Surf fitness out of the water?

GODS QUAD's picture
GODS QUAD started the topic in Friday, 26 Jul 2019 at 11:48am

Has anyone had any success staying "surf fit" while being out of the water for any stretch of time?

I just got back in the surf this morning after a 5 week absence thanks to being away for work and relocating to the city and I was absolutely dead tired just dealing with very mild 2-3 ft beachies. Specifically my upper arms and hips were noticeably affected. I consider myself pretty fit and a competent surfer so was pretty shocked how bad my stamina was after a short break. I run a couple of times a week and do yoga almost every day in this absence, but seems like it did fuck all for my surfing...

So what works for you guys and how do you deal with that hump?

mickseq's picture
mickseq's picture
mickseq Sunday, 25 Aug 2019 at 12:06pm

Great thread.

Im 39 as well, 40 in March so my weekly routine is normally just the gym 3-4 times but for 1-1.5 hours, cardio and weights. I also walk alot with my dog

Was looking at stepping it up with some stretch class or maybe pilates?

I usually get to the surf on the weekend once every 2 weeks but am in indo for 3 weeks every 10 weeks.

I have been thinking about age and surfing endurance as well, particularly in handling strong swells in indo does anyone know if there is a topic on this?

I have friends in their late forties, early fifties that live in indo, they tend to only surf in short sessions, but they tend to drink a lot which wouldn't help.

What age do you guys think that shortboard surfing in indo starts to become too challenging?

Solitude's picture
Solitude's picture
Solitude Sunday, 25 Aug 2019 at 1:03pm

Mate if your going to the gym etc 3-4 x week plus regular Indo trips I can’t see why you can’t ride a short board as long as you like? Especially with the range and trend of boards that chuck a fair bit of foam up front for your paddling.
‘You don’t stop dancing because you get old, you get old because you stop dancing’.

mickseq's picture
mickseq's picture
mickseq Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 9:17am

Thanks for your insight, I guess I was just curious

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 10:53am

There is no fitness like surf fitness!

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 11:01am

Re surf fitness,
As well as doing actual training.
You may want to re asses your board/ boards.
No need to be riding ct style boards if your not on the ct.
Look for a board that has volume in the nose chest area.
Chances are if you have relocated from the surf to the city, your going to have to re evaluate a lot of things , even your motivation to surf. Best of luck !

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 11:01am

Re surf fitness,
As well as doing actual training.
You may want to re asses your board/ boards.
No need to be riding ct style boards if your not on the ct.
Look for a board that has volume in the nose chest area.
Chances are if you have relocated from the surf to the city, your going to have to re evaluate a lot of things , even your motivation to surf. Best of luck !

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 11:03am

Sorting out your diet is a huge part of fitness.

Veggies , fruit , fish . Kick sugar to the kerb. Less drinking. You know the drill.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 11:16am

^^^ That's the thing about fitness 'programs', there's nothing particularly enlightening about any of it, just simple commonsense. Eat less and eat healthy, stretch when you can and exercise when you can.

mickseq's picture
mickseq's picture
mickseq Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 12:07pm

I think massages are also the go

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 12:09pm

A happy ending will definitely put a spring in your step.

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 12:26pm

if there's one thing I've seen which is crucial it's weight.

once you lose control of your weight it's a hard, hard slog.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 1:01pm

Agree.

Beyond surfing very good waves , an extra five kilos makes life hard if you want to surf your best.

An extra ten kilos and you’re struggling in average waves.

Fifteen kilos over and you may as well just chill in the beer garden if it’s not barrelling. It’s basically over.

You wouldn’t have seen Jimbo or Junior shredding low period beachies..

Caveat .....I once saw an XXL individual throwing buckets from radical carves at a beach break . Only Occy can get away with that shit.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 1:10pm

Massages? Why...? I've had maybe three of them in my life and always wondered what the point of it all was.

Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean's picture
Lanky Dean Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 2:18pm

Not to sure if it's been mentioned, cycling/ mountain biking( low impact cross country style...no extreme shit) is also key.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 2:22pm

A good massage is therapeutic and soothes aching muscles. It’s an intuitive healer working heat and energy into muscles , relaxing zones of tension and increasing blood flow to areas under duress. It’s an opportunity to align the regenerative power of the mind with the attention given by the practitioner to the ailments of the body. As their hands kneed , your mind focuses on the body part and allows a meditative healing state to be attained.

A bad massage is someone running their hands over your body whilst they think of cooking dinner and you wonder where your money would have been better spent.

Sounds like the endings to your massages weren’t so happy , Stu. Maybe next time try to get the banana to cry instead of the ever present account within you.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 2:25pm

"It’s an opportunity to align the regenerative power of the mind...allowing a meditative healing state to be attained"

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 2:35pm

Got me you fucker.

I almost made my own banana cry with that sentence.

AndyM's picture
AndyM's picture
AndyM Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 4:42pm

So were you two working in tandem for the caption for the WOTD?

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 5:00pm

Honestly, banana massages were the furthest thing from my mind when I came up with that, admittedly naff, caption.

AndyM's picture
AndyM's picture
AndyM Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 5:39pm

"Pastel hues" gets me every time.
For the past 20 years, one of my favourite piss-takes has been to say "the soft pastel hues of a Pacific morn" in a camp American accent with just a hint of a lisp.
Go figure.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Monday, 26 Aug 2019 at 5:37pm

As much as I love a left , the right on WOTD takes the pastel-hued participation medal today.

garyg1412's picture
garyg1412's picture
garyg1412 Tuesday, 27 Aug 2019 at 1:06pm

Anyone ever recover from a herniated disc and get back to surfing the way they were before through simple excercise??? Any unprofessional advice would be a help at this stage.

Solitude's picture
Solitude's picture
Solitude Tuesday, 27 Aug 2019 at 4:21pm

Simple exercise is the recommended management of low back pain. Other thing to note is there is a very poor correlation between pain / disability and findings on scans (i.e. your disc bulge). Good news to that is you can be fully functional, pain free and surfing as normal and still have findings such as a 'disc herniation' on a scan.
On good quality systematic reviews there is nothing superior when it comes to exercise. You can walk, swim, ride, stretch, strengthening. As long as you enjoy it, you do it and it keeps you moving

mickseq's picture
mickseq's picture
mickseq Tuesday, 27 Aug 2019 at 7:52pm

there is a guy called magic man that lives on an island in indo and he does the best massages