One of the great things about running a small business is they usually grow out of a passion, or an avid interest in a topic. In my case, the business was borne out of two. Gold Coast Surfboards was borne out of a passion for surfing and a passion for travel. With the idea that others share these passions, I built a business with the intent of providing them with everything they need, to make their surfing holiday the best they've ever had.
The business is based around a long term surfboard rental concept which includes services such as delivery and pickup. This part is great. I make sure I deliver as many boards as I can as it affords me the luxury of chatting to my clients about the passions we share. Usually these conversations are packed with useful tips about the services they'd like to see next year. So I try to listen, improve my business and provide them with those services when they return.
"I wish I was a little bit fitter for this holiday", so many of my clients tell me when returning their surfboards. This is the number 1 desire of the travelling surfers who use my services. The want a higher level of surfing fitness for their holidays. It makes sense really. When you go on a surfing trip, you end up surfing 2 - 3 times a day, which will probably equates to 4 - 6 hours a day in the water. This you do consistently over a period of 5 - 10 days. It is a lot of surfing. No matter how much you surf at home, you will be surfing more when on holiday.
So how can we condition ourselves for a surfing holiday. (Ie. When on holiday, you will spend much more time in the water paddling than you will at home, your fitness needs to be much higher) In this article we will look at a 3 point plan. The first 2 points should be part of your commitment to general fitness, the last will be to give your fitness a quick boost before your holiday.
The first thing you need to take care of is your general level of endurance. You need to be fit enough to go hard for 10 - 15 minutes minimum, as often this is the minimum paddling requirement for getting through the breakers and out the back.
This requirement needs to be specific to the water though. You need to be water fit. Endurance in the water is so different to endurance on land. Moving through the water is almost a feeling, an art. The worse your feel for the water is, the more energy you'll burn up when you take to it.
So get in the pool and swim at least twice a week. If you have a break near you, surf at least twice a week. No matter what you do, just make sure you are getting wet twice a week, every week of the year. Your water fitness will just come. It will just be something that develops, you will become more and more familiar with the water environment simply because you are being in it. Don't make any excuses, go on, get wet.
The second thing you need to think about is your core strength, balance and flexibility. People don't understand how important this is, especially when you increase your level of involvement. When you have a good core fitness and level of flexibility, your body holds together better and recovers quicker. That leaves you better prepared for your next session.
There is one thing I do to take care of my core strength and flexibility. Yoga. Yoga is so good in this regard for surfers, its almost as if yoga was invented for surfing. My suggestion, get yourself a yoga for surfing dvd and do the program twice a week. Its a little bit cheaper than going to the yoga clinic twice a week anyway.
One of the great things about yoga also, is it corrects the imbalances which surfing brings to your body. Just think for example of the strain which paddling puts on your back. Yoga brings all these over extensions back into balance. I can't recommend it enough for surfers.
The final thing you can do is a surf specific, functional training program. If you have taken care on the first and second items above, surf specific training is the ideal pre holiday fitness preparation. It should be short, (Ie a fitness program which runs from 4 - 12 weeks) it should gradually increase in intensity over those weeks and it should be designed specifically for the muscles you use in the water. The point with such a training program is to give your surf specific fitness a massive boost prior to arriving on your holiday.
To embellish a little, we've assumed you have a good level of general fitness, reasonable core strength and flexibility, so you are ready to participate in your every day level of surfing. However, in recognising that on the upcoming holiday your body is going to be using your surfing muscles a whole lot more than it usually does, for a short period of time, we give those muscles a fitness boost by performing very specific and related exercises.
I hope that points you in the right direction if you have a surf trip on the horizen. Fitness like everything these days is a lifestyle choice, the rest is just adding some cream to the top. - 15438
The business is based around a long term surfboard rental concept which includes services such as delivery and pickup. This part is great. I make sure I deliver as many boards as I can as it affords me the luxury of chatting to my clients about the passions we share. Usually these conversations are packed with useful tips about the services they'd like to see next year. So I try to listen, improve my business and provide them with those services when they return.
"I wish I was a little bit fitter for this holiday", so many of my clients tell me when returning their surfboards. This is the number 1 desire of the travelling surfers who use my services. The want a higher level of surfing fitness for their holidays. It makes sense really. When you go on a surfing trip, you end up surfing 2 - 3 times a day, which will probably equates to 4 - 6 hours a day in the water. This you do consistently over a period of 5 - 10 days. It is a lot of surfing. No matter how much you surf at home, you will be surfing more when on holiday.
So how can we condition ourselves for a surfing holiday. (Ie. When on holiday, you will spend much more time in the water paddling than you will at home, your fitness needs to be much higher) In this article we will look at a 3 point plan. The first 2 points should be part of your commitment to general fitness, the last will be to give your fitness a quick boost before your holiday.
The first thing you need to take care of is your general level of endurance. You need to be fit enough to go hard for 10 - 15 minutes minimum, as often this is the minimum paddling requirement for getting through the breakers and out the back.
This requirement needs to be specific to the water though. You need to be water fit. Endurance in the water is so different to endurance on land. Moving through the water is almost a feeling, an art. The worse your feel for the water is, the more energy you'll burn up when you take to it.
So get in the pool and swim at least twice a week. If you have a break near you, surf at least twice a week. No matter what you do, just make sure you are getting wet twice a week, every week of the year. Your water fitness will just come. It will just be something that develops, you will become more and more familiar with the water environment simply because you are being in it. Don't make any excuses, go on, get wet.
The second thing you need to think about is your core strength, balance and flexibility. People don't understand how important this is, especially when you increase your level of involvement. When you have a good core fitness and level of flexibility, your body holds together better and recovers quicker. That leaves you better prepared for your next session.
There is one thing I do to take care of my core strength and flexibility. Yoga. Yoga is so good in this regard for surfers, its almost as if yoga was invented for surfing. My suggestion, get yourself a yoga for surfing dvd and do the program twice a week. Its a little bit cheaper than going to the yoga clinic twice a week anyway.
One of the great things about yoga also, is it corrects the imbalances which surfing brings to your body. Just think for example of the strain which paddling puts on your back. Yoga brings all these over extensions back into balance. I can't recommend it enough for surfers.
The final thing you can do is a surf specific, functional training program. If you have taken care on the first and second items above, surf specific training is the ideal pre holiday fitness preparation. It should be short, (Ie a fitness program which runs from 4 - 12 weeks) it should gradually increase in intensity over those weeks and it should be designed specifically for the muscles you use in the water. The point with such a training program is to give your surf specific fitness a massive boost prior to arriving on your holiday.
To embellish a little, we've assumed you have a good level of general fitness, reasonable core strength and flexibility, so you are ready to participate in your every day level of surfing. However, in recognising that on the upcoming holiday your body is going to be using your surfing muscles a whole lot more than it usually does, for a short period of time, we give those muscles a fitness boost by performing very specific and related exercises.
I hope that points you in the right direction if you have a surf trip on the horizen. Fitness like everything these days is a lifestyle choice, the rest is just adding some cream to the top. - 15438
About the Author:
Damian Papworth is the manager of Gold Coast Surfboards, a company that offers products for travelling surfers' needs. From board hire to surf fitness, they'll sort it out for you.
