Josh Kerr's life has always revolved around the ocean. He has surfed for as long as he can remember and was a regular on the World Surf League’s pro circuit for the better part of a decade. Beyond his surfing career, Kerr is also the founder of board brand Draft Surf. His dedication to both his sport and his family provides insights into the lifestyle and choices of a professional athlete. This article delves into Kerr's approach to balancing family life with a demanding career, his fitness regimen, and dietary habits.
Balancing Family Life and a Surfing Career
The life of a professional surfer sounds amazing, right? Riding powder in exotic locations, boat trips to far-flung oceans-empty lineups and trackless mountains. But where does real life fit into the dream? As athletes get older, having a family is just a natural progression of the human experience. But how, exactly, do babies, boardbags, and airport check-ins all fit together? Is there room for a small child on the cramped seat in the heli? Does breastfeeding sound plausible as you’re hiking up the skin trail on a film mission? Josh Kerr always makes life-let alone surfing-look so easy. And that’s kind of the way it rolled with raising his family on tour.
Josh raised his son Colin and daughter Sierra with his wife Nikki while negotiating the CT. For 11 years, while Josh was on tour and with the help of his wife, he carted little ones around the world. It sounds exhausting, but they made it work. "When I met my wife, she had a three-year-old son, so I stepped right into the deep end of being a dad with Colin. Then my daughter Sierra was born two weeks before my first CT event. So, it just really became a part of life, and I enjoyed it. It really gives you purpose and motivation for being a professional athlete. And we’ve had so many amazing moments I was so stoked to share with my kids. My son got to see a lot of it as he was getting older, and I was on tour until my daughter turned 11. A lot of pro surfers don’t have kids until they get off tour so they never get to see their dad as a pro and in the limelight."
Kerr emphasized the importance of separating his professional pressures from his family life. "As my career moved on, I definitely got better and better at turning off the switch: whatever was going on around an event-whether I was losing, trying to re-qualify, whatever-doesn’t affect them." He also credited his wife, Nikki, for her unwavering support. "My wife, Nikki, was huge in it all and a massive support factor. My competitive career was more nerve-wracking for her. She hated coming down to the event (site) to be there live. But she was a huge supporting factor in what I was doing, she never questioned me. And the kids were funny as I was competing. They were always like, “you better win.” But that was just good motivation."
Despite the challenges, Kerr believes his children benefited from their experiences. "The first few years, my son was going from Australia to Indonesia to America during different times of the year. I wouldn’t say it was a stable upbringing. Not what a lot of his friends were doing so I was always apologetic towards him. But at the same time, they got to experience a lot more in terms of traveling and adapting to different situations. And you can’t beat learning to surf in a place like Tavarua, one of the most beautiful places on Earth."
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As his career progressed, Kerr and his family found a rhythm that worked for them. "We kind of dialed it in after a while. Towards the last five years I was on tour we really knew what places worked for us. Instead of sending them (to certain tour stops), when I’d come home we’d jump up to Lake Tahoe or down to Cabo and save money to do those kinds of experiences. Nowadays, it’s more fun, and kind of cool not to be on schedule. I was lucky enough to make a name for myself over the years, so I get to stoke people out at charity events and we have people hosting the whole family. I hate saying no to things like that because you never know when they’ll dry up."
Kerr's Environmentalism and Sustainability Initiatives
"Environmentalism has always been something I’m interested in. As a surfer I live in the ocean and keeping our beaches clean helps protect the ocean for future generations," he tells Men’s Health during a chat at URBNSURF in Sydney. “We’re very fortunate here in Australia - and sheltered to some extent - that we don’t see how bad the ocean can get in other parts of the world. We don’t get contaminated water very often and the rain doesn’t affect the water that much. Kerr’s desire to conserve our oceans led to an interest in sustainability initiatives. When an opportunity to partner with Spanish sustainable infrastructure and energy company ACCIONA popped up, he jumped at it.
The transformation of a wind turbine blade into a surfboard is actually more natural than you might think, as both are typically made from fibreglass. The blade used in the ‘Turbine Made’ surfboards came from a decommissioned turbine from ACCIONA’s Waubra wind farm in Victoria. The fins of the board are also made from recycled fiberglass and provide stability and speed. According to Kerr, the Turbine Made boards ride just as well - if not better - than a regular board. “They’re really fun to ride,” he says.
Josh Kerr's Fitness Regimen
When he’s not busy with his noble mission of saving our oceans, Kerr still spends plenty of time in the water. He tries to surf as often as he can, and that remains his primary source of fitness. “Wanting to surf actually helps me stay active, because I need to be fit to be able to surf,” Kerr says. “I mainly stay fit through surfing, but I do a lot of cross-training sports too. I’m into pickleball - I love pickleball - I play golf, go skateboarding, snowboarding. I just try to be as active as possible.
For Kerr, surfing isn’t just about the physical benefits. “I would say 70-80 per cent of my surfs are purely for the reason that I need to get in the water for my mental state,” he says. “You always feel better after a surf. I feel much more refreshed for the day, my mind feels much clearer. The way we see it, Kerr is taking a two-pronged approach to surfing.
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Josh Kerr's Training and Mental Fortitude as a Runner
Josh Kerr is one of the fastest middle distance runners in history. He is the world 1500m champion, the world record-holder over two miles indoors and Britain’s quickest man over a mile - ahead of Steve Cram, Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett. But perhaps Kerr’s ultimate superpower is his ability to find even more at the end of his races, when his lungs are burning and his limbs are screaming.
According to Kerr’s highly regarded coach, Danny Mackey, that ability comes not only from physical training, but his psychological strength and his ability to prioritise what really matters. “Physically he’s a high responder to most training that we do,” says Mackey. “So Josh could be at a certain level and you start hitting him with stimulus and he just keeps getting better. But he’s also really good at focusing on the right things at the right time, which is a really understated skill for pros. Sometimes they get distracted easily, or they won’t prioritise properly, but he’s really good at what he needs to pay attention to in the moment.
“Psychologically, he’s pretty fearless. Great athletes have to be … I shouldn’t say fearless because he is scared of things, but they have to be aggressive. That’s probably the way that I would say it. He’s confident, he’s aggressive psychologically.”
Mackey stresses that recreational runners wanting to improve should keep two broad principles in mind. The first is to have a specific goal - and a training plan that builds towards it. Without it, Mackey says: “It’s almost like Groundhog Day, where it’s like the same thing over and over again.” The other thing he stresses is variability - so one day you might run off feel, while the next will be a Fartlek - where you mix sprints with a slow jog or walk. “Be intentional about what your exercise goal is,” he says. “Each day is important.”
One session Kerr does regularly is to run repeats of between 600m and 1000m at his target race pace, with the last 200m even faster. Kerr then jogs very slowly for 400m to recover, before going hard again until he has done four or five miles of work. “The nice thing is that it applies to somebody like Josh, or somebody trying to run 18 minutes for a parkrun,” says Mackey.
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For the recreational athlete, Mackey recommends tweaking the workout slightly so that they run six to eight 800m efforts, running the first 600m at whatever their goal 5km pace is before pushing harder for the last 200m. After each effort they would then shuffle slowly for two minutes before going harder again. “Josh would usually jog - I call it the sprinter shuffle - and then go again,” says Mackey. “There’s research that it’s better than standing around for recovery.”
Mackey says he would use this session once a week for a recreational athlete - along with one other quality workout. One option, he suggests, is to do a session with between eight and 10 repeats of 200m, resting in between each 200m burst. Another idea is to do a tempo run, with 100m strides after that.
Assuming someone runs five times a week, Mackey suggests that the other three workouts would consist of a long run and two runs at an easy effort. Have a plan. “Write it out - say this is what my week is going to look like,” says Mackey. Use different shoes for faster workouts and recovery days. Mackey uses Brooks’s lighter and speedier Hyperion shoes for his harder runs and the plusher Glycerin for his slower ones. “It helps you be intentional, like: ‘OK, I’ve got my fast shoes on. I’m going to do my workout today,’” says Mackey. Don’t forget the importance of rest. “I’m not good at quick fixes but from Josh’s point of view, recovery is huge,” says Mackey.
Josh Kerr's Daily Diet
Kerr’s daily diet includes:
- 7:30am: Breakfast consists of 1/2 cup gluten-free pancake mix, topped with 3 tablespoons of organic maple syrup, 1/4 cup blueberries, 1/4 cup raspberries, and 1/2 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt. He drinks 600ml of water mixed with one packet of electrolytes and 10-15g of collagen, along with a cup of coffee and 5g of taurine.
- 10:45am: Pre-workout gel at the start of his warm up. After training he has a recovery drink made with 25g of whey protein mixed with 70g of electrolyte powder and three grams of dietary supplement hydroxymethylbutyrate.
- 12:30pm: For lunch he eats two slices of gluten-free sourdough bread with 4oz chicken breast, 1/2 a small avocado, two tablespoons of avocado oil mayo, plus a side of cucumbers and baby plum tomatoes.
- 4pm: Snack of a beef stick and string cheese.
- 6pm: For dinner he has barbacoa tacos - 6oz beef rump served with four corn tortillas, homemade salsa, 1/2 avocado and a salad of rocket, tomato, cucumber and red cabbage.
Kerr’s breakfast offers a balanced combination of carbohydrates (pancakes, fruit), protein (Greek yogurt, collagen), and healthy fats (yogurt). The carbohydrates are crucial for refueling muscle glycogen stores after sleep, providing energy for morning training. Berries are high in antioxidants, which can help with recovery and reduce inflammation. The electrolytes and taurine help maintain hydration and support muscle function, while the collagen is beneficial for joint and connective tissue health, something endurance athletes often focus on to prevent injury.
This lunch provides a solid balance of protein (chicken), healthy fats (avocado, avocado oil), and some carbohydrates (gluten-free bread). For a 1,500m runner like Kerr, protein is crucial to support muscle repair, while healthy fats help maintain joint health and provide long-lasting energy.
Kerr’s dinner provides a high-quality source of protein (beef rump), which supports muscle repair and recovery. The corn tortillas supply a moderate amount of carbohydrates, and the avocado adds healthy fats. This meal is well-balanced for dinner, offering protein, carbs, and fats in good proportion. For a 1,500m runner, it’s important to have sufficient carbohydrates at the end of the day to restore energy reserves for the next day’s training.
Critical Perspectives on Kerr's Diet
Some observers have noted aspects of Kerr's diet that raise questions. For example, the inclusion of a beef stick and string cheese as a snack raises questions, given they are highly processed. The reason for choosing gluten-free options is another common question. It is often noted that any diet plan shared by famous athletes might be an idealized version rather than a strict adherence. Some people question whether Kerr's diet provides enough calories for the kind of training he undergoes.