While competitive surfing tends to draw more attention during Summer Olympics years, it’s not a once-every-four-years sport. There are many competitive surfing events year-round, including nine competitions for the Championship Tour (CT), finishing up with the Lexus World Surf League Finals.
But one question that may come to your mind when you hear about competitive surfing is: how do surfers train for their competitions? The obvious answer is by surfing, of course. But when a surfer is traveling to a location with notoriously difficult and dangerous waves – like Teahupo’o in Tahiti, where the Paris 2024 Olympic surfing events were held – how can a surfer who lives in a place with less-intense swells prepare? And what other workouts do they do to complement their practice time?
“This sport becomes so challenging because there’s no on-off, realistically. The sport is based on Mother Nature,” ” says Tracy Axel, a lifelong surfer, and the team manager for Team USA’s Olympic Surf Team. Case in point: the surfing events at the 2024 Olympics were postponed several times due to weather.
Of course, athletes are unique, and therefore the way they train has to be individual. But one thing’s for sure: the sport is no joke. One thing Axel was particularly excited about during the 2024 Games was the fact that women had the ability to surf the intense waves of Teahupo’o – an opportunity they hadn’t been given for the better part of a decade. “I believe that the Olympic stage is another massive asset for these women to really show that they are not only just equal to the men out in the lineup when they’re given the big waves, but they’re just as strong and just as empowered,” Axel says. “The sport really truly shows the athleticism and grit that it takes in the sport.”
Here, Axel shares how competitive surfing athletes train for competitions, how they warm up and cool down before and after events or practice sessions, and what else they do to stay in mental and physical shape for their demanding sport.
Experts Featured in This Article
Tracy Axel, MS, CSCS, is a high performance surfing consultant and the team manager for Team USA’s Olympic Surf Team.
Why Is Competitive Surfing So Hard?
To understand how competitive surfers train, it helps to understand what competitive surfing is. Surfing is a highly physical activity, requiring the ability to swim and perform breath holds, paddle, push one’s bodyweight off the surfboard, and pop up into a low crouched stance, all the while keeping balance and stability to stay on the surfboard and maneuver the board along waves. In competition, scoring and points are awarded for maneuvers achieved through explosive core rotation, carving, and aerial tricks, with similarities to skateboarding.
“Surfing has all facets that are necessary in terms of speed, agility, power, endurance and flexibility,” Axel says. “It’s quite an acrobatic sport, with a short work-to-rest ratio and high impact landing forces.”
In surfing competitions, during the preliminary stages, the heats can range for 30 to 40 minutes, which requires athletes to have strong endurance. Riding in the barrel of the wave, for example, requires athletes to be “extremely nimble and flexible, and to get crouched and low, in a squat stance,” Axel says.
“Based on the velocity and the acceleration, while they are maneuvering their surfboard on the face of the wave, the reaction forces from the wave are truly challenging them in a component that strength and power is absolutely necessary,” Axel says.
How Competitive Surfers Train
There’s no one single way competitive surfers train. “The training for each athlete is so unique and individualized,” Axel says. But there are a few commonalities. Axel says that at minimum, surfing athletes will stick to a training program that focuses on fitness maintenance, typically including a minimum of two strength and conditioning sessions a week. In particular, “activation and core work” are both very critical, she says.
When in location for a competition, the athletes often surf upwards of two times a day, for two to three hours per training session, Axel says.
Additionally, Axel notes that surfing athletes also typically track their performance and training load via wearable technology, such as a Whoop or an Oura ring.
Why do surfers need to do any out-of-the-water training? It circles back to those high-impact landing forces, and how those landings affect the body. “There’ve been so many ankle, knee, hip injuries in the sport. We’re starting to see the trend over the last ten years,” Axel says. Ground- or land-based training, “reduces the risk of injuries and imbalances based on maneuvering,” she says.
How Competitive Surfers Warm Up and Cool Down
Before training or competing, athletes warm up to activate the glutes, hips, knees, and ankles, Axel says. They might do this with a foam roller, resistance band, or a stationary bike.
The warm-up is key. Unlike traditional sports, the surfers may have to be on a boat or a jet ski prior to entering their preliminary heat, so they can’t just do a few squats or lunges on the beach and be ready to go. “The warm-up on land has to have more activation into their routine,” Axel says.
Post-training recovery and cool-down strategies may include working with a physical therapist, taking ice baths, and focusing on rehydrating and refueling. “We have a smoothie station, making sure that [Team USA athletes are] replenishing and hydrating after they get back on land,” Axel says. The smoothie station includes vegan protein powders, almond butter, fruits, and coconut water.
For competitive surfers, recovery is an all-the-time activity, not reserved for after a tough practice session or competition. The reason is that surfing competitions take place all over the globe. Travel-related wear on the body can be significant, and requires recovery tools like ice baths, sauna, or infrared light therapy to cope with. It’s about “making sure all facets of performance are being dialed and refined as they continue to travel on tour,” Axel says. “We really have to approach it from an individual level.”
How Competitive Surfers Stay Focused
The power of the mind can play a massive role in human performance, especially when it comes to surfing athletes. Axel says that some athletes like to do meditative walks or seated meditation ahead of competition, and others like to journal and document their journey.
Like their individualized training, each athlete has different strategies for staying focused. “Some of them will focus on the waves, while others won’t even watch the waves,” Axel says. According to Axel, some prefer to “have their headphones on and be in solitude to focus on their warm-up and their readiness.”
Unlike other sports, surfing can be highly individual, and many athletes choose not to focus on who else is out in the ocean with them. “I think it’s a really beautiful transition to think that you’re only in a heat against yourself,” Axel says. “It’s only you and the wave. It’s simple. It’s challenging.”
Visualization can be a powerful tool as well. To use it, athletes might “repeat those waves that went really well, but then also visualize how to fix the ones that went wrong,” Axel says. The technique can help an athlete identify and work through issues that are interfering with their performance, including anxiety. It also helps surfers tap into positive thinking and belief in their own resilience.
“Believe that anything is possible. This sport is a testament of that – no one thought that surfing was ever going to be an Olympic sport,” Axel says. “There’s always going to be those that will doubt you, and not believe in you. [But] if you can visualize why it is you do what you do – anything is possible.”
Jade Esmeralda, MS, CSCS, is a Staff Writer, Health & Fitness. A life-long martial artist and dancer, Jade has a strong passion for strength & conditioning, sports science, and human performance. She graduated with a Master of Science degree in Exercise Science and Strength and Conditioning from George Washington University.
Related: Carissa Moore’s Hawaiian Heritage Inspired Her to Open Up About Mental Health
