There is a very special kind of agility and power required for surfing. Reading the waves takes countless hours in the water – and preparation on land is equally important. Strength gained in the ocean equals much greater performance in each and every session. The basic fitness principles will allow you to ride for longer and have a lot more stability on your board.
Building Solid Core Stability Daily
The center of all your movement when riding a wave is your core. When you paddle with a lot of power and get up quickly your abs do all the work. A very strong midsection allows you to move your body over your equipment at all times. This concept perfectly illustrates exactly how surfers benefit from weightlifting routines during their regular dryland training. When making heavy compound moves, you need to engage your core muscles deeply. This refreshing action closely mimics the physical strain in the ocean you’re going through while safely escaping rough waters.
Increasing Lower Body Leg Power
The strength of the lower body is essential for being able to turn and control the boat with a smooth motion. Your legs act as powerful natural shock absorbers when you drop into a fast wave. If your legs are trained with a lot of resistance, you will have a huge explosive energy to do a fast pop up. Strengthening workouts such as weighted lunges and heavy step ups target the same muscles that are used when aggressively moving down the line. This is because a strong leg also allows you to maintain a low and very compressed stance. This low center of gravity offers a lot of overall stability and stability on difficult rides.
Enhancing Upper Body Endurance
Most of the time in the water is spent paddling. Developing the back and shoulder supports actively helps to avoid fatigue and fatigue in long and strenuous sessions. Exercises such as strict pull ups and overhead presses can help build this sustained pulling motion that is essential for catching faster incoming sets. Once your whole body’s in shape, you can enjoy the ocean more than spending more time resting on the beach. Regular heavy weight training helps to keep shoulders very healthy and highly resistant to very common overuse injuries.
Focusing on Unilateral Movement Patterns
Surfing is a sport in which everyone plays on one side of the board. Your feet are always planted in position and your body rotates to perform a turn. Training on one side of the body stimulates correction of natural muscle imbalances. Single leg exercises are pretty tough on coordination and simulate the entirely unbalanced surface of a surfboard in motion. This specific type of focused lifting teaches your brain to recruit tiny stabilizing muscles very rapidly. Completely trains all major joints for rapid and unexpected changes in balance on the water.
Conclusion
The entire fitness of the individual is a proven way of dramatically increasing one’s basic ocean skills in a safe manner. When you can use these simple strength principles, you’ll have a great head start before you paddle out in the surf. From the first time you ride a wave in Waikiki to the time you’re surfing big waves, a strong fitness base makes all the difference in the world to your future sessions. You can ride the ocean waves with complete confidence and put all of your focus into the pure joy of the ride, with the help of a highly capable body.
