What is it?

The term paddle power is well known  to most surfers, basically its a term to describe moving from one area to
another on your board.

Were we use surfing paddle power

>Paddling out back

>Paddling for waves

>Paddling along the line up

These sound very basic but if we break them down into  more specific factors we will see that there’s a lot more to just paddle power, there are
many factors to take into consideration when paddling out;

>how big are the waves

>how good is your duck diving?

>how good is your aerobic fitness?

>Is it slightly on shore?

>Is there a rip running?

 All these factors coming into play  when you’re just paddling out, depending on what the sea is doing there is
going to be a demand on your aerobic fitness and most likely your anaerobic
fitness your anaerobic fitness.

Regular anaerobic fitness training  (with oxygen} and anaerobic (with out) will improve your paddle power fitness,
there are many types available to the surfer, resistance training, swim
training, gym based machines act.

Finding an aerobic training type that  best resembles surfing paddle like swimming or resistance training will be
suited

Swimming training for surfers
boosting your surfing paddle power

If you’re not a great swimmer then you may need to improve your front crawl as this is the best stroke for gaining
improvements in your paddle fitness.

Before embarking on a swimming  program for surfing fitness first look at the key areas you will to work on;

 Take a long paddle out for example slightly on shore, waves making the going tuff, your HR will start at a low end
aerobic level at about 60-65% of your Max Heart Rate (MHR), as paddling
continues and the duck diving starts, your heart rate increases, once it
reaches about 80-85% of your MHR ( breathing rate is heavy ) you will then
become boarder line anaerobic, at this point depending again on wave size, and your
duck diving ability’s your HR will most Likely be Around 85-95% of your MHR.

These factors must be taken into account when swim training for boosting paddle power, it’s just not good enough
to swim up and down at a light to moderate pace, swim training sets that best
push you up into these HR training zones are the key to really good paddle
fitness.

And of course don’t forget there also  sprint paddle fitness, for example, a wave is fat, sluggish that lacks power,
you can’t always expect to gently stroke into a wave very often there will have
to be some form of super fast arm movement, if you’re and intermediate or
advanced surfer then you will of course see sets that roll in to the left of
you or right, in order to make the wave shoulder there will have to be at some
point extra fast paddling.

Sprint training in the pool or
resistance cord training can make a real difference to your wave count on slack
or poor wave days.

Examples of swim training sets for
meeting ALL surfing paddle power fitness.

These are all just
basic examples which if done on a regular basics can make a real improvement to
your surfing;

Remember what you’re areas you’re
improving-

Low end aerobic fitness 55-65% of
your MHR

Mid –high end aerobic fitness 65-85%
of your max MHR

Anaerobic – 85-95% of your MHR, also
known as anaerobic threshold swim training

Over this at 95%-100% we reach peak
anaerobic levels.

Set 1 low end chilled
out swimming basic surfing fitness

Warm up;

300-400 m front crawl 6-8 minutes

Main set;

Swim 2x 800m front crawl swimming
your breathing should be light; this distance is dependent on your swimming
ability if it’s not that great you may want to consider just swimming for 7-8
minutes nonstop.

After each 800m take 2 minutes rest
then repeat.

At the end of these swims swim down
for 200-300m

Set 2 mid –high end aerobic fitness swimming endurance surfing fitness
                              

Warm up;

300-400m

Main set;

4×300 m front crawl at
a pace that generates heavy breathing, i.e. 70-85% of your MHR

After each 300m give
yourself 60 seconds rest, then repeat it is important during this set to
remember that breathing should be heavy, if you can hold a short conversation
with somebody but on longer you know your there, again set size is dependent on
swimming ability

Swim down

300/400m

Set 3 Anaerobic swim
training super improvements in surf endurance fitness

Warm up;

300/400

Main set;

This is a bit more
complicated, your aim is to push yourself over the high end aerobic training
zone, this is a very grey area, it’s often hard to be totally exact on whether
you’re in this zone or not unless you are experienced in swimming training
types, but the ruff aim is to do shorter distances which will allow you to work
at just under your MHR at about 90% effort.

Try Swimming 8x100m

Front crawl With an off time, 2.30 seconds as an example this is also your turn
around time, you have 2 minutes and thirty seconds to swim 100m at this pace of
90% effort depending on your fitness you should aim to hold the same time for
every 100m you swim.

If your 100m swim time
is about 1.50 then try to do the same time for each 100m.

Swim down 300-400 easy
front crawl.

Set 4 surf fitness
swimming sprint training

Warm up;

300-400

Main set;

16x25m front crawl with 30 seconds
rest after each 25m, for these one length sprint aim to hit your max swimming
speed!

Swim down should just be a light
400-500 swim.

These 4 sessions could be done all in
one session if you have the time however this is not the best way to plan out
your swimming program for surfing fitness.

Try this basic plan this is only an
example mix it up weekly for best results

Break your swimming training up like
these to vary the swimming training types but try to cover all areas.