Your Online Guide to Good Health and Wellness
Random header image... Refresh for more!

If You Can Surf, Can You Snowboard?

by Lisa

Two extreme sports that have seen a huge upsurge in their popularity over the last decade are surfing and snowboarding. It might be the case that one takes place on snow covered mountains and the other often takes place in warm waters with sandy beaches, but that doesn’t stop people enjoying both sports. But does the fitness and skill sets that you pick up taking part in one sport, go any way to help you in the other? Let us take a look at three important elements that these sports require.

Upper Body Condition. Surfing is one of those sports that is absolutely grueling on the upper-body, and if its not in good condition you wont be going anywhere fast. You need endurance in order to repetitively paddle surfboards out to see against breaking waves, and power is need in the ‘pop-up’ phase of getting upright on the board when you have caught a wave. Snowboarding however, does not demand anywhere near as from the upper body, as it is only really used for balance and core-stability support

Timing. This is one very important factor that is shared by both sports. Timing your turns just right in snowboarding isn’t easy, especially on the steeper runs, and unless you have got it sussed, you can quite easily be eating snow before you know it. Likewise, catching a wave right requires great timing and knowing when to carve the board to pick up speed is a skill that can take years to learn.

Lower Body Agility & Fitness. Although surfing is reliant on having a strong and agile lower body, snowboarding is the sport that is more leg-focused. Snowboards require great skill and agility to turn and carve, and if your leg muscles are not in good condition you will simply not be able to ride well. Don’t for one minute think though that surfing does not require you to have good lower body fitness and flexibility, because it certainly does.

Related Blogs

0 comments

There are no comments yet...

Kick things off by filling out the form below.

Leave a Comment