Equipment

Elastic Resistance Bands
Olympic Rings or Suspension Trainer
Exercise Ball (inflatable)
Foam Roller or Tennis Balls
A few Dumbbells or Kettlebells (not completely necessary, but recommended)

With the equipment listed above, you can train 100% of the program, and have a fully stocked home-gym for life!  At minimum to efficiently train with the Surf Athlete Program you will require an Exercise Ball, a few Resistance Bands, and Olympic Rings or a Suspension Trainer. 

Exercise Ball (inflatable)
Foam Roller or Tennis Balls (peanut)
Full Circle Resistance Band (see below for details)

Exercise Ball (inflatable)
Foam Roller or Tennis Balls (peanut)
Full Circle Resistance Band (see below for details)

“Strength” Training is not bodybuilder style training. Its focus is to help you produce force, and control (decelerate) force. Building adequate strength and control is a prerequisite for higher speed training and power development. Consider it injury prevention and simply becoming a stronger version of yourself. In order to develop strength external loads (Kettlebells or weights) can be utilized.

I tend to recommend 2 different weights for those wanting to add KB’s to their home gym equipment. 12kg and 20kg. This is a good range for training of the lower body. Singularly a 12kg weight can be used for single leg training or the beginning of lower body power development with KB swings. 20kg is a good resistance to increase resistance loads, and most people should be completely comfortable squatting, swinging, and deadlifting 20kg’s.

The combination of 20kg and 12kg, if both held at the same time, are a great stimulus for lower body training. If one has access to a full gym or complete home gym, obviously strength development for the lower body would use loads well over bodyweight at times, however this may not be cost efficient for home gyms. A 12kg and 20kg KB set would offer a range of training options at home and cover a lot of bases of resistance loads.

For sizing please refer to this chart. If in doubt, go for the larger size.

For exercise balls, quality does truly matter if you’re looking to add load and weight while on top of a ball.

A cheap ball from Kmart or Walmart will tend to work fine for most basic NON-loaded (no extra weight added) exercises. Be aware, you are using these balls at your own risk, and they have been known to explode if punctured. I’ve personally had a 65cm ball from Kmart the last year, but have only done basic exercises with it such as jack knives, hamstring curls, supermans, and lower level exercises. I would NOT stand on top of this ball, or add load with an exercise such as Dumbbell Chest Presses. 

A high quality ball, while costly, is very safe and very durable as long as they are well looked after.

A good quality brand is AOK Duraball

Straps or Olympic rings allow you to train Pulling movements from home. Paddling is pulling, so there needs to be some type of equipment that will allow you to train Pull patterns.

My preference for overall use is a set of olympic rings, which you can find on amazon for about $30-50. More costly rings really provide no benefit. I have a set I picked up on Amazon for about $25 and they’ve travelled around the world with me for about 2 years now.

I personally don’t see an increased benefit from a Suspension Trainer over Olympic rings, other than the fact that you can hang a Suspension Trainer from a doorway. If you want a suspension trainer I see no need to buy an expensive brand name such as TRX. There are plenty of generic suspension trainer systems available.

If you’re tight on money, here’s a way you can make a DIY Suspension System with towels

A good set of bands can easily replace a full set of Dumbbells.

You can find an array of resistance band sets on amazon, many of which are manufactured in China. Buyer beware! They may be cheap, but they likely won’t last long, and I have personally seen someone nearly lose an eye from a broken band.

If you buy a set of bands please be sure to get the style that has a cloth bungee covering the rubber band, see the image. This bungee cloth covering will stop the band from breaking and hitting you in the face. Severe facial injuries happen from low quality bands in gyms across the world.

I personally use and endorse Stroops brands made in the USA. They are made under rigorous standards and testing, and as you’ll see, have the bungee cloth covering over the resistance bands.

If you’re a member of the Perfect Pop Up program or Stretches for Surfers 2.0, and you have tight ankles or hips, you will likely want to invest in one of these resistance bands for various ankle or hip mobilization drills.

If you google “superband resistance band” you’ll get many hits, with companies like Rogue, Spri, or Perform Better manufacturing these. You want a full circle band, no openings or handles. They’ll come in varying widths and resistance levels. You’ll want a 1.5inch or 4cm width, or even a bit bigger, up to 2.5inch or 6cm. Resistance levels will vary with companies, but as long as you get a band around those widths you’ll be good to go.  It should offer resistance of about 45-65lbs.
 
For reference here are two websites:
Perform Better
Rogue Australia

Tissue Work.  You can use a foam roller, a pvc pipe, a tennis ball, lacrosse, ball, and a very simple piece of equipment is a "peanut".

For Stretches for Surfers 2.0 I recommend a variety of the pieces mentioned above. 

For most other programs a "peanut" is recommended.  They can be purchased, or simply made by taping 2 tennis balls together, or placing 2 tennis balls in a sock and knotting the end.