Recommended workout for kiteboarders ?

[lindseym]

Hello all,
What would you recommend as a few of the most important exercise routines for kiteboarders? I ask because I'd like to eventually put something together on this and want to gather as much feedback as possible. This of course goes beyond reducing fatigue or building strength, I invite any recommendations for knee preservation.
Thanks gang,
Lm

[ricki]

I try to warm up and down for sessions when I can. Things like posterior shoulder stretches, high elbow stretches, quadriceps, adductor and calf stretches. I tore some tendons and ligaments three years ago from excessive and long duration kiting arm loading so wrist stretches are real important for me. I try to stay well hydrated to reduce the risk of strains. Also, when I mess things up, I immerse them in ice water for up to ten minutes to reduce inflammation a few times per day to improve speed of recovery. I try to allow reasonable time for healing with appropriate rehab activities following injury.

My knees are still in good shape, fortunately. I think there are quite a few messed up knees from other activities that are dinged further from kiting loads. Conditioning that comes to mind would be balancing on a stability ball or foam pad one leg at a time. Making sure your foot straps are the correct tightness for your style and that they are well secured. One foot in, one out of the straps have messed up a lot of knees in kiting. I understand kiting strapless also reduces a lot of knee impact.

There are some detailed conditioning guides out there for kiters. Chirojoe from Cancun put one together about eight years ago and there is a lady based in OBX who put one together a couple of years back. They might provide some good research for your project.

[lindseym]

Thanks Rick - this is all great input. I did alot of googling and there's alot of good material out there but its all over the place and a bit disjointed. A friend mentioned "kiteboardingexercises.com" but its down. I'm going to keep digging into it and perhaps one of these days i'll produce something of my own, definitely targeted for the intermediate to beginner kiters though.
cheers
lm

[ricki]

Good luck in your research, there is also http://www.perfectlyfitonline.com/ . I think she has a Facebook page as well. The first one of these that I heard about years back was prepared by Chiro Joe in Cancun, Mexico, http://www.xtremebigair.com/exerciseguide.pdf

I had/have some concerns about long term impacts of aggressive kiting practices. Some interesting input came out of the threat at: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.p...55748&p=583494