How to prepare your body for surf sessions

As well as it being heaps of fun, surfing is a sport. The fitter you are when you surf, the easier it will be.

To maximise your performance in the water you need to be strong, flexible and have stamina. 

We've put a few exercises below to help increase your fitness in preparation for your surf sessions! 

• Strength

You need to use many muscles when surfing in order to paddle long distances, hold your body weight when pushing up from the board, and ride powerful waves. These exercises will help build up your strength:

- Push ups

(Strengthens the chest, arms and shoulders)

- The plank

(Strengthens the adnominals, back and shoulders)

• Flexibility/balance

Flexibility is important for surfers when transitioning from lying on the board to standing. Balance is also necessary for staying in the correct position on the board when paddling and popping up.
Practising yoga is great for improving your flexibility and balance. Not only this, it builds strength and teaches you to focus. Many yoga schools offer yoga classes for surfers as there are many similar poses in both yoga and surfing.  These yoga positions will help with your surfing technique:

- Upward facing dog

(Similar motion to popping up. Increases flexibility in the spine, opens the chest and shoulders, and stretches the thighs)

- Tree pose

(Strengthens the legs, elongates the spine and improves stability)

Yoga is relaxing for the mind and great for the body; every guest at In Da Surf receives 10% off yoga classes at Serenity Yoga for before or after each surf session.

• Stamina 

A lot of energy is required when surfing and you can get tired very quickly if you don’t have any stamina. The more energy you have, the faster and stronger you can paddle, and the more slick your movements will be when riding the waves. You may need to paddle for long durations if you are in the water for a while, and when the waves are big and powerful you may find yourself paddling against these which will tire you out quickly. The following exercises will build up your stamina: 

- Running, swimming or cycling

The above three are all great cardio exercises that will increase your heartbeat and help you stay out in the water for longer. Swimming (especially front crawl) is the most surf like exercise you can do; it has similar aerobic demands and upper body movements to surfing, and will help increase your lung capacity for those wipeouts!

It is not essential to do these exercises before your surf trip, but it will certainly help for those who want to take it more seriously. Fortunately surfing is an exercise in itself, so you are sure to get a workout in the water whilst you are having fun!