on my core, squat lunges, lifting hand weights (im useless with push ups, can do about 4) and general cardio, but i dont think its really done much cos its taken me about 3 days to feel my muscles again lol. Does anyone know any workouts that target the main muscles involved in surfing so i can train as much as i can out of the water so im more prepared for when im in there and can get more out of it?

Sorry for the essay, i tend to ramble when im excited about something

[Rishie]

First, I'm new to surfing.

With any sport, one needs to know where one's baseline is and then build up from there.

Cardio: What do you do? For how long? Do you vary resistance/ inclines? How many times a week?
Core: What can you do? How many reps/ sets? How hard is it for you? The reason I ask is that your muscles gets used to exercises over time and it is then useful to introduce different ones.
It is useful to work your legs as well as your upper body too. Again, what do you do? How many sets/ reps? Easy? Hard?

Generally, one can design an extensive routine around balance boards, swiss/ bosu and exercise balls that will give you an allround workout. Is it worthwhile seeing the fitness instructor at your gym? You can discuss your baseline and targets and they can suggest a useful routine.

I'm sorry if I have gone on without providing specific answers but you need to be careful as doing the wrong stuff may mean injury and a temporary stop on surfing.

[billie_morini]

Here is what I do in mornings:
6 days a week: rowing machine, elliptical machine, treadmill (one per day)
Neck rolls (6 days per week following machine work)
light free weights for multiple arm exercises (6 days per week following neck rolls)
squat thrusts (6 days per week following weights work)

Here's what I do in evenings:
swim laps in salt water junior olympic pool every other day

Here's what i do on frequent long drives and a couple of times per day at my desk:
Hand-sizes squeezy ball, one hand at a time

Surfing is more fun and more do-able when fit and strong. Enjoying surfing encourages me to exercise.

[tony g]

Great advice from billie_morini! Especially this

Here's what I do in evenings:
swim laps in salt water junior olympic pool every other day

I think swimming is the most important exersise you can do for surfing, besides surfing itself. Also work on those pushups because you will need that strength for a good pop up. Better yet work on smooth pop ups and pretend your on your surboard dropping into a wave! I also have used balance boards and I think they help you with keeping your center of balance.

Good luck!

[SurferGirl83]

I am new to surfing but am wanting to get myself into a decent state of physical fitness since injury so I can really crack on in the water and concentrate on practicing and improving. I have spent a little time myself trying to figure out the best exercises for surfing fitness.

As already mentioned I also seem to have figured that swimming is probably the best cardiovascular exercise you can do. If you can't get to a swimming pool regularly then running is also good (although not surf specific). If you haven't already get yourself a swiss ball, there are tonnes of exercises you can do with it for improving core strength and legs/bum. Yoga I reckon would also be worth a go.

I bought myself a copy of The Surf Girl Hand Book and there is a really good section on fitness showing some surf specific exercises.

Also, if you don't already do a short warm up before you get down to surfing!

[travel]

yoga works pretty well for me. actually there are quite a few poses resembling what you do in popup, and it helps your balance great deal..