Adults surf with 3 training steps that are easy to include in a daily routing. Flexibility, upper body strength, and some cardio prepare anyone for surfing.
Most adults sit a lot and this tightens up the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. A few things can stretch these muscles. Rolling the fascia in all three with a soft/hard roller helps. Reaching for the floor until you can put your hands on the floor is good flexibility. Keep doing push ups. This builds upper body strength. Doing planks builds core strength. See if you can get to a minute.
Surfing requires cardio conditioning because it is the paddling that tires out students first. There is a big exertion to catch a wave and then the body needs to recover. Basic cardio like walking, bike riding, swimming, or jogging are all good. Then add some intervals where you get your heart to beat harder and it has to recover.
Practicing the surfing pop up is great training for the surfing muscles needed. In the video below, you can see my demonstration of a pop up. I ask my regular students to do up to 20 a day to get the time and musculature.
Surfing is one of the more demanding physical sports because it is full body with quick exertion and then need for recovery. Other great conditioners are weight resistance workouts, yoga, pilates, mountain biking, and hill hiking.
Getting in condition for surfing opens the opportunities to do other fun recreations. Seniors that travel find lots of demands if they go on adventures. Not only are they lugging luggage, but they have to climb steps, maybe walk trails, paddle kayaks, and climb to view points.
Overall conditioning should include a good diet. While preparing your body for exercise, why not assist it by eating food that trims fat and adds muscle. A good weight loss ratio for trimming fat can be 50% carbs, 35% protein, and 15% fat. Goals should be to cut calories by 500 a day to lose one pound a week. Or add more activity to use calories consumed. Eliminating bad food is the easiest way to success. Number one is sugar.
Do what you can before learning to surf but for your own benefit continue and build on your practices all year. I am a certified health coach in addition to being a 10 surf coach, so I see how the two complement each other to make people better surfers and more active in their daily lives.
For Surf Lessons in Oceanside, see my Home Page
See my Dry Land Video and in Water Demo video
See a good demo of the method I teach beginners by putting the back foot on the board first.
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Surf Lessons in Oceanside
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