As a surfer who started when I was only 13 years old for many decades, I wish I knew all of the new surfing practice techniques invented these days. The idea that you can practice surfing at home was unheard of when I was a grommet.
Practicing surfing at home and outside of the actual surf is limited to three things. Surf balance and coordination (longboarding), surf endurance (swimming/treading water/breath control), and flexibility to handle surfing (stretches). Everything else needs to be practiced out there in the surf.
Below I’m going to cover in more detail how you can practice surfing in preparation for getting yourself in the waves. Read on, if you want to learn more about surfing practice.
How Can I Practice Surfing At Home?
Find a flat surface, you can set up a spot in your lounge room on carpet, I’d recommend you use a yoga matt if possible. Other spots you can use are a flat grass surface or the best spot is on the sand at the beach.
There are a bunch of stretching exercises that are designed to increase flexibility. Stretch your back, and loosen up your hips.
It’s important for you to be aware that surfers generally develop back issues when they aren’t consistently stretching before every surfing session.
While practicing surfing at home, you might want to learn how to get a surfers body too, check out this article that will help you get there.
So, you need to put in place a simple stretching system that you’ll remember to do every time before hitting the waves. This is why we are starting here.
This stretch is perfect for surfers, it’s a very common stretch you’ll see surfers do on the beach before entering the surf. Stretching out your back is valuable to avoid injuries in the surf.
If you cannot do this cobra pose, due to flexibility issues, maybe you can do a little each day until you can do the full cobra pose. This is a basic stretch, if you have trouble with something as simple as this, you may not be able to surf.
The reason why we do this cobra stretch at home every day before surfing is: Surfers need to keep their heads above the water, high off the surfboard. Surfers need to have full 360-degree situational awareness out in the surf.
Having your head up high will help you to see everything that’s around you. Situational awareness is important to keep you out of trouble in the surf.
And if you don’t stretch out your back by using various different stretches like the cobra stretch, you may develop back soreness.
After the cobra stretch, I want you to move into this pose. Feel your back and core relax during this pose. Hold it for a few seconds.
There are a range of other stretches you can do for your back, that I’m sure you can find on the internet somewhere, this is just a summarised blog for beginner surfers.
Injuries are common for surfers. You should avoid hurting yourself by reading this article on how to avoid getting surfing injuries.
How Do You Practice Surfing On Dry Land?
The best way to practice surfing on dry land is by buying a longboard skateboard, with large gel wheels. You can practice surfing balance on a longboard, by leaning into the turn.
It will simulate what it feels like to surf on a wave, while riding a longboard on dry land. Longboards will help you:
- Surfing balance and coordination
- Practice turning, just like a surfboard
- Generating speed on a surfboard
- Building all the muscle groups in your legs that are required as a surfer
How Can I Practice Surfing Pop Up At Home?
Before getting into the exact technique of doing the pop up to stand on a surfboard, I think you should start by building up the muscle groups required. You need a strong core to be a good surfer, so let’s work on your core strength first.
Here’s a list of surfing exercises I’d like you to do at home:
- Push-ups
- Sit-ups
- Planks
- Burpees
Grab yourself a yoga mat, so it’s not so hard under your feet. The grass is also acceptable.
We all know what it looks like when a surfer pops up on their surfboard on a wave. Just simply lay on the flat ground, then try pop up (as if there was an invisible surfboard beneath you).
Try place your feet in the exact positioning that you would imagine would be perfect for a surfer. It might feel silly, that’s understandable. Just do it a few times.
Different surfers have many unique styles. What style of surfer are you? Find out by reading this article.
Practice Surfing Endurance Out Of The Surf
- Swimming
- Treading water
- Holding your breath under water
You’ll need to train in a local pool. Swimming at least 1km per day in a pool consistently, would be the base level of ability I would require you to achieve. Plus having the ability to tread water for at least 30 minutes without a break.
Finally: Everytime you have a bath, practice holding your breath and time yourself. The goal would be to try beat your record each time. Keep in mind, surfers can hold their breath for a long time.
Watch Surfing Videos For Ideas (Practice Surfing)
As a beginner surfer (grommet) I used to love watching surfing videos at my friends houses. We would watch all the worlds best surfers free surfing. I wouldn’t recommend you watch the surfing competitions so much, I’d say more like
It is common for surfers to make full length movies with them surfing in their spare time. Pro surfers, when they are just free surfing for fun, they are often trying new surf tricks, this is great for you to watch.
Surfing videos can be used as the best educational videos on surfing, I definitely recommend you watch as many surfing movies as you can.
Practice Paddling For Surfing At Home
To be honest, any surf coach out there that tells you to lay on a surfboard and pretend to paddle is a little crazy. I can’t really see the benefit of this type of thing. Sure, you can do a few pop up’s to practice standing up, but paddling…. It’s a little weird.
Anyway, hopefully this list of tips for practicing surfing at home has been kinda helpful for you.