Surfing is meant to be fun and it is, but if you want to maximize your enjoyment and increase the speed that you improve—and escalate the time that you can spend in the water—then you are going to need to do a little work.
Here are main areas that you’ll need to work on:
Warm up and down
A warm up should prepare you for the strenuous activity of surfing. By warming up with dynamic mobility exercises, you can improve your performance and guard against muscle injury. Warming down with some static stretching can leave you refreshed and ready for another session the following day.
Core
Core stability training will play an important part in your overall fitness program. Core muscles are the foundation for the body’s movements, will aid overall performance, improve balance, and will prevent against injury.
There are many exercises that can be done to improve core strength, many are simple to do, and do not require any equipment. More advanced core exercises do involve the use of exercise equipment such as medicine balls or swiss balls.
Upper Body
You need to have good upper body strength to even paddle out to get a wave—no mean feat on a day when you might have to spend at least 10 minutes paddling against walls of white water. You then need the strength to paddle into the waves and the strength to push up onto your feet, then the strength to… You get the idea; surfing can be damn hard work.
Lower Body
You’ll need decent lower body strength when you are up and riding. If you ever hope to pull critical maneuvers, big turns and huge airs (or even just surf a decent length wave), you’ll need to strengthen and condition your lower body. We’re talking anything below the waist!
Simple exercises like squats and lunges are a great place to start. There are also some great tools that are really effective for this type of exercise. Balance boards and bosu boards are superb, and will combine well with balance training programs.
Flexibility
To perform well at any sport, good flexibility is essential. Surfing is a very physical sport, making flexibility all the more important. Touch your toes, do a bit of yoga, or do anything else that will help. Being flexible—and warming up before a surf—will reduce the chance of sustaining a muscle injury during your surfing.
There are several different types of stretching that will benefit your surfing, and can be used for warming up before exercise, cooling down, preparing for a surf, and improving your range of movement.