Growing up as a competitive surfer training and fitness was apart of my daily routine. If I wasn’t surfing for 4 hours a day I’d be spending 4 hours in the gym training my ass off to be on top form. (Not quite 4 hours but you for the sake of this blog it was 4 hours )
Whether you’re training to become Mr Universe or (like myself) you’re training to be at the very top physical form to enjoy your sport. Training does not come easy. If it did, everyone would be doing it. But like I said training ain’t easy. And thats ALL training; surfing, boxing, hitting the gym whatever.
Whether you’ve been surfing for 10 years, 10 days or about to head on a surf adventure of a life time. Being as fit as you can will, on trip will help you maximise your time in the water and in return, have a blast out there!
So I thought I would reach out to my ex-surfing professional and bit of a nutcase/legend mate Mark Hill to write something up of the importance of functional training for surfing and throw together a program anyone can do.
Mark Hill On Training
Before I explain the benefits of training pre surf trip and maintaining a training routine throughout your life to make you surf better, stronger and maybe even look good out the water, let me introduce myself.
I am first and foremost a surf addict. I have been surfing my entire life. I was a competitive sponsored surfing athlete for 10 years and during this time I started to realise that to keep surfing hard I had to do more, more than just surf. I had to train out of the water and I can honestly say that training and specifically functional training, changed my surfing and ultimately my life.
I went on to study exercise science and sports nutrition. I took the science of exercise and put it into surfing. I now currently train surfers of all abilities to get themselves ready for surf trips or improve their competitive edge. I have trained surfers from all over the world, some WSL pros like Luke Egan, as well as a host of WQS campaigners and guys that are just amped to surf better.
“Mark doesn’t just train surfers, he practice what he preaches, he tries all exercises first to see how they feel and work before he prescribe them to clients.” – David Van Zyl (World Qualifying Series Campaigner)
So… What is functional training and why does it work?
Functional training is a form of training that incorporates full body, weight bearing exercises through movement. This type of training strengthens the entire body while improving cardiovascular performance, flexibility and mind body co-ordination. (There’s no need to explain how this would benefit your surfing)
It is the gold standard type of training that is used by all professional athletes. This synergy allows individuals to improve their performance in their sports and limit the risk of injuries. Functional training can be a combination of slow full body, or fast explosive movements, Examples of functional exercises are:- clean and presses, pull ups, dips, burpees and ball slams.
Benefits of functional training
Functional training movements generally recruit multiple muscles at once. Increasing your heart rate and expending more energy while building physical strength. This makes it an excellent cardio, weight training and fat burning form of training.
Functional movements improve strength, flexibility and agility. I personally consider functional training to be the best form of all round training.
Functional training enhances the relationship between the nervous and musculoskeletal system to provide quick, reactive powerful movement patterns that are utilised daily and in your chosen sport.
Functional training boosts your metabolism by recruiting more muscle at a time. This will aid in achieving a leaner, more toned physique that not only looks good but functions better.
Functional movements strengthen all the muscles of the core and trunk way more effectively than isolated core and abdominal exercises.
(Checkout this program to get yourself started)
If you enjoyed the above and looking for some more helpful training tips go follow Mark Hill on his Youtube channel and Instagram for some outrageous surfing and training content.
Keep fit this Winter!