HOW TO TRAIN YOUR CORE
CORE STRENGTH FOR THE SURFER
Part 1. You’ve Got To Be Stable
Core training surfers: Do you want to throw down some heavy turns and powerful cutbacks? Well how strong is your core? The rotational power and strength needed for throwing out buckets of water is all coming from the mid-section, your core.
While you’ve got to have strong legs to transfer all that speed and strength into the board and throw some fins out the back, without a strong stable core it’s just not gonna happen.
So lose the unnecessary crunches, don’t fall into the gimmick of some crappy gym “abs” equipment, and start working on some movements that will give your full body torso strength, and maybe make those abs of yours a bit more impressive.
Core Stability
Stability is the place to start. Think of needing to lay the framework for a house. If the foundation is weak, eventually once it’s all built, things are going to fall apart.
Core stability is providing the framework to properly stabilize your spine and pelvis, so that you can progress to powerful and dynamic rotational strength.
If you lack the ability to properly stabilize all those little joints, and you start forcing huge rotational movements through your core (spine/pelvis), eventually things will break down…. which is bad news and some back pain!
This is where most people, and trainers fall short, and this is especially important for anyone suffering with back pain. You MUST get proper core and spinal stability, before progressing into strength and power development. Even if you don’t have back pain, this is the place to start to really make some improvements! There it is core training surfers.
SURF SPECIFIC CORE STABILITY EXERCISES
- Horse Stance, aka Bird Dog, Quadruped. Longer holds, 10second repetitions, building up to continuous work for 3 minutes.
- Supine Lateral Ball Roll. Slower movements from side to side, with a 1-2second hold per side. 12-16repetitions.
Get Strong, Get Stable, and Throwdown Some Huge Turns
-Cris Mills
