Surf Training: The 8 Best Dry Land Exercises
Boost Your Surfing Performance with These Essential Exercises
Author: the vagrant Surfer
Introduction:
Surfing is a sport that requires a lot of training and discipline. With these exercises, you’ll improve your endurance in the water so you can surf longer and better. See for yourself!
Surfing isn’t just fun, it’s also very demanding on the body. To fully enjoy it, you need not only practice and discipline but also a high level of strength and endurance. Here are the best exercises for surfing that you can incorporate into your training plan to significantly improve your fitness and endurance.
1. Pull-Ups
Making a good impression on the surfboard and not losing balance has much more to do with the upper body than you might think. Few things frustrate surfers more than finding the perfect wave and then missing it because they didn’t paddle fast enough. Upper body training can make the difference here — and one of the best surf exercises for that is the pull-up. It’s best to start with a pull-up bar. Grip the bar with your hands over your shoulders and hang. From this starting position, pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar.
Exercise: Ideally, do two sets of six repetitions each with a minute break in between. If you can’t do that yet, start with as many sets as possible and gradually work your way up over time.
2. Squats
Squats are also important for getting up quickly on the board and maintaining good posture. But squats not only improve your surfing technique but also your overall posture and endurance.
Exercise: Each workout should include three sets of 12 squats. Start with regular squats using only your body weight. Once you’re used to it, you can use additional weight to further strengthen your lower back, ankles, knees, and hips.
3. Running
Any training program aimed at improving endurance requires extensive cardiovascular training. This also applies to surfing. The easiest way to increase our physical endurance is to jog as often and as long as possible. This improves your lung capacity, keeps your weight at an optimal level, and strengthens your legs — all prerequisites for surfing for hours on end.
Exercise: Try to run regularly. For example, three times a week for half an hour. If your time and schedule don’t allow it, you can also opt for short sprints instead of long, moderate runs. Just 10 minutes of intense interval runs with short breaks in between can work wonders for your endurance.
4. Push-Ups
Push-ups are the Swiss Army knife of strength and conditioning exercises because they train multiple muscle groups at once. When paddling into a wave and catching it, your upper body and core must be strong. Regular and proper push-ups also help prevent shoulder injuries.
Exercise: Once you know how to do a proper push-up, start by doing as many push-ups as possible and gradually increase that number as your fitness improves. If you feel like pushing yourself further, you can lift your legs or train with weights on your back.
5. Flexibility
Flexibility is an important component of endurance because the more natural your body movements are, the less energy you’ll expend in executing them. As we age, we become less flexible, so it’s important to stay dynamic.
Exercise: Spending just 10 minutes on flexibility before each workout will keep you limber in the years to come. Make sure to gently stretch and twist your ankles, hips, spine, neck, and shoulders, but don’t overdo it as you’re not properly warmed up yet.
6. Dumbbells
Using dumbbells instead of machines with fixed resistance is an excellent training method for surfers because they mimic the dynamics of surfing. Plus, they’re incredibly versatile, as there’s at least one dumbbell exercise for almost every muscle group. You can increase your arm and upper body strength with deadlifts, single-arm swings, and even bench presses. By bending at a 90-degree angle and performing rowing movements with a dumbbell in each hand, you’ll also strengthen your core and back muscles.
Exercise: Start with five repetitions per arm and increase as your strength improves. You can also do push-ups and squats with dumbbells. The dumbbell is the tool of unlimited possibilities!
7. Plank
As mentioned earlier, a strong core is important for your endurance and surfing technique. Even though it doesn’t look like you’re doing much from the outside, planks are extremely challenging when held for more than a few seconds. To plank correctly, lie face down — similar to push-ups. Instead of pushing up and down, keep your body perfectly straight and support yourself on your forearms.
Exercise: Hold the position for as long as you can and repeat the exercise as many times as possible. You’ll see results soon enough!
8. Into the Water!
Swimming is a great exercise that trains the muscle groups you use in paddling on the board with similar movement patterns. Swimming also improves your cardiovascular abilities, as mentioned above in the running section, but with the added benefit of improving your breath control and lung capacity.
Exercise: Whether you swim in the pool or open water, you can tailor your program to include longer sessions or faster sprints to adapt to the experiences you’ll have while surfing.
Conclusion:
Every physical activity is more enjoyable when you improve your fitness, and surfing is no different. With a consistent training routine focusing on all these exercises, you’ll drastically improve your endurance while surfing and soon be riding the waves for hours on end.
Have fun!
