I was at the beach yesterday and overheard a guy going on saying he does "PILATES" and how good it is for Kite surfing....
Now i can see the coralation...downward dog aint a Kiteboarding trick...but got me wondering if there a a few Work outs people do to assist their Kite Boarding (Besides Kite Boarding itself)...
Or should i just kite more
Waiting for someone to bring the Tug Toner back in to play - forgot all about that one of a good reason...
For me it's ashtanga yoga for strength and flexibility. 3-5 times per week. My surfing/kiting has improved noticeably since I started consistently doing yoga.
I used to lift weights which just made me bulky and inflexible.
^^^ Agreed.
Basic compound exercises (so you involve more joints and muscles) with free weights (so you develop balance and co-ordination too) and reps in the 8-15 range for a few sets will be good.
Squats, Lunges, Chin-ups, Push-ups, Dips and Rows all fit the bill.
Superset exercises to up the intensity and save time.
Work out with (watch them as you work out) athletes who have achieved injury-free and sustained high-performance and you'll learn what works vs what is BS.
Got a mate in the UK that competed at nationals, he works on core strength mainly and a big emphasis on stretching before and after a gig,don't underestimate the forces and stresses that a big session puts on the body, I boxed for years as a young bloke but I reckon I'm more tender after a big wind session than after a fight plus its a good pain.
One important exercise for crew trying handlepasses is pushups.
The shoulder joint is unstable between the anterior and medial ligaments, (thats why shoulder dislocations alway are anterior. Pushups with close grip, wide grip, hands at head level, hands at sternum level, hands turned in and hands turned out will evercise and strengthen all the various muscle fibres that make up the shoulder muscle. Deltoid (5 muscles), you dont need to strengthen the posterior part of your deltoid, kitesurfing does it for you.
Dont stretch your shoulder muscles ever, the joint is unstable enough. Stretch your Rhomboids and latissimus dorsi instead, Can you touch both shoulders together frontwards? I can
Short answer;http://www.military.com/military-fitness-slideshows/spartacus-workout.html
Long answer;
Balancing the strength of opposing muscle groups is important to prevent pain.
Think of the bones as tent poles, the muscles as the tent ropes. If one is tight and one slack, there will be pain. (ie the tent will fall over!)
This particularly applies to the complex structure that is the human spine.
The longer I kite, the more I find my abdominal muscles growing stronger than my spinal erectors.
To balance this, I have been working on lower back strength.
The most extreme exercise to develop strength here is deadlifting, however, it's not without it's dangers. Proper form is essential. Better to lift small weights and have good form.
A less potentially dangerous movement is hyper extensions. Lie prone over an exercise ball, hands behind head and raise first head, then shoulders, then arch back.
Quadricep strength and integrity will help to reinforce knees against injury. Traditional barbell squats are dangerous, try body weight or dumbbell lunges.
Agree with drdojo, high reps (I advocate 15-20) are better suited to kiting than maximal lifts.
Flexibility is also key to staying in the game. Yoga is predominately flexibility, and there are many effective yoga positions, however lot's of contemporary yoga (a 5000 year old discipline) has been hijacked by commercial interest and there are lots of unrealistic claims made.
A stretching regime that includes lower body and spinal muscle groups such as illiopsoas, hamstrings, calves, glutes and spinal erectors will do wonders, not only for kiting, but for the general feeling of well being.
Apologies for the long post. I did my best to keep it brief. I could write pages. I qualified years ago as a PT but found training fat ladies who wanted to drop 3 dress sizes in a week with minimal effort, after 20 years of neglect, impossible to deal with. (No, I never shagged any of them.)
www.kiteboardingexercises.com or www.kiteworld.tv/higher-education also www.perfectlyfitonline.com. cant be arsed giving anymore info its exhausting ,im gonna have a beer