The holiday season is almost here and that means more time to go surfing!!
But it also means you might be struggling for paddle fitness if you haven't been surfing too much recently.
So what can you do to get you paddle fitness back up to speed?
Try these 4 strategies to help overcome you lack of paddle power...
1. Strength Training to Improve Your Upper Body Strength & Stability
The first way to is build a solid base of strength and stability in your upper body.
The key here is to keep your body and muscles in balance by targeting all of the major muscle groups, not just the ones you use the most when paddling. If you target certain muscles or movements more than others you increase the likelihood of creating a muscular imbalance which can lead to movement inefficiencies or musculoskeletal injuries.
So try and do a mixture of exercises using each of the following 4 movement patterns:
- Vertical Pushing (eg. Single Arm Dumbbell Press, Swiss Ball Inverted Shoulder Press)
- Vertical Pulling (eg. Pull-ups, Chin-ups, Overhead Band Pulls)
- Horizontal Pushing (eg. Swiss Ball Chest Press, BOSU Push-ups)
- Horizontal Pulling (eg. Dumbbell Plank Row, TRX Inverted Row)
You also need to keep your joints stable and for paddling this means stable shoulders. Exercises like YTW Raises are really good for helping to keep your shoulder joints stable and preventing shoulder issues.
2 - Swimming to Improve Your Shoulder Endurance
If you have access to a swimming pool or the ocean then this can be a great choice for when you can't get in the surf. Freestyle swimming uses similar muscles to paddling and is a great way to improve the endurance in your arms and shoulders.
Try doing intervals, or even add duck diving into your laps. The Cardio Manual which comes with the Total Surfing Fitness package has some surf specific swimming workouts which you can get started with.
3. Practice Paddling at Home Using a Resistance Band
Paddling against resistance using a resistance band is another great way to improve your upper body endurance. Try and use a fairly light resistance and if you have a swiss ball that will make a great surfboard alternative to lie on.
The great thing about band paddling is that you can do it at home without getting wet, so there are no excuses! The Cardio Manual in the Total Surfing Fitness package also has some interval workouts with band paddling to help build your paddle fitness.
4. Do Some High Intensity Interval Training
Cardio training using intervals is a great way to improve both your anaerobic and aerobic energy systems (both are important for surfing).
Running, riding, boxing, rowing, skipping and bodyweight exercises like mountain climbers are all great for interval training. Try and include this type of training in your weekly schedule to help you out in the surf.
Are you going to make the most of your time in the surf?
If you need a step-by-step plan of exactly what to do including workout frequency, exercises, sets, reps, cardio, stretching, plus more then Total Surfing Fitness is your action plan.
Train smart, surf better!
