Injecting some fun into your workouts and giving yourself a fitness challenge can do wonders for your motivation. There are few sports that are as fun as surfing, so when you’re feeling like you need a real exercise boost, it’s time to hit the waves. Here are our 5 top reasons why you should take up surfing:
1- Complete workout
There are few sports that are able to work you out like surfing can. Even from your first lesson in small waves, your fitness is put to the test. Warming up by running up and down the beach, learning to pop up on your board, and of course, paddling into waves- all contribute to a stronger, leaner and healthier body. Surfing works your deep core muscles for balance, whilst paddling raises your heart rate and gets your cardio stamina levels up.
2- Clearing your mind
The ocean is a great equalizer, it gives us the time and space to forget about all our worries and stress, and purely focus on our breathing and the wave in front of us. Surfing enables us to both escape daily pressures, but also to gain perspective on what’s going on in our lives.
3- Daylight
Sometimes all we need is some outdoor time. Working in an office or being stuck indoors throughout Autumn and Winter takes its toll on our mind and bodies. So getting out into some fun waves enables us to be in nature, to see some sunlight or at least daylight, and push those seasonal syndromes aside.
4- Best of both
Working out can be really hard work, that’s why it’s called a ‘work-out’. However surfing somehow manages to be both incredibly fun and a great workout at the same time. When you’re out in the waves, regardless of whether it is a beautifully rugged beach at home, or on a surf holiday in the deliciously hot Canary Islands, you have so much fun you forget that you’re exercising. Surfing somehow manages to combine exercise with enjoyment in such an effortless way that it’ll have you coming back for more again and again.
5- Confidence
Setting yourself a challenge, not taking yourself to seriously and risking taking up a new sport can do wonders for your confidence. A lot of people often want to try surfing, but are afraid that they’ll look ‘silly’ falling off their surfboard. However, any surfer will tell you that’s all part of the fun, and that everyone from beginners to professionals fall off all the time. There is a confidence that you gain by letting go of being ‘perfect’ at surfing. Simply enjoying the challenge and laughing at yourself helps to develop confidence both in and out of the water.
Feeling the need to give surfing a go? Take a look at www.surfholidays.com for some inspiration and perfect surf destinations around Europe.