I created Salted Strength Club because it’s exactly what I wish I’d had when I was learning to surf. I knew I needed to get stronger, but I had no idea how to train for surfing or where to begin. I wanted a clear plan I could follow at home and keep up with on surf trips—so I built one.
I’m a certified personal trainer and the founder of Salted Strength Club, with additional certifications in strength and conditioning, nutrition, glute training, yoga fundamentals, and mat pilates. I use that training to create surf-inspired workouts that help you paddle longer, move better, and feel stronger both in and out of the water.
Surfer. fitness INSTRUCTOR. part-time beach bum.
Hi, I'm Nicole
In hindsight, I probably should have been learning on soft, forgiving baby waves at a mellow beach break. Instead, I was surfing reef breaks that were completely beyond my ability—waves no beginner had any business being on.
It was humbling AF. Some days I was exhausted, frustrated, stuck in my head, and constantly comparing myself with everyone around me. But I wasn’t ready to give up on something I had wanted for so long. Then something clicked: I wasn’t struggling because I wasn’t cut out for surfing. I was still learning, and I didn’t have the strength, paddle endurance, or confidence those conditions demanded yet. But those were things I could build.
I made myself a promise on that trip: the next time I came back, I would be stronger.
The waves were heavy and absolutely relentless–the kind that don’t care how excited you are to be there or how far you’ve traveled to surf them. Indonesian waves have this raw, almost magnetic energy. The water is impossibly blue, the air smells like salt, smoke, and plumeria, and the scenery is so lush and beautiful it almost distracts you from the fact that you are getting completely worked by the waves.
A few days into my surf retreat, my arms were shot before the sessions were even halfway over. I'd watch everyone around me paddle back to the lineup like it was nothing while I was just trying to survive. At one point, I genuinely wondered whether I was even cut out for surfing.
Alright, let me take you back to Lombok, Indonesia. Spring 2024.
HOW
the STORY
BEGINS
Back at home, I got serious about working out. I combined strength work, pilates, and better nutrition with one goal: get stronger for surfing. I wanted more paddle endurance, a stronger core, and enough power to keep going when the waves were firing and the bigger sets rolled through.
When I went on another surf trip to Indonesia and the Philippines in 2025, I was a completely different surfer. I could surf five or six hours or do double sessions if I wanted to. I wasn’t watching from the lineup anymore with my arms torched. I still had a lot to learn, but I felt stronger, more confident, and like I belonged out there. I’d gone from being a beginner getting worked by the waves to an intermediate surfer holding her own. Nothing beats time spent in the water, but strength training is what made a huge difference in how many waves I was able to catch and practice on.
Some of my favorite moments were spent sitting in the lineup and thinking about how far I had come. The wipeouts, reef cuts, sunburns, funny tan lines, sore muscles, fun waves, salty skin, new friends—and yes, even getting worked by those terrifying sets—I wouldn’t trade any of it. Surfing has given me more than I ever expected.
Somewhere between sweaty workouts in tropical gyms and hotel rooms, countless 5am surfs, and figuring out how to stay consistent while living out of a suitcase, the idea for Salted Strength Club began to sprout.
THE SHIFT
Staying consistent with my workouts was hard while traveling. You build momentum at home, feel strong, and start seeing progress. Then you leave for a surf trip and suddenly there’s no gym—or it costs a small fortune!—equipment is limited, and surfing and socializing take up every hour of daylight. You come home weeks later having lost your rhythm, and getting back into a routine feels so much harder than it should.
I kept hearing the same thing from my friends. They’d establish a solid workout routine, leave for a trip, and lose their momentum. I also realized how many people struggle to build a routine that works with real life in the first place. I’ve been there too—piecing together random YouTube videos, dropping into random workout classes here and there, and jumping between different apps without ever having one clear plan to follow.
THE PROBLEM I KEPT SEEING
During one of my workouts, a thought popped into my head: Why not become a personal trainer and create the programs I'd been looking for? So that’s exactly what I did. After completing my personal training certification, I kept learning—adding certifications in strength and conditioning, nutrition, group exercise, and more. Then I began creating surf-inspired workouts with a clear purpose and structure, but that were still fun enough to actually look forward to.
I also built them to work around real life and travel. As surfers, we know how it goes: a two-hour session turns into five, a surf trip takes you somewhere remote with no gym in sight, and your entire schedule revolves around what the swell is doing. Some days you have dumbbells and plenty of time. Other days you have a mat, a room, and 25 minutes. That became a big part of the idea behind SSC: strength programs you can do at home with a pair of dumbbells, plus bodyweight options for surf trips when a gym just isn’t happening.
WHEN THE IDEA FINALLY TOOK ROOT...
xoxo,
nicole
It’s for the surfer who has always loved the ocean but wants to feel stronger in it. For the person who wants a clear plan they can stick to without making fitness their whole life. And for anyone who has struggled getting back to the lineup, or watched someone surf with so much style, grace, and power, and thought: I want that.
And if you’ve never surfed a day in your life? You are SO welcome here too. You don’t need to know how to read a swell forecast or own a surfboard to be a part of Salted Strength Club. If you want to get stronger, move better, and feel good doing the things you love, you’ll fit right in.
You don’t need time-consuming workouts or a gym membership you’ll never use. You just need a routine that meets you where you are—at home, on a surf trip, or somewhere between the two.
Where soul meets body, that’s where Salted Strength Club lives. And I can't wait to build it with you.
SALTED STRENGTH CLUB IS WHAT I WISH HAD EXISTED WHEN I STARTED SURFING
mentawais
put me on a plane to
a spicy margarita
order me
reciting 2pac lyrics
secret talent
cute bikinis
take my money
a bubble bath
self-care is
book a surf trip
voted most likely to
yeti bottle
never without my
tacos + sharks
obsessed with
Favorite things
A few of my
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