Learning to Surf For Girls - What I Have Learned About Surf Fitness

I moved to Spain several years ago and as I was living right on the coast and dating a surfer I decided to give it a try. I learned to surf the hard, slow way and it's only now that I'm starting to see the methods I could have used in that starting period which would have sped up my progress massively.

Learning to surf is tough to begin with-- you need balance, flexibility, mobility, coordination, core stability and plenty of strength and endurance, especially in the upper body. Sure, core strength, flexibility and balance all play their parts later on when carving out turns, but at the start and for as long as you surf, it's the upper body strength you need more than anything for paddling out, duck diving, paddling for the wave and popping up on the board.

So for most women, we're starting off with a bit of a disadvantage as even the sportiest of us tend not to have the majority of our strength in our arms and shoulders. The great news is that learning to surf will tone up those arms and even add a little definition but that strength is hard and slow to get if you do it the way I did.

For me, I just persevered and kept paddling and gradually getting enough strength to be able to last a decent amount of time in the water and catch a few waves. At the time I figured that weight training was basically a waste of time and I was scared of getting too bulky, anyway.

What I know now is that there are surf fitness programs out there that will enable you to work on all the key areas that you need for learning to surf so you can build strength, endurance and flexibility in specific ways that will definitely help and won't give you sausage arms!

Specifically you should get a program that combines the elements described below.

Combination of both your aerobic energy system (with oxygen) and your anaerobic energy system (without oxygen). Interval training is an example of a way to achieve this.

Improve your core stability, strength and rotary power. Crunches alone will not give you core stability, stability balls can very effective with the right exercise and they're also excellent for helping you stretch out after a surf.

Increase your upper body endurance, strength and power. You can do this with at home or in a gym with very little equipment.

Improve your mobility and flexibility. A stability ball could help you achieve this.

Improve your balance and lower body strength & power. Balance is key but most people don't try to improve it because they think it's just something you are born with. It's not-- you can improve your balance with very little equipment e.g. a stability ball.

In order to become a better surfer in the quickest amount of time possible, you need to get yourself a surf fitness program which incorporates the elements described above. Such programs can be bought online or created for you at your local gym.

This way you can get the upper body strength you need as well as working on the other components needed when learning to surf so you can progress much faster when you're actually in the water.

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