Here is a 5 step blueprint which will show you how you can triple your wave count in 30 days or less, improve your surfing style, get more barrels and get in the best shape of your life!
More than Just Lines on a Map: Best Practices for U.S Bike Routes
5 Surf Specific Fitness Training Lessons
1. How To Catch More Waves
Using Surf Specific Fitness
Training!
Total Surfing Fitness™
2. 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). In order
to improve your cardiovascular fitness for surfing, you need to
improve both of these energy systems simultaneously.
Doing hours of running along the beach is just not going to cut it.
What you need to be doing is interval training using surf specific
interval periods, and certain types of exercises which will boost both
your paddle fitness and improve your overall surf conditioning.
3. Step 2 – Improve your core stability, strength
and rotary power.
If you think that cranking out 100 crunches every morning is going to
give you the core strength you need for optimum surfing, you couldn’t
be further from the truth. First of all you need to be working on your
core stability, which is using your core muscles to stabilise your torso
when there are other forces acting against you. The basics of this are
bridge or plank type exercises, but there are many more advanced
exercises you need to master before you have excellent core stability.
You will also need to develop your core strength and rotary power.
Rotary power can betrained using very specific functional exercises
and is an important factor in mastering powerful turns.
4. If you are not doing functional training to improve all of the above
(endurance, strength and power), you are missing part of the equation.
You need muscle endurance in your arms, back and shoulders so you
can keep up the paddling intensity throughout your entire surf session.
You need strength and power in your chest and arms so that you can
pop-up fast (even when you are getting tired). In addition you need to
have the strength and power in your shoulders and back for the short
bursts of paddle power you need to paddle into each wave.
Step 3 – Increase your upper body
endurance, strength and power.
5. 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.
Flexibility refers to the passive range of motion as achieved through
static stretching. This is important for overly active muscles, but it
does not mean the surrounding joints are stable and prepared for
dynamic movements. Often an increase in passive flexibility is an
injury waiting to happen. What surfers need more than passive
flexibility, is mobility. Mobility refers to the ability to move your joints
into flexible positions, but also have the joint stable whilst in those
positions. Mobility can be increased through specific mobility drills
which are generally incorporated into your dynamic warm-up.
6. 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. Surfing also requires a lot of lower body
strength and power. Strong and healthy legs will mean that you can
perform powerful manoeuvres and not have an increased risk of injury.
This doesn’t mean hitting the gym to do more leg curls and leg
extensions. What you need to be doing is lower body functional
training exercises – both hip and knee dominant, both single leg and
double leg, and both stable and unstable exercises.
7. Conclusion
What you need is a surf fitness 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 exercises, surfing workouts and surf
training programs, please CLICKHERE.
Thank you,
Jonny T