Surfing Waves

I am spending less and less time in the gym these days even though I have been going since I can remember.
If there are any waves.... I mean any ridable waves at all I want to get out on the board for a couple of hours, but surfing and going to the gym in the same day destroys me and probably overdoing it anyway.
The day after the surf if there are no waves I say to myself I'll go to the gym but normally I wake up aching so i say, it would be overdoing it going to the gym and I don't bother, so the cycle continues.
Do you guys hit the gym and surf?

There are really 3 reasons to exercise (gym, surf, soccer whatever - assuming you arent a pro)

- you enjoy it as an activity in and of itself (eg team sports). You figure out the level of enjoyment when you have the option not to go and decide you want (or dont want) to go. If you dont feel like going to the gym and you dont, then you have learnt that you dont enjoy it as much as not going. Which is fine, I dont enjoy lots of things that other (strange) people seem to enjoy

- general health - you dont need to do everything to be generally healthy. If you surf, you dont need to gym (of course, a range of activities is better than a single activity, so there is benefit in doing both. But there is no 'need' to do both)

- to achieve a goal (weight loss, improve another sport eg by getting stronger or fitter; aesthetics, injury rehab etc). If you dont actually have such a goal then you dont need to do the exercise

So if gym doesnt fit into one of the above categories, then why stress about whether you are going to the gym or not. If you are actually tired then going to the gym might even be counter productive

Great reply, Cheers DTC.

I'm really tired after a surf and never go to the gym. The dog is LUCKY if he gets a walk when I get home!

I don't go to the gym but I do lift some light weights (15 pound dumbbells). I am quite different than most of you in that my schedule of surfing is rigid because I have limited time. So I go surf during the time I have regardless of what the surf is doing. Most of the time I only surf on Saturday and Sunday and I do weights on Tuesday and Friday. If there is a holiday and I surf on Monday or Tuesday I don't do weights on Tuesday, likewise if I surf on Thursday or Friday I don't do weights on Friday.

BoMan wrote:I'm really tired after a surf and never go to the gym. The dog is LUCKY if he gets a walk when I get home!

My dog would just piss and poop at home if I don't take her out I wish I don't have to walk her 3-4 times a day!

I couldn't do both on the same day and to be fair not done any other exercise other than a bit of yoga since the clocks changed so I could start surfing at night.

When it gets to winter and I can only surf Saturday and Sunday I will be looking to do more exercise to keep me fit but ping it on the same day is just madness.

I actually like going to the gym early in winter (still dark) then going for a surf. I find the icy cold water feels good on the legs after a good squat session. I couldn't surf then gym but for some reason can happily gym then surf. After surfing am wiped out and more feeling like hanging out at a coffee shop! i actually find surfing the day after gym worse than the same day but will do that too.. I think in the end the body adapts. I remember reading a Michael Joran biography that talked about how he was one of the first to gym regularly during the basketball season but decided to because otherwise he wouldn't achieve his goals.. Obviously he's a genetic freak but still I think sometimes it's easy to make excuses sometimes around overtraining.. If you are always sick/injured then you probably are overtraining, but most people would probably find they can actually push themselves harder than they currently do.

This is what you get drinking 2 liters of Mountain Dew daily, eating at Jack in the Box, Taco Bell and McDonalds ...... and surfing for 4 hours a day everyday for 5 years. And not once going to the gym.

waikikikichan wrote:This is what you get drinking 2 liters of Mountain Dew daily, eating at Jack in the Box, Taco Bell and McDonalds ...... and surfing for 4 hours a day everyday for 5 years. And not once going to the gym.

Screenshot 2018-08-01 at 4.14.29 PM.png

True. My triceps was like the one on the right. My routine would be 1 banana and onigiri for breakfast. Big mac from Mcdonalds or bento box from the train station. Sometimes I wouldn't even eat lunch if the swell is good. Then for dinner I would have teppanyaki or some kind of deep fried chinese oily food in Taiwan. Always super unhealthy but definitely didn't look that way. It wasn't until they did a blood test and said for a skinny person, I really had high cholesterol and I should change my diet.

If you just starting or resuming surfing after a long break gym is out of question.
Otherwise you can manage it with moderate approach and eagerness to skip a training day for the sake of surfing.

And absolutely no, if 4 hours everyday.
4 times of 1 hour sessions per week + 1-2 days of gym should be fine

I Survived such schedule for a couple months a while ago

I do dips, pull ups, pushups, lunges, squats and stretches particularly focused on my ankles, hips, hamstrings, lats, back and shoulders. Seems to help but then I won't do anything for a month or two and don't really see much of a performance drop either. Made a big difference when first starting out, but at this point so long as I am getting in the water regularly is all I need for paddle fitness.

Gym, Jaffa and the rusty penknife. During the off season and post surgery recovery I started gym and flexibility exercise designed to prepare for this Portugal surf trip.
A full building schedule cut a lot of session. When I hit the surf here it shows,

Paddle power good,
Paddle timing recovered and remembered after second day ( Lagido is shifty S curving incoming peak with fattening holes in the reef.
Positioning is definitely a local skill, 4 days to master)

Crowd and my integration ( fascination with an ancient surfer ) good.

Failure zone lost through incomplete gym session and quad femoris speed work.
My knees won’t easily allow full extension into riding stance about 80% of the time, awkward, embarrassing and causing riding prone more than I would like, but I am in the sea again.
Moral of the story, stay as full surf fit as you can.
Hmmmmmmmm. Next time!

Today, found the supply of human WD40
After a shaky start knees worked fine, small very satisfying surf full cross step and nose ride

Guys, I have three addictions in this beautiful life: surfing, sports, and women. I love them all equally and I can't give up on any of them. Combining surfing and training I have women, so maybe that's why they are around me like a swarm of bees. Three times a week I dedicated my time to surfing and two days to the gym. Ever since I discovered the miracle of having a gym at home, I have given up the gym and the coach. Now, I have my own, including some cable crossovers, fitness running, weight lifting. I got my girlfriend into this too. She was too shy to go to the gym, even though she had a wasp body.

USlater wrote:Guys, I have three addictions in this beautiful life: surfing, sports, and women. I love them all equally and I can't give up on any of them. Combining surfing and training I have women, so maybe that's why they are around me like a swarm of bees. Three times a week I dedicated my time to surfing and two days to the gym. Ever since I discovered the miracle of having a gym at home, I have given up the gym and the coach. Now, I have my own gym including some cable crossovers, fitness running, weight lifting. I got my girlfriend into this too. She was too shy to go to the gym, even though she had a wasp body.

I hope my girlfriend will be motivated too if I do a home gym.

Unfortunately, I have recently stopped doing physical activity. I used to visit the gym 2 times a day for a long time. However, it stopped pleasing me at some point. I hope I will be able to go there next week and restore my activity. Btw, What type of training do you prefer more? The cyclical one is more productive for me. A prerequisite is a complete fatigue. I usually don’t leave the gym until the complete collapse of strength.

mg100 wrote:Do you guys hit the gym and surf?

Never.. I usually have a day rest between each.. eg if i surf i can't train until a day of rest.. and if i gym i can't surf until after a day of rest..

sucks when its biiiig and pumping and i trained and only rested one day.. sometimes the lats and tris are still fatigued and I can't surf with the intensity i hoped then i think to myself, why do i do this..

I haven't surfed for 3 weeks because i got a crossfit comp on saturday.. and i'm thinking of going sunday.. even though i know my arms and lower back will be cooked..

why?