Walking is a great low impact exercise you can incorporate into your day that will boost your fitness without leaving you aching all over! In addition to these, you should aim to stay as active as you possibly can. If you’re not keen on the idea of yoga, why not give a sport like slacklining a try instead? It’s a lot of fun and it could really help your surf skills. It’s because it can help you stay flexible and avoid injury whilst also helping to improve your skill on the board. There’s a good reason why surfers love to practice yoga. As you become stronger, it’s a good idea to add resistance or weights to keep you challenged. Make sure you target your entire body, including your core, arms and legs as they all count. You don’t need to spend all day inside a dark sweaty gym either- just fire up YouTube and you’ll find a ton of useful workout videos that can help give you the strength workout you need.ĭo functional moves like squats, lunges, pushups, pullups and rows, using just your bodyweight when you get started. With just one or two strength training sessions per week (that incorporate plenty of upper body exercises for ‘surf paddling’), you can build the functional muscles you need for surfing fast. That’s why it’s a good idea to build your surf strength too. So, if you want to crush those advanced moves (and even those less advanced ones!), you’ll need to know your muscles won’t let you down. You’ll be using your arms and shoulder muscles a lot when you paddle out to those waves as wells your core to keep you stabilised and balanced, your butt to help you control your movement over the waves and numerous other muscles too. Running, swimming, cycling and skating are all great choices. Find an activity that gets your heart rate up and that you enjoy then make it part of your week. Still, you’ll really see the benefits if you take time between surf sessions to work directly on your endurance.
Most of this you’ll develop as you keep improving your surfing skills, challenge yourself with those new moves and spend time out there on the water. You’ll need to have a decent level of physical endurance if you want to learn to surf as you’re likely to be there moving continuously for at least an hour at a time. Video can’t be loaded because JavaScript is disabled: Surfing Workouts – Top Exercises to Boost Your Surfing & Athletic Capacity () Endurance The surfing workout below from the Surf Strength Coach will help you build your endurance, strength and balance to get you ready for those waves. With that said, you’ll find it much easier to get the most from your surf training and get your body to do what you want it to if you’re already in decent shape. Surfing itself gives you a great whole-body workout that will keep your heart rate up, build those muscles, continually challenge your balance and get you fit.
With that in mind, here’s everything you need to know about getting in shape for surfing including which are the best surf exercises for beginners, what you need to focus on and whether you need to be a strong swimmer. Try running or swimming to prepare for surfing, as I’ll explain below.
So, how fit do you need to be to learn to surf? A moderate level of fitness is enough but the fitter you are, the easier it will be for you to pop up on your board, so it’s worth getting fitter before you hit the waves. I remember how nervous I felt paddling out into the surf in the early days when I wasn’t in great shape, with things like paddling and popping up being particularly challening. The only problem is, when you’re just learning to surf this it can feel slightly intimidating especially if you aren’t as fit as you’d like. Surfers are often famous for being in top shape and condition, with shots all over Instagram and beyond of male and female surfers in peak physical condition. With over 20 years of surf experience under my belt, I can certainly say that surfing will leave you in the best shape of your life!