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Is surfing good for posture?

Author

Mia Kelly

Published Jan 12, 2026

Surfing can help improve your posture, if you have good form and outside training. You can help improve your overall posture with surfing, as long as you have good form and balance your surfing with outside training.

Is surfing bad for your neck?

This physical stress can cause headaches and chronic neck pain. Neck pain from surfing can also arise from a muscle called the levator scapula, which attaches the neck to the shoulder blade. This muscle is hyper-contracted with paddling, and can also cause headaches and/or shoulder pain.

Is surfing bad for your back?

Although you might not acutely injure your back as a surfer, most surfer back injuries cause chronic pain. The most common causes of back pain among surfers include: Extended periods spent in a prone position (paddling) Too much lumbar (lower back) extension or mobility.

Does surfing make you fit?

As well as building muscle strength in your upper body and legs, the cross-training effect of surfing is a brilliant workout for your core, making it a full body workout. A lot of surf research suggests we use our trapezius, rectus abdominis, latissimus dorsi, obliques, triceps, biceps and deltoids.

Does surfing help with flexibility?

As a surfer, dynamic flexibility and ease of movement is truly important to not only surf with some style, but to stay injury free as well….. or you can just keep poo-stancing and looking rad! in the water. Loose fluid movements…. with some stylezzzzz!

16 related questions found

Should I stretch before surfing?

Always warm up and stretch before entering the water, as cold muscles are more prone to injury. Take time to cool-down and perform gentle stretches after surfing. Add cardiovascular training to help prevent fatigue and other overuse injuries.

Why are surfers so skinny?

Surfers get lean for many reasons. It is a combination of aerobic and resistance training work outs. Aerobics use fatty acids for fuel and recovery from intense muscle use also incorporates fatty acids for restoring energy, repairing, and rebuilding muscle.

Is surfing considered HIIT?

By nature of the demands of surfing, the surfer is also then performing many minutes of high-intensity sprint paddling (~5 min/h of high to sprint intensity paddling). That is, in essence, quite a lot of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) happening before we practitioners come in and 'intervene'.

Are surfers happy?

Surfers release a lot of adrenaline and endorphins while they are riding the waves. These hormones cause an increase in heart rate and blood pressure. A surge of adrenaline makes you feel very alive. Endorphins resemble opiates in their chemical structure and have analgesic properties.

Why do surfers have great bodies?

A professional surfer is lean without looking weak, and muscular without the bulk. Sharp muscle lines are perfectly symmetrical, and overall body balance creates that enviable athletic physique. Paddling builds shoulder definition, strengthens the lower back muscles, and increases cardiovascular fitness.

Why is surfing bad?

Anyone who has surfed for more than a year has been injured. Fibreglass boards, sharp fins and other surfers present real danger. Reefs, rocks, sea urchins and coral are threats to the more intrepid surfers. Lacerations are common injuries and many surfers will receive stitches over the course of their surfing life.

Why is surfing so addicting?

SURFING ADDICTION IS ALL ABOUT BRAIN CHEMISTRY

This results in you experiencing a flood of dopamine, serotonin, and endorphins. Once you feel the intense joy and pleasure, your body and brain want you to keep going back for more. If you feel irritable after a few days away from your board, this is likely the reason.

Is surfing bad for your shoulders?

The freestyle and surfer's strokes result in overdevelopment of both the shoulders internal rotators (subscapularis), compared to external rotators (infraspinatus) and the anterior chest wall musculature (pectoralis major and minor ) relative to the posterior wall scapular stabilisers (rhomboids, levator scapuli, ...

Can surfing cause brain damage?

In the United States, sports-related injuries, such as those from surfing, account for more than 10% of the staggering 2 million traumatic brain injuries that are reported each year. Other studies also found that lacerations, regardless of body part, are another common injury among surfers.

Why does my head hurt after surfing?

This physical stress can cause headaches and chronic neck pain. Neck pain from surfing can also arise from a muscle called the levator scapula, which attaches the neck to the shoulder blade. This muscle is hyper-contracted with paddling, and can also cause headaches and/or shoulder pain.

How can I get surf fit faster?

Here are the best surfer exercises you can do to improve your fitness and endurance.

  1. Chin-ups. Getting up on a surfboard and keeping your balance has more to do with your upper body than you might think. ...
  2. Front squats. ...
  3. Running exercises. ...
  4. Pushups. ...
  5. Mobility drills. ...
  6. Dumbbell drills. ...
  7. Planking.

Are surfers muscular?

The way a surfer arches their back builds muscle in the lower back, and neck. Each time a surfer stands up they're basically doing a push up. Going even further, really talented surfers will build muscle in their core and thighs while they're on a wave.

Why do surfers have thick necks?

When the neck has the strength to stay in place, it sets the stage for the core and other stabilizing muscles to do their job. It's hard to stay standing on the water if your neck is moving around. Thus, these neck muscles are built when riding a wave. The combination of all these, leads surfers to have thicker necks.

What body type is best for surfing?

Beyond the subjectivity of style, ectomorphs are technically superior surfers. Long, lean muscles allow these athletes to achieve body positions that facilitate both tighter and more elongated maneuvers.

Why do my hips hurt after surfing?

When you are surfing, your hip naturally rotates toward the back foot, putting a strain on the hip flexor tendon at the front of your pelvis. The 'pop up' action can make this more painful.

How do you stretch your hip flexors?

Hip flexor stretch (kneeling)

  1. Kneel on your affected leg and bend your good leg out in front of you, with that foot flat on the floor. ...
  2. Keeping your back straight, slowly push your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the upper thigh of your back leg and hip.
  3. Hold the stretch for at least 15 to 30 seconds.

What are my hip flexors?

The hip flexors are a group of muscles, the iliacus, psoas major muscles (also called the iliopsoas), and the rectus femoris, which is a part of your quadriceps. The quadriceps runs down from your hip joint to your knee joint. Every time you take a step, you are using your hip flexor muscles.

How does surfing change your body?

Surfing provides many health benefits including: cardiovascular fitness – from paddling. shoulder and back strength – these muscles will strengthen from the paddling. leg and core strength – once you're standing up on the board, strong legs and a strong core will keep you up.

What muscles get sore from surfing?

Consequently the muscles in the back of the neck, upper back, and lower back are in constant contraction, causing tension and muscular shortening of the trapezius and other neck muscles. A typical presentation would be a soreness will only arrive a few hours after the surf session, when the neck muscles go into spasm.