I was so excited to actually be doing what I had tried to vicariously feel while watching movies like Blue Crush or watching surfers like Kelly Slater, Bethany Hamilton, or even my cousin Josh. I had also seen pictures of my boyfriend surfing and while I had stood on his board when it was sitting on carpet, standing on a board while on a WAVE was incredible.
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| Doesn't really count, I know... |
It's pointless to tell you surfing is a good workout, but MAN. First you have to paddle out into the water, then once you see a good wave coming, you have to paddle really hard in order to catch it. That was my problem. I've got the balance part of surfing down! Maybe a minor issue there is that I'm goofy foot (meaning I put my right foot forward on the board instead of my left), but standing on the board isn't my problem; paddling is. I had tried "training" for this day by doing a bunch of pushups and arm exercises regularly before we left for Hawaii, but I was SO sore! At one point, I rode a wave in and it took me about 20 minutes just to get back to my family in the water...mostly because my thought process went as follows: "OH! Well here comes a wave, I'll just try to get this one *start paddling...miss wave...try to get back to family...see another wave...try to catch that one, too...miss it...*. Repeat this process a few more times, and that is how I spent a good 30 minutes.
If you look at any surfer though, you'll see that they really need to train for this sport. It requires a lot of upper body strength, but that's definitely not all. You need a strong core and strong everything to get up there and do it well! In fact, here's a link to lots of benefits of surfing...including lots of information about the type of nutrition and cross training surfers eat and do!
And here is a glimpse of one of the best days I have had yet! :D Go surfing!
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