There are three physical surfing requirements that make learning and progressing in surfing easier. You can get in shape before lessons or while learning.
3 Physical Surfing Requirements
Each of these three requirements are challenges for people who are not active in full body sports or who lead sedentary lives, like sitting behind desks or screens all day.
Flexibility– Very few of my surf students are able to touch the ground with their fingers without bending their knees. I suggest putting your palms on the ground. Stiffness occurs in three places: hamstrings, buttocks, and lower back. Stretching until you can place your palms on the ground might take a few weeks if you can’t do it. I also like sitting on the floor with legs spread and leaning forward touching elbows to the floor. The buttocks can be stretched by lifting one leg in the air and holding onto the toes with one hand while straightening the leg.
Upper Body Strength- A push up is a good test of your upper body strength. This is a handicap for women, kids, and adults who have put on weight and stopped exercising. Before a surfer can snap their foot to the front of the board in a pop up, they have to lift their body on the board while in the water. The fastest way to get appropriate upper body surfing strength is to practice pop ups 20 times a day.
Stamina-Surfing requires an exertion that most athletes don’t train for because it is paddling. Paddling is like swimming but not the same. The most direct cross training technique I use is cables in the gym pulling from a high, middle, and low point. There are also exercise bands you can wrap around a post and get the similar treatment. The second aspect is aerobics. When you jump in a pool and swim, you don’t go very far before tiring. Paddling is similar. The first thing that goes in surfing is the paddling stamina and then you can’t do a pop up either. I bike ride for cross training, but any number of exercises such as running or stair climbing would help.
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For surf lessons in Oceanside see the Home Page
See my Dry Land Surfing Video with pop ups and a short water demonstration
See a YouTube demo on Short Board Pop Ups