Just about every sport or physical activity requires skills that need to be regularly practised to improve, or even just maintain your abilities, and surfing is no exception.

However, it’s not always possible or practical to just head out to the beach, grab a board and get out onto the ocean to surf. A lack of easy access to the ocean based on where you live, work schedules keeping you tied up, and of course, bad weather can all make finding opportunities to get some much-needed time on the waves difficult.

Luckily you don’t have to solely rely on the time you actually spend surfing to hone your abilities, there are plenty of exercises you can perform at home to improve or maintain your surfing skills in between trips to the beach.

How Does Strength and Conditioning Training Improve Your Surfing?

Surfing is a highly dynamic activity requiring a combination of strength, endurance, balance, and agility, so by training in these key areas you can improve your ability to paddle, manoeuvre, and remain stable on the board when the waves get rocky.

You don’t need fancy equipment or an indoor surfing facility to train in these areas, simply performing a handful of specific exercises can greatly improve your abilities and remove any weak links holding you back from making the most of your time on the board.

Below is a list of six different exercises you can do at home a few times a week to strengthen your body, improve coordination, and avoid common surfing injuries.

At Home Exercises to Improve Your Surfing

Burpees

The burpee is a great exercise for building strength in the chest, triceps, and quads. It also closely mimics the pop up, allowing you to not only train the muscles involved but also the motion itself at the same time.

Pull Ups

Pull ups are one of the best exercises to strengthen the lats, traps, and rhomboids, which are heavily used when you paddle. Stronger lats will not only help you paddle harder and faster, but also paddle longer before tiring.

Sit Ups

Core strength is incredibly important for surfing, as it’s what helps you remain stable on the board. By performing sit ups you will strengthen the abdominal muscles, improving your core strength and stability. If you struggle with this exercise, you can use a sit up bar for assistance.

Russian Twists

The Russian twist is another core exercise, this time focused on the obliques. Strengthening the obliques will improve your rotational stability while turning and manoeuvring on the board. Holding a Wall Ball or 12.5kg Dumbbell will really challenge your core, increasing the effectiveness of this exercise.

Pistol Squats

The pistol squat not only builds the quads, but also greatly improves your stability. Since it’s performed with one leg at a time it requires a great deal of stability and coordination, which carries over to surfing by helping you remain stable during choppier waves.

Superman

Almost your entire time on the board is spent bending or hunched over, which places a lot of strain on the muscles of the lower back. The Superman exercise strengthens your spinal erectors and glutes without the needing a Reverse Hyperextension Machine, helping alleviate stress on this area.

Many surfers also experience lower back pain which can even stop them from participating when it gets bad enough, so strengthening these muscles can help you avoid these issues as well as any potential lower back injuries.

You probably wouldn’t have expected that there are ways to improve your surfing skills at home, but now you can see that all it takes is a few specific exercises to make your surfing better and safer by strengthening your body and avoiding injury. Remember, train now on land to make the most of your time in the water!

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Tags: Equipment > Dumbbells ; Equipment > Pull Up Bar ; Exercise Type > Conditioning ; Exercise Type > Strength