1. Find a location with a beginner friendly beach preferably with warm water and without crowds. A sand bottom beach break with long gentle rolling white water is perfect for a first timer. Costa Rica is an ideal spot for learning to surf. Another good idea would be to book a trip at a reputable surf camp retreat where you can get specialized progressive lessons, daily guidance and an emersion environment.
2. Take at least 1-2 lesson before you jump in to it. Make sure to find a qualified surf instructor who has at least 8-10 years surfing experience and at least 2 years teaching experience. Surfing can be dangerous and without basic board management, crowd awareness and ocean knowledge instruction a fun day at the beach can turn in to a trip to the hospital or worse.
3. Pick a proper surf board to learn on. Usually when you start out its on a bigger board or long board 8-10ft and as you improve you can move down in size.
4. Start working on dropping any extra unnecessary pounds if you need to. The lighter and fitter you show up the easier it will be for you as well as your instructor.
5. A simple exercise regimen 3-4 weeks prior will do wonders for your stamina. Push ups, pull ups, crunches, and lying back extensions are great, if you work with weights utilize circuit training. work more medium to light weights with high repetitions progressively decreasing rest time between sets, also give some attention to your posterior deltoids.
6. Upper body cardio is king. The hardest part about learning to surf is the demanding paddling. Any type of cardio is good, but you should do some upper body cardio such as paddling, Rows, boxing aerobics, Swimming laps etc.
7. Get a balance board. Indo boards are great for practicing weight distribution and relaxed balancing. They also will help get your legs toned and in shape. They come with DVD's to show you how. You can do 10-15 minutes a day in your living room on the carpet in front of the TV easily. You should be able to find one at any board sport or sporting good store.
8. Make sure you can hold your breath for at least 20 seconds. When you start you will be in shallow water(about 4-6 feet deep), but a wipe out can still put you under for a few seconds and the more breath you have the more relaxed you'll be.
9. Flexibility: If you do yoga that's great or just a simple 10 min daily stretching regimen focusing on limbering your legs, chest, arms, and back
10. Educate your self. Go Google crazy. There is tons of info online about surfing tips, ocean knowledge, surf reports, surf equipment.
Pura Vida & Aloha
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Master the tricks & skills of Pacific surfing in summer. By heart the rules of thumb in ocean surfing with experts advice in the most serene & friendly waters of Pacific in Los Angeles & Malibu. When you listen to our experts, you learn to surf & start playing with the tides on board far better than you expect.
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