[SeaCliff]

It's a little early in the seasom=n (ok very early in the season) for newbs - but if you're reading this and considering taking up surfing this spring and summer, here's some good winter advice on getting ready for your new passion/addiction:

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http://ezinearticles.com/?Essential-Conditioning---Surfing-Tips-For-First-Timers&id=3695964

One of the biggest (and still the most prevalent) mistakes that first timers make is to hit the water without doing a single stitch of conditioning for surfing.

Naturally enough, you can float with your board on the water's surface easily, but if you are seriously considering riding a wave, then there are a lot of exercises and activities that you should to do before you even step close to the water's edge. Here are a few conditioning for surfing tips that you might want to peruse.

1. Whip yourself into shape. Surfing is a physically demanding sport. You would need endurance, not to mention balancing skills and flexibility. You also need a lot of power in your arms and shoulders, as well as your thigh, calf, and leg muscles. For this, you need to subscribe to any kind of exercise regimen. Cardiovascular workouts are usually part and parcel of any conditioning for surfing regimen. Cardio workouts help trim away unwanted poundage. At the same time, you can use these workouts to build up lung power to improve your physical endurance.

Strength building and core training are also necessary in order to stay afloat and master the waves. Make sure that you dedicate most of your strength building exercises to your arm and shoulder muscles, as you would need these to paddle out or away from the waves. You might also want to try a few strength building exercises for your lower extremities to help provide additional tensile strength to the ligaments and joints of your hips, knees and ankles.

Core training, usually dedicated to the musculature of your abdominals and back area, is imperative in building up your balancing skills.

2. Master the basics of surfing. Everyone has to begin somewhere. And when it comes to surfing, you would need to know the rudimentary skills in paddling, balancing while in a crouching position, standing on your board, lifting off on a wave and riding the wave to the end. You can learn how to paddle efficiently in shallow and placid waters.

Try to propel your body forward while lying on a board - all the while making sure that you do not tip over with every stroke.

The next step is to learn how to whip your feet under your body from a prone position.

You would need to achieve a crouching stance while balancing your body on the board. From there, the next step is to learn how to stand while the waves are rolling under you. Once you master these rudimentary skills, you are ready to choose and tackle smaller waves. Hopefully, with enough practice, you can eventually ride a large one afterwards.

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Again, if you're reading this and you're new to surfing, good luck, and I hope this is helpful! Stay with it, make sure you learn basic surf etiquette, and stick around here and ask questions!!