Girl Surf

Surf Fitness

Surf is a tough sport and even more so for girls, who typically start out with much less upper body strength than guys. I remember when I first started out; I’ve always been quite sporty from sports like skiing, snowboarding, swimming, hillwalking, running, horse-riding and karate but I can still remember how amazed I was at just how absolutely exhausted I was even after the first few sessions with the tamest white water!

So with a lot of practice I gradually built up enough strength to be able to paddle out, catch waves and take off on small days and eventually build that up to duck diving on a smaller board and bigger waves.

I wish I had known about specific strengthening exercises to boost my upper body strength. Press ups and sit-ups only gets you so far. I did some training with dumb bells but in the end all I did was add bulk and I don’t even think it helped me to catch waves any better!

I wish I’d known about this program because it would have speeded up the whole process. I could have been working out, at home, using some basic pieces of equipment, ready to paddle like a maniac and catch some real waves!

I was lucky enough to live 2 minutes from waves so I could practice a lot and build up my strength that way, but if had been relying on occasional trips to the beach or even just did it once or twice a year on holiday then this is exactly the sort of program you need to tune your body up and be able to make the most of your time in the water.

The system has five main steps:

Step 1 – Increase your paddle fitness through energy system development

Surfing uses a combination of both your aerobic energy system (with oxygen) and your anaerobic energy system (without oxygen). Yyou need to improve both of these energy systems simultaneously and doing hours of running alone is just not going to cut it.

Step 2 – Improve your core stability, strength and rotary power

Doing a load of crunches every morning will not give you core stability.

Step 3 – Increase your upper body endurance, strength and power

If you are not doing functional training to improve all of the above (endurance, strength and power), you are missing part of the equation.

Step 4 – Improve your mobility and flexibility

Most surfers are aware of the need for good flexibility, but what most don’t understand is the missing piece of the equation – mobility. Mobility can be increased through specific mobility drills which are generally incorporated into your dynamic warm-up.

Step 5 – Improve your balance and lower body strength & power

Balance is obviously important for surfers to help stop you from wiping out. Most surfers however, do not do any balance training. It is actually very easy to improve your balance using some simple training methods that use very little equipment.

In order to become a better surfer, faster- you need to have a well rounded, surf-specific, functional training program. You cannot rely on traditional body building workout routines and long boring cardio to improve your surfing.

What you need is a program that has been proven to work with hundreds of surfers from all over the globe. If you are interested in finding out more about our surfing fitness training program, please click here for more information.

There’s even a special beginner’s program as well as more advanced programs and all using minimal equipment (stability ball and light dumb bells).

This program helps surfers like you that will not only help reduce the risk of injury, increase your health, make you look toned and fabulous, but also actually help you become an awesome surfer!