You don’t need to be an athlete to enjoy surfing — about 60% of our guests arrive having never surfed before, and many aren’t regular gym-goers. But being physically prepared, even a little, can make your first days in the water more productive, more enjoyable, and significantly less sore. It also reduces the risk of dealing with common surf injuries and first aid in Costa Rica.
At Kalon’s Costa Rica all-inclusive surfing experience, we build fitness into the week — yoga, pool sessions, and a schedule that paces your body through five days of surfing with rest and recovery built in. But starting a few weeks before your trip? That’s where the biggest difference shows up.
| Exercise Type | Purpose | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Core Stability | Balance on the board | Planks, deadbugs, bicycle crunches, bird-dogs |
| Shoulder Strength & Endurance | Paddling efficiency | Resistance-band exercises, overhead presses, swimming laps |
| Yoga & Mobility | Hip flexibility, back strength | Hip-opening poses, backbends, balance postures |
| Cardio & Interval Training | Endurance and recovery | Running, cycling, rowing, HIIT intervals |
Core Stability Exercises
Your core does more work in surfing than almost anything else. Balancing on a moving board, adjusting to shifting weight, twisting through turns — all of it comes from core strength and stability. Even ten to fifteen minutes of focused core work three or four times a week makes a real difference in your balance and control.
Planks are the foundation — standard plank, side plank, and plank with alternating arm reach all build the kind of stability that transfers directly to the board. Deadbugs and bird-dogs are excellent for training your core to stabilize while your limbs are moving, which is exactly what surfing demands.
Shoulder Strength and Endurance
Paddling accounts for 50 to 80% of time in the water during a surf session. That means your shoulders, upper back, and arms are working much harder and longer than most people expect. If your shoulders fatigue early, your sessions get shorter and less productive.
Resistance-band pull-aparts, overhead presses, and swimming laps are all effective preparation. If you have access to a pool, even two or three swim sessions a week in the month before your trip will build the specific endurance your shoulders need. It’s the single most practical thing you can do to improve your first few days in the water.
Yoga and Mobility
At Kalon, we offer yoga and movement classes designed specifically around the muscles and patterns that surfers use. These aren’t generic sessions — they target hip flexibility, back strength, shoulder mobility, and balance. Many guests say the yoga is one of the most valuable parts of the week because it directly supports what happens in the water.
If you can start a basic yoga practice before your trip — even once or twice a week — focusing on hip openers, forward folds, and balance postures, you’ll feel more fluid and comfortable on the board from day one.
Cardio and Interval Training
Surfing is more cardiovascularly demanding than it looks from the shore. You paddle, duck-dive, paddle more, catch a wave, paddle back out — and repeat. It’s interval-based by nature: bursts of high effort followed by brief recovery periods. HIIT-style training, running, cycling, or rowing all build the kind of endurance that translates well.
That said, don’t over-prepare and arrive exhausted. Three or four cardio sessions a week in the weeks leading up to your trip is plenty. The goal is to show up with a base level of fitness that lets you focus on learning, not on catching your breath.
Surf Training at Kalon
Preparing your body with surf fitness exercises you can do anywhere will serve you well. We won’t promise a perfect week — the ocean has its own plans — but training means you spend more time surfing and less time recovering. And that makes everything else better: the coaching, the progression, the feeling at the end of the week that you actually achieved something.
