Ride the Wave: Surf-Style Fitness

When Blue Crush first came out in 2002, I, and millions of other girls like me, ran out to get our puka shell necklaces, our Billabong board shorts, and our posters of real surfers ripping up the half-pipe. However, this fantasy that I was a “surfer girl” pretty much ended with the puka shells and my obnoxious AOL screen-name about being a Hurley chick. While I can go on and on about how much cooler and more athletic I would have been if I grew up in a little surf town in California or Hawaii, I’m currently loving the rise in surf-style fitness classes that you can take anywhere. From SurfSET to paddleboard fitness – these classes focus on improving your balance and strength, giving you that perfect long, lean, and toned surfer’s body, without ever having to get in the water.

SurfSET Fitness is a workout we’ve written about before. Available at gyms and resorts around the world, SurfSET brings the movement of a surfboard in water to solid ground thanks to its SurfSET Board. The 45-minute classes are geared to have you engage your core and stabilizer muscles by constantly switching things up and challenging your entire body. There is paddling to strengthen shoulders and lower back muscles, duck-diving to work your upper arms and really get tricep definition, pop-ups to challenge your core, and then standing up to “ride the wave” to improve balance, flexibility, and leg strength. There are four signature programs:

• Balance is inspired by yoga
• Burn is a fast-paced, high-intensity program
• Build works on strength and definition
• Blend combines it all for an interval workout

Try SurfSET at these Spafinder Wellness 365 partners:

• Montage Laguna Beach,
• Well & Being Spa at Fairmont Scottsdale Princess,
• Sandbox Fitness,
• FloorTime Studios
• Fuse Yoga & Fitness

Can’t make it to a class? You can purchase your own board The RipSurfer X for $550. With it you’ll gain access to SurfSET’s online workout video network which is updated regularly to keep things fresh and fun!

Paddleboard Fitness or SUP (Stand-up Paddleboard) can be done both in the water and on land. On water, its available at many resorts and beaches, as both a workout and as a leisurely activity. Its gained a ton of popularity over the years (it had the most amount of new participants of any outdoor activity last year!) thanks in part to its ability to offer a strenuous full-body workout. On land, the class mimics the effect of the paddleboard on the water, using bosu balls and a special paddleboard that rests on top of them, but the balance and coordination is up to you. I gave Paddle Fitness on land a try during a recent trip to Hawaii’s Aulani and boy, it was tough! It’s a serious arm workout, especially for someone who thinks of the “Blowdry Curl” as her main form of upper body exercise, but it was a blast and so much fun when set to lively music! You can even take it a step further and try Paddleboard Yoga, offered at El Conquistador Resort & Las Casitas Village, A Waldorf Astoria Resort‘s private Palomino Island!

Other destinations to get your SUP on include:

• El Mangroove Hotel
• The Standard Spa, Miami Beach
• Nantucket SUP Yoga
• SUP Dude Yoga

Would you book a surf-style fitness class? Let us know in the comments!