Ive been doing p90x for about 6 months now and it has definitely helped add power to my surfing. It works your whole body plus there are some intense cardio workouts. I thought I was in good shape until I started this. Im now 39 and in the best shape of my life! Good luck!!
haaa you sound like the infomercial dude. but seriously, it does get you in good shape, i did it a year ago. now i just mainly pop in chest/back, plyo or yoga. those 3 are the best for surfing in my opinion....well other than surfing all the time.
Lol... I guess I do after reading that back over. Those 3 plus the shoulder, bicep and tricep as well are my favorites. A little running never hurts either. Of course surfing all the time would be great too, but this east coast doesn't allow that.
I'm a believer in p90x - done the whole 90 days just before summer started (including their diet recommendations), increased strength and endurance, and lost some midsection fat while adding some muscle! now i've been doing some rows, lots of swimming and paddling, but I decided to go thru another 90 days of p90x! (like i said - i'm a believer)
I'm a believer in Richard Simmons Sweating to the oldies...follow that up with a huge dose of muscle milk and yor ready for double overhead
Pull-ups and more pull-ups and then weighted pull-ups when you can do a ton of bodyweight pull-ups (15+ in a set). Don't do kipping pull-ups. Do neutral to wide-grip pull-ups from a deadhang, or almost a deadhang if it's uncomfortable on your elbows.. You'll be clawing into waves like never before. Bench-press for quicker pop-ups. You don't need to lower the barbell/dumbbells all the way to your chest, that puts a bunch of strain on your shoulders. I'd suggest never doing a separate gym workout any day you surf to save your shoulders. I'd recommend taking at least a day off after a surf day to save your shoulders. Pretty much: be wary of your shoulders, they're fragile. Squats and dead-lifts for leg power. Both exercises will also hit your abdominals and lower back if you're doing them right. Form is pretty paramount for both exercises because you can screw yourself up if you're doing them wrong. Remember to keep your back straight. Never round your back doing either of these exercises.
I joined a Crossfit box a few months ago. Let me tell you, what a difference! The combination of weightlifting and gimnastics definitely helps to get the power surfing most of us want. Crossfit is expensive - however all boxes upload a different workout to their sites every day so you can basically do CF for free at home.
I wouldn't tell you to not surf, just be very careful with your shoulders. Make sure to warm them up before any activity and get a good stretch afterwards. Definitely try to get some hamstring exercises into your workout. Squats will hit your hammies a little bit, but not that much. Romanian deadlifts are awesome for hamstring work, but like all other deadlifts proper form is key. Lunges are also good for hammies and total leg strength in general.
I'll try to make this short as possible, but since I'm a landlocked surfer much of the time now, I've had some time to think about this. For surfing power and strength, the areas you want to focus on in order are: Warmup - internal and external rotation with light resistance for shoulders, also look up thoracic extension on youtube. It's important to have your lower- and middle traps active. For the legs, it's about hip mobility, such as scorpions and standing leg swings. 1. Paddle power - Chest and lats - try standing push downs using a cable machine, such as the lat pulldown machine. Sets of 6-8 going heavy as comfortable given that you need to engage your trunk muscles as though you're doing a plank. If this machine is not accessible, you can lay down and do dumbbell pull overs, single-arm or two. Pullups are also great, but you don't have to do more than sets of 8 to begin with. It's more important to do them in good form than to get high reps for optimum strength gains. Once you gain strength, then go for speed and thus improved power Also, explosive pushups (like clap pushups, see how high you can get), sets of 6-8 reps, which can be progressed to explosive pushup-to-surf stance. Try both regular and switch stance for added agility. Other fun things to try are: medicine ball chest passes towards the sky, eccentric pushups. 2. Shoulders - more so for endurance, but to be able to keep up with bigger days and later in the session, your shoulders need to be able to reach above your head at a hurried pace so that you can use this newfound paddle power. Try standing snow angels with a light resistance band for up to 30 reps. Just be careful if you have ever had shoulder issues. I usually do 30, 25, 20 with 30 seconds between sets, then the next session I'll go up from 20 to 30. Standing, dumbbell shoulder presses are also good, and you can occasionally go heavier for strength/power in the shoulders. Now that top or wetsuit feels a bit less confining... 3. Core - think of your core as the clutch to a manual car: it has to remain stable while the joints around it maneuver (think layback snap). Planks, athlete's planks with progressions, tacos (laying flat, raising arms and legs to meet in center, then try opposing, single arm to leg), side planks, bicycles 4. Legs - agility and also balance (especially in the lower leg and ankle), are components of the ability to stand on one leg and functions of core activation. Try single-leg deadlifts, starting out with little or no weight then maybe adding a light dumbbell in the opposite arm. Side lunges with a light dumbbell held in front, up by the chin, will promote trunk activation as well. Oh yea, do them barefoot! 5 - Conditioning - surf, until your shoulders won't budge and then go a bit more. Try not stopping paddling for more than 5-10 seconds per session - I call them wave-count sessions, or the over-eager session. Swimming is also good, and H.I.I.T. is indeed a great way to keep in top shape. Try sand sprints of about 25-50 yards, with a minute to 90 seconds rest at first, or intervals on stairs for an added challenge - gravity makes you work harder. I also like 500-meter intervals on rowing machines and suicides/playing basketball. 6. Flexibility - think of your muscles as rubber bands: you want the right relationship between strength and length depending on your surfing style. Hips, especially the adductors (inside) and hamstrings - happy baby, pigeon pose, butterfly, forward fold or sprinter stretch are a good start, but do some research for where you may be tight. Also shoulder-joint mobility, as in the aforementioned internal-, external rotation and thoracic extension. Oh yea, I'm an exercise physiologist. Please keep posting pics because I can't surf during the work week! Please provide feedback as well, as this is an imperfect set up.
