One reason you can bench press a lot of weight is because the bench isn’t moving underneath you. Imagine standing on it with a 40-foot swell right behind you—how much weight do you think you could put up then? Surfing requires its own special kind of strength training, and it results in its own unique-looking physique. (The kind most ladies love, and that most average lifters are working toward.) The following routine can help to get you there, whether you want to be a better surfer or not. Try it for the next month and you’re guaranteed to carve out that surfer physique. Don’t believe me? The program’s built around the exact training regimen that I used as a platform to help me push the boundaries of extreme sports for the past decade.
How It Works:
The exercises that follow integrate stability, power, and core training to help improve your balance and activate muscles you’re not used to using (the kind you’d have to use on a board). Every one of them is challenging. Unlike bodybuilders, surfers don’t focus on isolating muscles. They need their whole bodies to function as one unit, so you’ll often see exercises for the upper and lower body meshed together in one combination move. Best of all, you don’t need to spend your summer in a gym to see results on this plan. Pack a pair of dumbbells and a Swiss ball, and you can do the workout right on the beach.
Directions:
Frequency:
Perform the workout two to three days a week (whenever you can’t surf!), resting at least a day between each session.
Time Needed: 30 minutes
How to Do It:
Perform the exercises as a circuit, completing one set of each, one after the other. Rest as little as possible between exercises, and 90 seconds to three minutes between circuits. Do two to three total circuits, completing eight to 12 reps for each exercise.
- Mens Fitness
How It Works:
The exercises that follow integrate stability, power, and core training to help improve your balance and activate muscles you’re not used to using (the kind you’d have to use on a board). Every one of them is challenging. Unlike bodybuilders, surfers don’t focus on isolating muscles. They need their whole bodies to function as one unit, so you’ll often see exercises for the upper and lower body meshed together in one combination move. Best of all, you don’t need to spend your summer in a gym to see results on this plan. Pack a pair of dumbbells and a Swiss ball, and you can do the workout right on the beach.
Directions:
Frequency:
Perform the workout two to three days a week (whenever you can’t surf!), resting at least a day between each session.
Time Needed: 30 minutes
How to Do It:
Perform the exercises as a circuit, completing one set of each, one after the other. Rest as little as possible between exercises, and 90 seconds to three minutes between circuits. Do two to three total circuits, completing eight to 12 reps for each exercise.
- Mens Fitness
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Overhead walking lunge
Hold dumbbells overhead and brace your abs. Step forward into a lunge, bending your front knee until your thigh is parallel to the ground. Step forward and repeat with the other leg. Each step is one rep.
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Dumbbell push-up
Hold a dumbbell in each hand and get into pushup position on the ground. Perform a pushup, then rotate 90 degrees to your left side and raise one weight overhead. Return to the top of the push-up position and repeat on the opposite side. That’s one rep.
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Swiss ball dumbbell row
Hold a dumbbell in one hand and rest your free hand on a Swiss ball. Bend at the hips so your torso is parallel to the ground; keep your back flat. Row the dumbbell to your side. Complete your reps on one side, and then switch.
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Alternating overhead press
Hold a dumbbell in one hand and rest your free hand on a Swiss ball. Bend at the hips so your torso is parallel to the ground; keep your back flat. Row the dumbbell to your side. Complete your reps on one side, and then switch.
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Swiss ball dumbbell rotation
Hold a dumbbell in both hands and lie on your back on a Swiss ball. Rotate your torso as far as you can to one side and then the other. That’s one rep.
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Single-leg squat
Stand on one leg and then squat down as low as you can. If you need to, hold on to something for support.
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Clap pushup
Get into push-up position and lower your body until your chest is about an inch above the ground. Explosively push yourself back up so that your hands leave the ground and you can clap in midair. When you land, use the momentum to begin the next rep.
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Prone swimmer
Lie facedown on the ground and extend your arms and legs. Raise them off the ground simultaneously, then pull your arms down toward your sides. Repeat, as if you were doing a breaststroke, keeping your arms and legs elevated throughout the set.
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Dumbbell get-up
Grab a dumbbell in one hand and lie on your back on the ground. Raise the weight over your face. Now get up as quickly as you can without using your free hand for support.
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Kneeling swiss ball press
Grab a dumbbell in each hand and kneel on a Swiss ball. Find your balance and raise the weights to shoulder level. Press them overhead. If that’s too hard, you can kneel on two medicine balls.
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Swiss ball jackknife
Get into push-up position and rest your shins on a Swiss ball. Keeping your torso straight, draw your knees up to your chest, rolling the ball forward..
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