Surfing is hugely popular for a really good reason.
If you’ve never tried it, it’s loads of fun even for the least experienced surfer.
Catching the waves and even just being in the water alone is great for you in so many different ways.
But it’s often wondered whether surfing is actually good exercise.
Let’s find out.
Yes, surfing is great exercise in many ways. It’s good for cardiovascular fitness, it strengthens the muscles in your shoulders and back, as well as your core strength. Standing up on the board and holding your centre is great for your legs. So, yes, surfing is great exercise in many different ways.
While most people don’t see surfing as a form of exercise, but just a fun hobby, the great thing about it is that it manages to be both at the same time.
Surfing is great for your whole body, as well as being good for your mental health, too.
Let’s find out more.
Is surfing a good way to lose weight?
It depends on how you view this question—it’s a bit more nuanced than you might think.
Surfing is going to build muscle over time, and muscle actually is heavier than fat.
If you are extremely muscular, you’ll actually weigh more than you would with the same amount of fat.
So, losing weight probably isn’t the best way of looking at it.
You’ll gain weight, but it will be in muscle rather than in fat.
That said, surfing certainly will help you burn fat and calories.
On average, surfers burn around 400 calories per hour.
Though some can’t get enough of it, for most of us, exercising at the gym can be a bit of a slog.
But surfing is really fun, and so you won’t even notice how long you are doing it for.
This makes it a great way to burn calories and fat.
If you are in a position where losing a lot of weight is your goal, then surfing may not be the most efficient method to get there.
That said, it’s a lot more fun and engaging than the gym, so it might, in that sense, be better for you—even if it is less efficient.
So, is surfing better than the gym?
Is surfing better than the gym?
Of course, there are many ways of looking at this question.
In some ways, it certainly is better.
But for the most part, this answer to this question depends on you as a person, and your goals.
If what you want is the quickest route to fat loss, or to building muscle, then surfing is not better than the gym.
You will do better by working out a bespoke fitness regime with a personal trainer.
This will allow you to achieve your goals more quickly.
However, there are many advantages to surfing as a workout rather than going to the gym.
Some of us, no matter how hard we try, just can’t see the gym as anything other than a chore.
Showing up is often the hardest part in any work out.
For that reason, surfing is better for many people because showing up is fun, and not something we need to convince ourselves to do.
There are no two ways about the fact that surfing is great exercise, and good for you in a number of different ways.
So, it depends on your goals, your personality, the kinds of exercise you prefer and how hard you find it to motivate yourself to exercise.
Surfing is a great way to exercise, but you’ll get the best results out of combining surfing with other, regular exercise.
Why are surfers so ripped?
Why, then, are surfers so often ripped?
Well, again, it’s down to a number of factors.
Many surfers are ripped partly because of how often they surf, but also because of a statistical likelihood that surfers also spend a lot of time in the gym.
There’s a lot of overlap between fitness enthusiasts and surfers.
So, it usually isn’t entirely down to surfing.
That said, surfers have abs in particular because surfing is a fantastic core exercise.
You need to be strong enough to maintain your balance in your whole body, adjusting for minor changes in the waves.
This leads to a strong core workout, which makes many surfers ripped.
So, is surfing a good enough work out on its own?
Is surfing a good enough work out?
Again, it really depends. If you do it often enough and for long enough sessions, then you can probably get all the activity you need out of it.
But that, once again, depends on what your goals are, and where you’re at with your fitness at the moment.
The problem with surfing is that you can’t do it year round and being able to do it on any given day depends on weather conditions.
So, you should really have a back up like jogging or the gym to fall back on when you can’t surf.
So, while with certain fitness goals you might need to do a bit more than just surfing, it is nonetheless great exercise in and of itself.
It’s great for your core strength, paddling is great cardio, and it’s great for your balance.
With enough regular surfing, you may even notice weight loss effects.
However, it’s really not ideal in itself as a workout regime—you’re probably going to need to pair it with other things to see the best results.
