How to Improve Your Surfing in Bali

After mastering the basic techniques, there are many ways to make surfers better at the sport. The most obvious is to improve the skills acquired through focus, practice, patience, learning new techniques and gaining experience. The other way is to make lifestyle changes to stay physically and mentally fit to enable surfers to get the most from the time they spend in the water. A combination of these techniques should enable surfers to enjoy the great waves generated at around the 100 or so surfing spots off the beautiful beaches in Bali.

Step 1: Get Physically Fit

This is a pre requisite for any sport. Make some lifestyle changes such as adopting a healthier diet to have more energy and endurance. Follow a daily fitness programme that strengthens the muscles used for surfing, particularly the core needed for balance and so necessary for the twisting, turning and weight shifting motions particular to surfing. Strengthen the upper body to enable paddling out to catch the waves and the lower body to ride the waves. Make time for a short meditation session in the morning to aid in staying focused. Stretch to lengthen muscles and to gain greater flexibility. Warm up before surfing and warm down afterwards.

Step 2: Practice Makes Perfect

Learn the basics and practice moves over and over again. Go out on the waves and learn to read them in order to adopt a suitable strategy to surf them. Surfing expertise is gained through going out to sea and surfing all kinds of waves daily and figuring how to tackle them. This is the way to learn about the unexpected shifts on a wave's surface and how to react quickly to it. There are many things in the sport that cannot be taught but is achieved after getting a 'feel' for it.

Step 3: Take Baby Steps

Remember that things will fall into place once the necessary skill is acquired. Just because a few waves can be tackled it does not make you are an expert surfer. This takes practice and patience and a long time. Get the basics right before even thinking of attempting showy moves. Retain a coach to help with moves and to point out ways to improve surfing style.

Step 4: Learn to Read Waves

This is a critical aspect of being a good surfer as waves teach surfers to adopt the correct techniques to surf them. Surf in different locations to learn to handle different kinds of waves.

Step 5: Understand the Surfboards

There is a board for every type of wave. Learn to pick the board to suit the conditions. This is something that will come with experience.

Step 6: Push Yourself

Surf with people better than you so that you can push yourself to attain their level of competence. As it will take a while to become a really good surfer don't get discouraged and give up halfway. Video yourself surfing and go over the footage and compare it with footage of expert surfers to see what moves need to be improved. If any of your moves feel and look good practice them so that they will come naturally.

Step 7: Join a Club

This is for people who can withstand the pressure to improve their skills. Being a member of a club with other competitive surfers will help to improve skills and push surfers to try bold moves that they may not do if surfing alone. Get along with fellow surfers and build friendships so they can be asked for tips on how to improve surfing skills.

Step 8: Hang Around Experts

Attend surfing events where experts perform. Move around in a milieu that will provide exposure to new techniques and allow novices to learn from the mistakes of more experienced surfers.

Step 9: Go on Surf Trips

This is one way in which surfing can be improved exponentially. Go with a friend to a surf spot without crowds of people and surf in good conditions for several consecutive days so that there will be time to work on technique. Catching plenty of waves will be helpful in elevating surfing skills.

Step 10: Get Into the Correct Mood

The way people surf is apparently affected by their mood at the time. Therefore learn to stay calm and look at ocean conditions objectively before paddling out.

Anantara Uluwatu Bali Resort is among the best locations to experience ultra consistent surf breaks near Uluwatu such as Temples, the Peak, Racetrack and Outside Corner.