There’s no shame in admitting that staying fit while travelling is difficult. Hostels don’t usually have fitness equipment, cramped buses and planes leave your joints sore and far from wanting exercise, and the unlimited supply of hangovers provide for an unlimited supply of excuses. Montañita is the exception – there are so many unique and effective outlets for fitness in our town that a fitness fanatic will feel right at home and a slacker Steve will simply run out of excuses. The following three-part entry will shed light on why our interns are in such great shape despite spending all of our time at the Calle Cocktail. First topic: surfing.
Surfing
One of our own students on the beach five minutes from school.
If you’ve already looked into our school you’ll know that Montañita is known for having an excellent surfing beach and that our school specializes in offering surf lesson packages. Everyone knows that surfing is the most fun activity in the world, but the sheer amount of fitness gained from the sport deserves its own recognition. Let’s break it down by part:
Paddling to get out there and keep up with an incoming wave: did you think the wave was going to just come and scoop you up? No such luck – you’ll spend a good chunk of your time paddling out to where the waves are best, then paddling to catch the momentum of the wave. Then you do it again to get to the next wave. And again. And again. And then again some more. This paddling does wonders to building and toning muscles in your back and shoulders, and you’ll feel it the next morning. The specific muscles exercised are the biceps, triceps, deltoids, trapezius, lattimus dorsi, multiple ab muscles, and literally the most important muscle ever created, the serratus anterior.
Image taken from Wikimedia.org
The second and more difficult part of surfing is standing up and staying up on the wave. A professional surfer could discuss the finer points of this technique all day, but it doesn’t take an expert to realize which muscles these develop. Pushing hard and keeping your legs flexed the entire time works the legs, and keeping the proper leaning structure the core the entire time.
In addition to the above benefits to specific muscles, surfing pays dividends to both balance and flexibility. Two other advantages are that your heart of course gets a great cardio workout and that this sport instrinsically makes you better at another sport, swimming.
To summarize: total body muscle workout + flexibility + balance + cardio + swimming + fun = surfing.
Lastly please remember that like all other sports, it is critical to warm up and stretch properly before exercising. Note that all specific warm-ups and techniques should be learned from a qualified surf instructor. Next in this entry will be a look into the best way to explore the region while getting fit – hiking in Montañita.
Miscellaneous surf exercise: lifting up and carrying your surf instructor.
Qué chévere 