Surfing is a great way to get outdoors, enjoy the ocean and spend some time with friends. It is simultaneously relaxing and adrenaline pumping. But does it help us get in shape? Many surfers want to know if surfing gives them good exercise.
Is surfing a good work out? The short answer is yes, surfing is a good workout! Surfing provides a good cardiovascular, cardio, and muscular workout from paddling, pushing up to stand on your board, and stabilizing yourself on the board. Plus surfing is great for your holistic and mental health.
Let’s celebrate surfing as a great way to exercise and improve our overall health and brainstorm ways to make surfing an even better workout.
Why Surfing is a Good Workout
Surfing is a great workout. When you’re paddling out to catch some waves you are engaging and strengthening your core and upper body muscles, particularly your shoulders and arms. Paddling is also a great exercise because it is low-resistance and no-impact, which means it’s good for your joints.
When you stand up on your surfboard to catch a wave, this is an awesome full-body workout. You are engaging almost every muscular region in your body. When you push up from the board you are engaging your arms, chest, thighs and glutes. When you get into a squat position you are engaging your glutes, quads, and core. When you’re standing on your board and riding a wave, your body’s muscles (especially your legs and core) are engaged to help you balance and stabilize on the board.
Surfing also helps with your heart health because it keeps your heart pumping and engaged. Moreover, if you’re an avid paddler and catching lots of waves, you will get a great cardio workout as well!
You can also burn 200-600 calories per hour surfing. This range depends on the amount of swimming/paddling you do, the number of waves you catch, the roughness of the ocean, and your physical form and health.
Why Surfing is Good for Your Overall Health
Surfing isn’t just great for getting a physical workout. It’s great for your holistic heath. Holistic health usually refers to your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social health
As mentioned, surfing improves your physical health by giving you a great workout! Be sure to protect and improve your physical health while surfing by applying ample sunscreen, hydrating and fueling your body properly, and listening to your body. If you are experiencing pain or discomfort of any kind, listen to your body.
Surfing improves your mental and emotional health because it is great for your mind. Exercise of any kind has been proven to improve mood, sleep, and self-esteem and reduce stress, anxiety, and feelings of depression. Furthermore, when you surf, your body reduces endorphins. Endorphins cause a positive feeling, similar to morphine. Ever heard of the term “runner’s high”? This joyful and euphoric feeling is caused by the endorphins that are released from running. Endorphins are also natural analgesics, aka painkillers.
Furthermore, being in the ocean or at the beach has been scientifically proven to improve an individual’s well being. A study conducted by the University of Exeter in 2019 found that living close to the sea supports better mental health. Imagine what being submerged in the ocean surfing can do!
Moreover, according to Harvard health, simply being outside is great for your physical and mental health. Harvard health stated being outside boosts your mood, immune system, and ability to concentrate. They also stated being outside provides you with more essential Vitamin D, helps you relax, reduces pain and stress, improves blood pressure, and even reduces your chances of getting cancer. All in all, it’s just great for you, so get outside and get surfing!
Surfing can also help you improve your social health. Social health refers to an individual’s ability to cultivate and maintain positive and healthy relationships with others. By surfing with your buddies, you are improving your social health by sharing a wholesome, healthy and fun past time, building your interpersonal connections, and staying away from technology for a bit!
Surfing also has the ability to improve your spiritual health. There is no set definition for spiritual health. However, a commonly accepted definition of spiritual health is feeling purposeful and connected to the world around you. For example, an individual may consider their spiritual health to be defined by their connections to others, the meaning they find from their volunteer work or altruistic hobbies, and their appreciation for nature. For another individual, their spiritual health may be defined by their connection to a higher power. Spiritual health looks different to everyone. You might improve your spiritual health by spending time surfing. Why? Surfing gives you the chance to get connected to the ocean, read the waves, and mediate or lose yourself in your thoughts while you wait for the next wave.
How to Make Surfing a Better Workout
There are many ways to amp up your fitness and make surfing a better workout. Most suggestions include adding an additional workout onto your usual surf session. Here’s what I usually do.
My favorite thing to do is ride my bike to my favorite surf spot! Biking is a great exercise. It particularly engages your legs, glutes, and core, which are usually areas that surfers try to target. Biking for one hour burns between 400 – 750 calories depending on your speed, incline, and body weight. Push yourself and get that workout in before you even get to your surf spot!
You might be asking, “if I bike, how do I get my surf board to the beach?” Luckily, there are bike racks specifically designed to hold surfboards, paddle boards or long boards. You can buy many online.
You can also go for a run before you hop in the water. I particularly love going for runs before surfing. By the end of my run I’ve worked up a nice sweat and am excited to dive into the refreshing ocean! I usually try to run for twenty minutes at a brisk pace to get my heart rate up and feel a slight burn in my muscles. I also enjoy going for “fartlek” runs. A fartlek run is essentially interval training. For example, on a usual twenty-minute fartlek run, I’ll jog for 4 min, “sprint” for 1 min, jog for 4 min, “sprint” for 1 min, etc. Fartlek runs are intense fat-burning workouts.
Moreover, running in the sand adds an extra element to your workout. Running on sand helps you develop a solid running technique because it requires your body to adapt to an uneven surface. Your body is forced to stabilize more by engaging muscles in your legs, ankles and core. Because your body is working harder to compensate for the uneven surface, you burn more calories and strengthen your muscles more than if you were to run on an even paved surface!
Another idea to amp up your fitness and make surfing a better workout is to practice standing up on your surfboard on the beach. The act of getting from a laid-down position to a standing position on your board is a workout in it of itself. You know how advice goes… “Go back to the basics!” “Practice makes perfect!” “It’s all about muscle memory!” Well, follow this advice! Put your board down on the beach, lay on top, and spend ten minutes or so practicing standing up on your board. Be sure to focus on your form and correct technique.
One of the most relaxing ways to tack an extra workout on to your surf session is to practice yoga. It’s always a good idea to get out of the water during dusk to avoid shark-feeding time. Instead of packing up and heading home, practice yoga while you watch the sunset. I’ve found that the most challenging yoga workouts are Flow Vinyasa Yoga or Bikram yoga.
If you can’t get enough of the water, you could also go for a swim at the end of your surf session. Because it’s likely your arms probably got a good workout from paddling on your surf board, some surfers try to use their arms as little as possible while swimming and rely on the power of their legs. Its up to you to find what makes you feel good!
My last suggestion would be to do a quick cross-fit workout on the beach before or after your surf session. Unless you’re catching tons of waves, you probably feel like your arms are getting a harder workout than your legs. Therefore, most surfers I know are looking for a good way to get an extra workout for their legs. I like doing a quick leg/full body workout on the beach before I surf. I don’t like bringing weights or other equipment to the beach, so this workout is equipment free! This workout gives me that extra push and doesn’t take a ton of time!
Here it is:
- 30 Squats. Be sure to keep your knees over your feet when you squat. Sit back into your squat until your knee bend reaches a perfect 90-degree angle. Don’t lean forward! Keep your chest up straight, perpendicular to the ground.
- 20 forward lunges on each leg. As with the squats, forward lunges are also all about creating those perfect 90-degree angles. Each of your knees should create a 90-degree angle. Your chest should stay straight up, perpendicular to the ground. Your back knee should almost touch the ground.
- 10 SURFER burpees. If you aren’t sure what burpees are, a quick Google search will answer all your questions. But… what’s a surfer burpee you ask? A surfer burpee is pretty awesome. Here’s what it is. Imagine you’re down at the bottom of your burpee in a plank position. Do your pushup, and then lower yourself back to the ground with your belly resting on the sand. At this point, you want to imagine you’re on your surfboard. Get yourself into position to catch an imaginary wave. Imagine the wave is coming, and hop up into a squat position followed by proper surf standing position as if you just caught a wave! Nice job! Now, proceed to do your reach-for-the-sky-jump, and head back down for your next surfer burpee. Surfer burpees are Be sure to do them practicing proper surfing form. It’s all about muscle memory!
- 30 side lunges. As with the squats and forward lunges, side lunges are also all about creating those perfect 90-degree angles. Your bent knee should create a 90-degree angle, and your knee should line up over your foot. Continue keeping your chest straight up, perpendicular to the ground.
- 30 glute bridges. If you aren’t sure what glute bridges are, a quick Google search will answer all your questions. Be sure that when your hips are thrust up to the sky, your knees are making a right angle and your knees are over your toes.
- 10 more SURFER burpees!
- 10 fire hydrants on each leg. As always, this exercise is all about those right angles. Fire hydrants will help to strengthen your hip flexors and glutes, which are used in surfing far more than you might expect!
- 30 jumping forward lunges. These are going to look just like your initial forward lunges, except between each lunge; you will jump and land in the next. Be sure to take your time with these and practice proper form.
- Last 10 SURFER burpees!
If done correctly, this workout will leave you sweating and panting heavily! Be sure to focus on your form to avoid any injuries and don’t forget to stretch once you’re done.
As you can tell, surfing is a great workout and great for your health. Plus, there’s lots of ways to make it an even harder workout! So, get out there and surf. Have fun and be safe. Surf’s up!
Related questions
What are the Best Stretches to do After Surfing?
It’s best to do a full body stretch after you surf. However, some of the most important stretches to do after surfing may target your shoulders and hip flexors. My favorite hip flexor stretch is the yoga pigeon pose. If you’re not sure what this is, a quick Google search should answer any questions. My favorite shoulder stretch would be a simple cross-body shoulder stretch. To do this, take one arm and put it across your body, arm reached out straight. With the other arm, pull your straightened arm against your chest tightly. You should feel a slight stretch on your deltoid muscle.
I Want To Try Yoga After I Surf but I’ve Never Done Yoga Before. Where Do I Start?
Great question! If you’ve never done yoga before, I recommend you start out going to a yoga studio. Most yoga studios have a free trial where you can see if you enjoy the practice before investing any money. I recommend you start at a yoga studio because it is very important to practice the proper form while doing yoga. Having an instructor to help you with proper form will be helpful to prevent injuries and get the best workout and stretch possible. Once you’re familiar with yoga and the proper form, you can find many free yoga videos on YouTube! You can simply set up your phone with a video and follow along on the beach!
How Much Water Should I Be Drinking When I Surf?
You should be drinking about 1 L of water for every hour and a half you are surfing. It’s very easy to forget to drink water while you’re surfing, but it’s also extremely important. The sun, salt water and rigorous movement dehydrate you quickly. You sweat a lot when you surf, but you just can’t tell because you’re in the water. Be sure to come out of the water every hour or so to drink water.
