Fit to Surf

It really should be number 1 in our mindset for surf fitness, but often regular swimming is overlooked. Many times I will ask those who I coach, “why swim?” and the answers are just what you would expect: it’s like paddling, it’s all-over body movement, there is a low strain on the muscles, and it is a great cardio-vascular work-out. But often we miss the number 1 point that it’s really about confidence and safety. That leash is going to break one day, it’s not a safety device, it’s just for your convenience, and one day you are going to have to swim in. Just imagine, this leash has only been around since the early 70’s, and before then good swimming ability was an absolute must in surfing.

Let’s go back to the old days and put swimming high on our list of surf fitness regimes. If you don’t feel you swim very well, don’t be proud, get some lessons, swim underwater as well, this really does build confidence as well for those long hold-downs and difficult duck dives. Swim, swim, swim.

You could go running, you could go cycling… all really good, but what can you in your own home? There is so much that we can do that is cheap, free and will really benefit surf fitness. Those boring exercises we hated doing in school really work. Regular push-ups, press-ups, sit-ups and of course we have YouTube to tell us exactly how we should be doing them. What a wonderful invention the Swiss Ball is, it’s cheap and with a thousand different types of exercises that will enhance my fitness and of course increase my core stability.

But often completely overlooked, and probably the best of all is to practise your jump-up. One central marker line and jump, jump, jump. Have some fun and do it with you surf buddy, and you will be amazed at the results next time you hit the water. You don’t need to leave the house to achieve a solid level of surf fitness and a fast and effective jump-up and take-off.

There are many types of exercises and classes in gyms and sports centres that will really help maintain and increase your surf fitness. New activities such as spinning, boxercise and Pilates are all great, but there are some types of specific training we can do at gyms that will really help our surfing.

Surfing contains a lot of resistance work and weight training, whether with free weights, which I prefer, or machine weights can have fantastic results for surfers. Don’t just think of those aching shoulders, and solely train the upper body, surfing is all over body exercise. So weight train that way. Do make sure you get a professional instructor to teach you at first, as weight training incorrectly holds many dangers. If your instructor has never surfed you are going to have to tell them that you are a mixture of a swimming, a skater, a gymnast, a contact sport player, in fact a mixture of everything, and you need all round body fitness. Of course, what you learn from your instructor, using free weights, can be taken home and practised there. I often weight train in front of a surf DVD, quite motivating and it does cut down the boredom factor!

Those running machines and bikes you see at gyms can be great, but make sure it is the rowing machines that you spend most of your time on, it’s no wonder that when Olympic rowers are tested they come out as some of the fittest people on the planet!

Interval or circuit training is fantastic for surfers. Our hearts go through massive changes of rate during a surf. A high heart rate during paddle out, dropping in rate during waiting for waves, back to high during our riding phase, and absolutely bounding heart rate during a big hold-down. In my work with top international surfers in the past, I found that regular interval training gave some of the best results but it really works for us mortals too. Being able to cope with massive heart rate changes is an essential part of any valid training programme.