4 Ways To Become More Athletic And Perform Better In The Surf Or Snow

Somewhere between the ages of 20 and 30, most people will start to notice a decrease in their physical performance. Injuries start to occur more easily, you take longer to recover from exercise, you can’t run as fast, jump as high or move as freely as you once could.

But it doesn’t always have to be this way.

When it comes to training for surf or snow sports, there should be one main goal that dictates your efforts. If your workouts don’t achieve this goal then you are really wasting your time.

That goal is to become more athletic

The old saying that “if you don’t use it, you lose it” comes to mind. I would like to improve this by saying “if you don’t move it in an athletic way, you will lose it.” But on a positive note, if you do move it athletically and often, then you can get your physical performance back and even enhance it more than ever.

It’s not uncommon for me to receive emails from clients over 40 years old, who are performing better now that they were in their 20s. All I can put it down to is they are training correctly and improving their athleticism.

So How Do I Become More Athletic?

The basic idea is to move more, move correctly and then move fast (correctly). Here’s 5 ways you can improve your athleticism in the surf or snow by incorporating these things into your training…

Move in 3D

If you want to become more athletic, you need to move in all 3 dimensions or all 3 planes of movement (frontal, sagittal and transverse). It’s no good training using machines with fixed ranges of motion when in real life with don’t normally have those limitations. All that does is train muscles to work in isolation, where as your muscles need to work as an integrated system to move effectively.

When you’re carving down the face of a wave or shredding through some fresh powder you’re moving in a 3 dimensional environment and so you need to be training the same way.

In simple terms this means do more muti-planar, multi-joint, complex movements. Do lunges to the side or at 45 degree angles, not just in front. Do rotational core exercises, not just crunches. Don’t get stuck on fixed motion exercise machines. Move your body the way it was created to move.

Jump More

Jumping is really important because it is highly transferable to surfing, snowboarding and skiing. The concentric phase (pushing up) is important because it builds explosive power in your legs and the eccentric phase or landing phase helps you develop a good breaking mechanism so that you can absorb landings and similar eccentric forces on the snow or on your surfboard.

So make sure you jump often, jump in different directions and also mix it up between double and single leg dominant jumps.

Master Your Bodyweight

In order to really be athletic you need to be able to handle your own bodyweight, seeing as you will be carrying it with you all the time. This means you should be doing more bodyweight exercises like pull-ups and chinups, push-ups, inverted rows, single leg squats and lunge variations.

Using your bodyweight will help build stability and strength that no machine at the gym can do.

Do High Intensity Interval Training

Interval training will boost your athleticism by enhancing your endurance capacity faster than traditional steady state exercise. Scientific studies such as the popular Tabata study show that high intensity interval training can not only improve the subjects anaerobic (short burst) energy system greater than steady state exercise, but also improves their aerobic (longer duration) energy system better as well.

While there may still be a place for steady state cardio, if you want more bang for your buck, do intervals. Try running, swimming, riding, skipping or any other cardiovascular activity and mix up your intervals (30:30, 20:10, 20:40, etc).

Your Athletic Surf or Snow Training Plan

Hopefully now you have a better understanding of what it takes to become more athletic so you can perform better in the surf or snow.

If you want a professionally designed athletic training plan, download one of our step-by-step workout programs below and see the difference for yourself (all programs come with a 60 day money back guarantee, so if it doesn’t work for you, you can get a full refund – there is nothing to lose!) …

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During any surf or snow sport we spend a lot of time in some sort of squat position. In fact, I would say that squatting is one of the most fundamental movement patterns we should be able to perform correctly in order to prevent injury and increase performance.

 

Doing squats and squat variations are also one of the best ways to train lower body strength and power.

 

 

The problem... 

 

The problem is a lot of people don't squat very well due to a number of factors such as poor hip mobility, lack of ankle dorsi-flexion, poor movement mechanics, etc.

 

And if you can't squat well when you train, the chances are you won't squat well when you hit the surf or snow and this can mean anything from inefficient movement/technique through to increased risk of injury.

 

Some of the most common squatting mistakes include lifting your heels, knee collapse and trunk collapse. 

 

 

Can you pass the test?

 

To help you determine whether you move well when you squat, I have posted a simple test on my blog which you should try to see if you pass or fail.

 

http://surfnsnowfitness.com/deep-squat-test/ 

 

 

If you fail you may have mobility issues that need to be addressed.

 

Have a go at the test and if you fail, start incorporating the corrective exercise demonstrated into your warmup.

 

http://surfnsnowfitness.com/deep-squat-test/ 

 

 

 

Hope you have a good Easter!

 

 

Cheers,

The Best Upper Body Exercise Using Your Own Bodyweight?

What Is The Best Upper Body Exercise Using Your Own Bodyweight?

In my opinion there are 2 great upper body exercises you should be doing (the other one I will discuss in part 2b) and the first of those is Pull-ups.

Pull-ups are great because they will help you build a really strong back and arms which is always an asset, especially for surfers where paddling strength is important.

There are lots of different versions of pull-ups you can do, from easy to hard, so don’t worry if you can do many to start with, I can show you some different variations to get you up to speed.

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Pull-up grip terminology – There are 3 main grips you can use when doing pull-ups, and I encourage you to try them all out. I think the easiest is neutral grip where your palms face towards each other (although if you just have a straight bar you won’t be able to do this unless you have some parallel bars on your chin-up bar).

Then you have palms facing towards you (traditional chin-up position) and finally palms facing away from you (what I would call a pull-up).

Pull-up Progressions

Beginner Variations

Leg Assisted Suspension Pull-ups

To do this version you will need either a suspension trainer or a towel hooked over the bar. This makes it easier because you can use your legs to help pull yourself up to the bar.

Leg Assisted Suspension Pull-up

Leg Assisted Towel Pull-up

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Band Assisted Pull-ups

With band assisted pull-up you loop the band over the bar and then hook your feet or legs in so it can take some of your weight. This makes it easier to perform the exercise. The stronger the band, the easier the pull-up will be.

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Intermediate Variations

These are your traditional pull-ups, the ones you have most likely tried before. There are 4 main versions to try…

• Chin-ups – Hands shoulder width apart and palms facing towards you
• Neutral Grip Pull-up – Palms facing towards each other
• Pull-ups - Hands shoulder width apart and palms facing away from you
• Wide Grip Pull-ups – Hands wider than shoulder width apart and palms facing away from you

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Advanced Variations

If you can do more than 10 pull-ups for any of the intermediate versions, then you can have a go at the advanced variations…

• Side to Side Pull-ups – Pull you chest up to one side, lower back down and then pull up to the other side.
• Towel Pull-ups – Loop a towel over the bar and hold one hand on the towel and the other on the bar. Also great for improving your grip strength.
• Weighted Pull-ups – Add some weight to your pull-up either by holding a dumbbell/medicine ball  between your legs, or wearing a weight belt or weight vest.

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Pull-up Tips

• Don’t just try and get your chin over the bar, actually try and pull your chest up to the bar to really activate your back muscles.
• Lower your body down till your arms are straight each rep– no cheating.

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How Much Weight Should I Use In My Workouts?

Today I just wanted to share a common question regarding strength training for surfers...

 

There is enough scientific evidence these days proving the benefits of strength training in regards to not only body composition changes, but also positive physiological changes to improve your health and wellbeing.

 

That being said, there is still some misconceptions about how to train for optimal fitness and performance. Here is one common question that still generates some confusion...

 

How much weight should I use in my workouts?

 

As your goal is to improve your strength, you need to adhere to the overload principle which means that your muscles will adapt and improve in strength when they are challenged beyond their normal use.

 

Here is a simple way to achieve that - simply choose a weight where you can complete the set with perfect form and tempo.

 

If you start to struggle and your lifting speed changes, then you have most likely hit your limit and you should end the set there. Generally when this happens your form will also deteriorate and this is where injuries are more likely to occur.

 

As far as choosing the actual weight, this comes down to trial and error to begin with. If the program say to do 8 reps of an exercise you should pick a weight you think you can do the 8 reps with perfect form. If you end up easily doing more than 8 rep, next time increase the weight and vice versa if you can't complete 8 reps.

 

 

What about lifting to failure?

 

This has been a common training strategy made popular in the body building world, where you get a spotter to help you squeeze out an extra rep or two at the end of the set.

 

Although this may have it's place with regard to breaking down muscle tissue, there has lately been more evidence that doing this type of training regularly is very taxing to your central nervous system and could actually be detrimental to your progress as your body takes longer to recover from this type of lifting.

 

I would tend to avoid this strategy and focus on consistent strength training using perfect form every rep and gradually increasing the weight as your strength increases.

 

 

So in summary here are my take home tips...

• Choose a challenging weight where you think you can perform the required reps with perfect form
• Complete each rep with the same form and lifting speed
• Ideally you should stop the set just before you start to struggle  
• Gradually increase the weights and your strength increases

 

 

I hope these tips can help you with your surf training workouts.