While competitive surfing tends to get more attention in Summer Olympic years, it is not a sport that only happens every four years. Many surf competitions take place throughout the year, including nine Championship Tour (CT) competitions that culminate in the Lexus World Surf League Finals.

When you hear about competitive surfing, you may wonder: How do surfers train for their competitions? The obvious answer is surfing, of course. But when a surfer travels to a place with notoriously difficult and dangerous waves – like Teahupo’o, Tahiti, which hosted the surfing competitions of the 2024 Paris Olympics – how can a surfer who lives in a place with less powerful waves prepare? And what other workouts do they do to supplement their training time?

“This sport is going to be so challenging because realistically there is no on and off. The sport is based on Mother Nature,” says Tracy Axel, a lifelong surfer and team manager for the U.S. Olympic surfing team. Case in point: The surfing competitions at the 2024 Olympics have been postponed several times due to weather.

Of course, athletes are unique and so the way they train has to be individual too. But one thing is for sure: the sport is no joke. One thing that Axel was particularly excited about at the 2024 Games was the fact that women would have the opportunity to surf the intense waves of Teahupo’o – an opportunity they haven’t had in nearly a decade. “I believe that the Olympic stage is another huge advantage for these women to really show that they are not only equal to the men in the lineup when they get the big waves, but that they are just as strong and just as capable,” Axel says. “The sport really shows how much athleticism and grit you need to do that.”

Here, Axel explains how competitive surfers train for competitions, how they warm up and cool down before and after events or training sessions, and what else they do to stay mentally and physically fit for their demanding sport.

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Tracy Axel, MS, CSCS, is a high-performance surfing consultant and team manager for the USA Olympic Surfing Team.

Why is competitive surfing so difficult?

To understand how competitive surfers train, it’s helpful to understand what competitive surfing is. Surfing is a very physical activity that requires the ability to swim and hold your breath, paddle, push your body weight off the surfboard, and jump up into a deep squat position while maintaining balance and stability to stay on the surfboard and maneuver the board along the waves. In competitions, points are awarded for maneuvers achieved through explosive torso rotation, carving, and aerial tricks, similar to skateboarding.

“Surfing has all the facets required in terms of speed, agility, strength, endurance and flexibility,” says Axel. “It’s a pretty acrobatic sport with a short effort-to-rest ratio and high landing forces.”

In surfing competitions, the preliminary heats can last 30 to 40 minutes, which requires a lot of stamina from the athletes. Riding the wave, for example, requires athletes to be “extremely agile and flexible, and they have to duck and crouch down,” says Axel.

“Because of the speed and acceleration, they are really challenged by the reaction forces of the wave when maneuvering their surfboard on the wave surface, in a component where strength and power are absolutely necessary,” says Axel.

How competitive surfers train

There is no one way competitive surfers train. “The training for each athlete is unique and individual,” says Axel. But there are a few similarities. Axel says surf athletes adhere to at least one training program that focuses on maintaining fitness and usually includes at least two strength and conditioning sessions per week. In particular, “activation and core training” are very important, she says.

When athletes are on site to compete, they often surf more than twice a day, or two to three hours per training session, Axel says.

In addition, Axel points out that surf athletes also typically track their performance and training load using wearable technology such as a Whoop or Oura ring.

Why do surfers need to train out of the water at all? It has to do with the powerful landing forces and how those landings affect the body. “There are so many ankle, knee and hip injuries in this sport. We’ve seen the trend in the last decade,” says Axel. Ground or land-based training “reduces the risk of injuries and imbalances due to maneuvers,” she says.

How competitive surfers warm up and cool down

Before training or competing, athletes warm up to activate the glutes, hips, knees and ankles, says Axel. You can do this with a foam roller, resistance band or exercise bike.

Warming up is key. Unlike traditional sports, surfers may need to be on a boat or jet ski before the heat, so they can’t just do a few squats or lunges on the beach and be ready to go. “The warm up on land needs to bring more activation into their routine,” says Axel.

Post-workout recovery and cool-down strategies can include working with a physical therapist, taking ice baths and focusing on rehydrating and refueling. “We have a smoothie station where we make sure (Team USA athletes) replenish and hydrate when they return to land,” Axel says. Smoothie options include vegan protein powders, almond butter, fruit and coconut water.

For competitive surfers, recovery is a constant activity that doesn’t just happen after a tough training session or competition. The reason for this is that surf competitions take place all over the world. Travel-related stress on the body can be significant and require recovery methods like ice baths, sauna or infrared light therapy to cope. It’s about “making sure all facets of performance are optimized and refined while continuing to tour,” says Axel. “We really have to approach it from an individual level.”

How competitive surfers stay focused

The power of the mind can play a huge role in human performance, especially in surfing athletes. Axel says some athletes like to do meditative walks or sitting meditations before competition and others like to journal and document their journey.

As with individual training, each athlete has different strategies for staying focused. “Some focus on the waves while others don’t even look at them,” says Axel. According to Axel, some prefer to “put on headphones and just focus on their warm-up and preparation.”

Unlike other sports, surfing can be very individual, and many athletes don’t focus on who else is in the ocean with them. “I think it’s a really nice change considering you’re only competing against yourself in a heat,” says Axel. “It’s just you and the wave. It’s easy. It’s challenging.”

Visualization can also be an effective tool. For example, athletes might “replay the waves that went really well, but then also visualize how they can improve the waves that went wrong,” says Axel. The technique can help an athlete identify and deal with problems that are affecting their performance, including anxiety. It also helps surfers develop positive thinking and belief in their own resilience.

“Believe that anything is possible. This sport is proof of that – nobody thought surfing would ever become an Olympic discipline,” says Axel. “There will always be people who doubt you and don’t believe in you. (But) if you can imagine why you do what you do, anything is possible.”

Jade Esmeralda, MS, CSCS, is a health and fitness editor. A lifelong martial artist and dancer, Jade has a great passion for strength and conditioning, exercise science, and human performance. She holds a Master of Science degree in exercise science and strength and conditioning from George Washington University.