I own and run a surf travel company on Australia's Gold Coast. My business basically pulls together all the services offered on the Gold Coast that a travelling surfer needs. We then go the extra step of renting our surfboards to our clients, for the duration of their holiday. The idea is simple, we want to ensure our clients have the surfing holiday of their life, without the hassle of sorting out the logistics when they arrive.
The business is based around a long term surfboard rental concept which includes services such as delivery and pickup. This part is great. I make sure I deliver as many boards as I can as it affords me the luxury of chatting to my clients about the passions we share. Usually these conversations are packed with useful tips about the services they'd like to see next year. So I try to listen, improve my business and provide them with those services when they return.
The most common comment I get from clients returning their surfboards though, is regret that they weren't fitter for the holiday just past. This is an understandable problem. During the daily grind we all have work, family and chores to contend with. Time is the scarce resource which all our commitments fight over. We can't surf as much as we'd like, neither can we spend all our time training for fitness. So it is a rare surfer who arrives on a holiday with the appropriate level of fitness.
So what is the best way to get that extra bit of fitness for a surfing holiday. I believe there are 3 things you should do. The first two should be part of your healthy lifestyle, the last should be a pre travel booster. Here they are:
Endurance fitness in surfing is critical. You need to have a base level of fitness to ensure you can paddle through the breakers, have enough left in your arms to paddle into waves, and not panic when you are dumped and held under water for a little.
You need a little more than basic endurance though, you need water endurance. Have a look at the best surfers and swimmers in the world. They glide through the water, seemingly effortlessly. This is because they have a great feel for the water. They know how to move their body so it is moving efficiently. This is so important in the water as we are inately inefficient in what is really an alien environment.
So to cover off this requirement, you should be swimming or surfing at least twice a week, every week of the year. Do not leave it till a month before your holidays, it is impossible to develop water fitness in such a small span of time. If you love surfing, you will love the water. Make it a part of your life. Then, in the month leading up to your holiday, increase you workload by 1 or 2 sessions a week and make your sessions much more intensive. This will give you a little fitness boost pre-arrival.
The second key is flexibility and core strength. These two facets can not be developed quickly, they must be developed over the long term. And by long term, I mean years. So don't put this off. Start working on your flexibility and core strength today. I know, the exercises can be boring, but it all pays off on the waves.
There is one thing I do to take care of my core strength and flexibility. Yoga. Yoga is so good in this regard for surfers, its almost as if yoga was invented for surfing. My suggestion, get yourself a yoga for surfing dvd and do the program twice a week. Its a little bit cheaper than going to the yoga clinic twice a week anyway.
Also, even the simple act of paddling requires you to over-arch your back, creating a distortion in the development of your back muscles. Yoga sorts all these types of issues out, as well as conditioning your body. My advice, get yourself a surf specific yoga DVD and do it 2 or 3 times a week.
The final thing you can do is a surf specific, functional training program. If you have taken care on the first and second items above, surf specific training is the ideal pre holiday fitness preparation. It should be short, (Ie a fitness program which runs from 4 - 12 weeks) it should gradually increase in intensity over those weeks and it should be designed specifically for the muscles you use in the water. The point with such a training program is to give your surf specific fitness a massive boost prior to arriving on your holiday.
You've got your base level of fitness sorted out already by ensuring point 1 and 2 above are part of your lifestyle. This training program recognises though, that there will be a short period of time where you will need a higher level of fitness (Ie. For those long sessions while on holiday) and prepares you specifically with those higher needs in mind.
I hope that points you in the right direction if you have a surf trip on the horizen. Fitness like everything these days is a lifestyle choice, the rest is just adding some cream to the top. - 16004
The business is based around a long term surfboard rental concept which includes services such as delivery and pickup. This part is great. I make sure I deliver as many boards as I can as it affords me the luxury of chatting to my clients about the passions we share. Usually these conversations are packed with useful tips about the services they'd like to see next year. So I try to listen, improve my business and provide them with those services when they return.
The most common comment I get from clients returning their surfboards though, is regret that they weren't fitter for the holiday just past. This is an understandable problem. During the daily grind we all have work, family and chores to contend with. Time is the scarce resource which all our commitments fight over. We can't surf as much as we'd like, neither can we spend all our time training for fitness. So it is a rare surfer who arrives on a holiday with the appropriate level of fitness.
So what is the best way to get that extra bit of fitness for a surfing holiday. I believe there are 3 things you should do. The first two should be part of your healthy lifestyle, the last should be a pre travel booster. Here they are:
Endurance fitness in surfing is critical. You need to have a base level of fitness to ensure you can paddle through the breakers, have enough left in your arms to paddle into waves, and not panic when you are dumped and held under water for a little.
You need a little more than basic endurance though, you need water endurance. Have a look at the best surfers and swimmers in the world. They glide through the water, seemingly effortlessly. This is because they have a great feel for the water. They know how to move their body so it is moving efficiently. This is so important in the water as we are inately inefficient in what is really an alien environment.
So to cover off this requirement, you should be swimming or surfing at least twice a week, every week of the year. Do not leave it till a month before your holidays, it is impossible to develop water fitness in such a small span of time. If you love surfing, you will love the water. Make it a part of your life. Then, in the month leading up to your holiday, increase you workload by 1 or 2 sessions a week and make your sessions much more intensive. This will give you a little fitness boost pre-arrival.
The second key is flexibility and core strength. These two facets can not be developed quickly, they must be developed over the long term. And by long term, I mean years. So don't put this off. Start working on your flexibility and core strength today. I know, the exercises can be boring, but it all pays off on the waves.
There is one thing I do to take care of my core strength and flexibility. Yoga. Yoga is so good in this regard for surfers, its almost as if yoga was invented for surfing. My suggestion, get yourself a yoga for surfing dvd and do the program twice a week. Its a little bit cheaper than going to the yoga clinic twice a week anyway.
Also, even the simple act of paddling requires you to over-arch your back, creating a distortion in the development of your back muscles. Yoga sorts all these types of issues out, as well as conditioning your body. My advice, get yourself a surf specific yoga DVD and do it 2 or 3 times a week.
The final thing you can do is a surf specific, functional training program. If you have taken care on the first and second items above, surf specific training is the ideal pre holiday fitness preparation. It should be short, (Ie a fitness program which runs from 4 - 12 weeks) it should gradually increase in intensity over those weeks and it should be designed specifically for the muscles you use in the water. The point with such a training program is to give your surf specific fitness a massive boost prior to arriving on your holiday.
You've got your base level of fitness sorted out already by ensuring point 1 and 2 above are part of your lifestyle. This training program recognises though, that there will be a short period of time where you will need a higher level of fitness (Ie. For those long sessions while on holiday) and prepares you specifically with those higher needs in mind.
I hope that points you in the right direction if you have a surf trip on the horizen. Fitness like everything these days is a lifestyle choice, the rest is just adding some cream to the top. - 16004
About the Author:
Damian Papworth is the manager of Gold Coast Surfboards, an organisation that offers solutions for travelling surfers' needs. From board hire to surf fitness, they'll sort it out for you.
