K. Surf trip has arrived. You ready? Photo: Connor Guest/The Inertia
Editor’s Note: Surf Style Training with Elise Carver is available to The Inertia readers for a 50 percent discount until midnight June 15th. Try a workout, and access the full course today.
You’ve had a surf trip coming up for a while now, but all the sudden you wake up one morning and there are only four weeks until the day you fly out! You haven’t prepared at all. Aside from exercising your beer drinking arm, right? Now is the time to get your shit together and get ready for some of the best waves of your life, by making the most of what God gave you. Your incredible human body! Below I’ve listed the quickest and most effective ways to help you get in wave-catching shape, so you can get up every day feeling nimble, lean, fit and terrific.
1. Get yourself a training/recovery plan NOW. Write it down, stick it up and commit to it till the day you fly out. Sign up to my Newsletter now to get your free downloadable Months Planner.
2. Establish your weaknesses. What do you struggle with? What are you lacking in? Paddle fitness? Core strength? Leg stability? Turns or pop-ups? Pick two of your weaknesses. These will be your focus for the next month.
3. Commit to a minimum of two training sessions per week. You’re on the home straight. The most important thing you can do now is work on those improvements so they don’t catch you off-guard when you get on the boat. Look out for surf-specific training plans like the twelve-week Surf Style Training plan found HERE. Try to do a minimum of two sessions per week, ideally 3.
4. Keep surfing. Sounds obvious, but the best way to prepare for a surf trip is to surf. Your body loves repetition and engaging muscle memory is the best thing you can do leading up to your trip. Make room in your schedule for at least two training sessions per week, but make sure you surf when you can. Keep your sessions short (one hour max) giving your body plenty of opportunities to recover completely and try to surf only once in a day.
5. Watch what you eat. The worst thing you can do on a surf trip is turn up hungover, bloated, and sporting a bread belly. So ditch the booze, bread, pasta, and fatty foods. Eat low fat (good or bad fats), colorful vegetable-filled meals, with a handful of protein when you need it. Avoid sugar and dairy. Drink plenty of water, and aim for an alkaline diet.
6. Mobility is a must. The most important thing of all is mobility. Unless you have hypermobile joints, you should be focusing on improving your mobility (which can be achieved through the right type of training) and general flexibility. Especially through the length of the spine, hips, and shoulders. This can be done through yoga, active stretch, flowing stretch movements like Ginastica (like the videos offered in the three-month Surf Style Training Program) or at home stretching all on a regular basis.
7. Buy yourself Epsom salts or magnesium flakes. And if you don’t have a tub to soak in each week, look at another way you can release tension in the muscles and help with recovery. Either through massage, hot and cold therapy, and/or supplements.
8. Focus on your breathing. Breathwork is one of the most under-utilized forms of training that’s ideal for improving a person’s physical performance in the water. Check out master trainers such as Whim Hoff and Nam Baldwin. Or download apps like Apnea Trainer, Low 2, or Freedive.
Editor’s Note: Surf Style Training with Elise Carver is available to The Inertia readers for a 50 percent discount until midnight June 15th. If you’re interested check it out before the price increases.
