If You Can Snowboard, Can You Surf?

Two extreme sports that have seen a huge upsurge in their popularity over the last decade are surfing and snowboarding. Despite the fact these two sports couldn’t be further away from each other in terms of climate needed and location, a lot of people still enjoy taking part in 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’s compare 3 of the main elements needed for these sports.

Upper Body Condition. As any surfer will tell you, if you haven’t got great upper body fitness, there is not much point even getting in the water. Like kitesurfing, you are often battling against the ocean, but with surfing you need endurance in order to repetitively paddle board out to sea against breaking waves, and power is need in the ‘pop-up’ phase of getting upright on the board when you have caught a wave. In comparison, snowboarding does not require anywhere near the upper body condition as surfing, as snowboarding is mainly a sport powered by the legs and torso

Timing. Both snowboarding and surfing require honed timing skills. In snowboarding it is vital to time your turns perfectly and even more important when doing jumps as lining up for the correct entry to the kicker can mean the difference between a clean landing and a face full of snow. Timing is also very important in surfing, not only when trying to pick up a wave with your surfboards, but also knowing when to turn, flex, or indeed bail out

Lower Body Condition. Although surfing is reliant on having a strong and agile lower body, snowboarding is the sport that is more leg-focused. As extreme sports equipment goes, 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. However, don’t think the lower body can be neglected in surfing, your legs and core need to be strong and flexible, even just to stand up.

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