Balance and stabilisation training can simply be thought of as a position or series of positions that occur during surfing movement and that are maintained when opposing forces equalise one another so that little or no movement occurs at the stabilised joint. When applied to movement, this means that muscles on both sides of the joint contribute to stabilising via a co-contraction of agonist and antagonistic muscles.
Agonist: The term agonist refers to the muscle that is primarily responsible for a specific jointmotion or the muscle that is directly involved in a contraction.
Antagonist: This term refers to a muscle that opposes the agonist muscle during an exercise.
There is a huge selection of training kit available to the surfer, here's just a few!
Indo Boards
The Indo Board is a multi-functional fitness tool designed to increase core strength, leg strength and balance coordination. Although simple to learn, the Indo Board has plenty to offer the experienced surfer.
The Indo Board was developed by Hunter Joshing, a passionate surfer with over 40 years of experience in the world oceans. Originally designed to train surfers out of the water, Hunter quickly discovered from a growing crowd of Indo Board enthusiasts that the apparatus was much more than a surfing simulator. Users reported increased leg strength, flexibility, and core fitness while having fun on the board.
The Swiss Ball and Balance Training
The Swiss ball can be used for balance training but there are some limitations, kneeling on the ball will help with core strength and balance, using throwing games with a partner is one way of doing this.
Wobble Boards
Small Wobble Boards were the first ever balance training kit aids to be used many years ago, they are limited in there uses due to their size but do have some use for developing knee and ankle strength for surfers.
The Bosu Balance Trainer
The BOSU Integrated Balance Trainer is a truly unique balance, core stability and proprioception training device that can be integrated with all types of fitness training, or stand alone as an outstanding functional tool.
The BOSU can be used for or with: Sports Conditioning (both aerobic & anaerobic), stabilisation, agility training, strength, stability and flexibility training for the trunk and strength for the entire body.
Summary
Balance training is for every one of all ages. There is a wide range of kit available. Dynamic exercises will enhance your balance. Use your core to aid balance. Always use a good posture. So if you want to improve your surfing fitness then there are some great bits of kit out there!
