Surf Fitness at Home With Rusty
As the world responds to the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns have become common and for many people normal life has been suspended. With prolonged trips to the beach struck down and visits to the gym but a memory with them all closed, regular exercise routines can easily be thrown by the wayside, especially with life changing so drastically ad so quickly for so many.
For people with a previously-outdoors lifestyle, these changes can have a huge impact on both your physical fitness and your mental well-being, adding extra pressure during what is already an unusually stressful time.
For active people, the best way to relieve this pressure is to maintain, as far as is possible, your regular fitness routine or program. You can’t bring the waves to your home but you can still replicate the physical demands on your body and stamina by using different techniques to stimulate the same areas – and raise your serotonin levels at the same time.
For those with basic equipment:
If you have a barbell available at home, front-squats are good for strengthening hip, leg and lower-back muscles, which are vital for controlling a board beneath your feet. Back-squats can also improve lower-back strength, as well as helping to build a strong core and increasing your overall body power.
A pull-up bar can be easily obtained and fitted (provided you have a suitable space to do so) and pull-ups and chin-ups are both useful exercises for surfers, building upper-back strength and upper-arm muscles whilst increasing your grip strength.
For those with no equipment:
If you’ve found yourself isolated with no equipment available, fear not! There are a whole range of independent techniques you can use to keep your body tip-top and your brain entertained.
Lunge for the Clunge
Lunges – every school sports teacher’s favourite form of exercise - are a great way to improve stability whilst increasing hip and leg muscles and glutes.
Clocking Toes
To improve stability and mobility, toe-clocks make a fun and energetic workout that forces you to react to a changing centre of gravity. All it requires is enough space to comfortable and safely stretch your legs in all directions from a standing position. If this is one you’re not familiar with, there are many tutorials available online to help you get started.
Ab-Tastic
Abdominal crunches is probably the one we are all the most familiar with. Toning and strengthening your core muscles whilst increasing their flexibility and mobility makes this one a traditional favourite for good reason.
Push-Up For The Burn
Push-ups are another long-stayer in this area. Building upper-body and shoulder strength, when properly formed, push-ups will also strengthen the lower back and core.
Improvise
There are also opportunities to improvise equipment. Any heavy enough rope can serve well for skipping, which is good for agility, coordination, leg strength and stamina. A heavy enough chair can be used for dips and if you feel the need to increase your core, simply filling a rucksack with books might give you the boost you’re after.
Don’t let the circumstances kill your routine. Stay healthy and stay safe.
If you are interested in finding out more about Rusty's Surf Strength from Home Courses please click here: https://rustysurfboards.me/pages/surf-strength-coach
Our courses are designed to help you become a better surfer by building a better, stronger and healthier body.