Stomach muscles

[Matteo V]

Kite more.

Under 40...... good advice!

Over 40...... You need to do more. I am there now dealing with some stuff that I never dreamed of having a problem with before.

I would suggest that if you do ab exercises, you put in some back exercises with them. Your lower back is really important and can take you out of kiting for a lot longer than ab issues.

I found this extremely helpful when my genetics, and a break in physical activity (no wind), finally caught up to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20zybMbnVoU

This vid seems a little "geriatric", but the exercises are not as tame as they look. However, they are not too extreme to do if you are already having issues.

[Eduardo]

You that you can never have enough ab muscles for big air. Every jump is like a leg lift with weights on your legs AND going against a couple G-forces as you get rocketed up. More gym + more kiting but there are limits...

One thought: you might also try jumps without sending the kite, e.g., a simple back roll or front roll with the kite stationary should be a challenge and fun at your stage but will not strain your abs nearly as much.

[Hugh2]

A third vote for a seat harness. I'm 63 and in medium shape, and jump a lot. I don't exercise at all apart from kiting, and find a seat harness takes care of all the problems others complain about like sore stomach muscles when jumping. It would not be unusual for me to do a hundred jumps in a session and the only problem is my arms wear out from cranking in and holding the bar to get maximum height and hang time.

[elguapo]

one of life's basic rules.... whenever arnold talks..you should listen.





also..
this might be taking yall down the weird parts of the internet... but search "udiyana banda" on youtube

[plummet]

Kite more.

Under 40...... good advice!

Over 40...... You need to do more. I am there now dealing with some stuff that I never dreamed of having a problem with before.

I would suggest that if you do ab exercises, you put in some back exercises with them. Your lower back is really important and can take you out of kiting for a lot longer than ab issues.

I found this extremely helpful when my genetics, and a break in physical activity (no wind), finally caught up to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20zybMbnVoU

This vid seems a little "geriatric", but the exercises are not as tame as they look. However, they are not too extreme to do if you are already having issues.

I'm 47 and this kite more advice works for me. If you kite 2-3 times a week you will be able to withstand a healthy boosting session with ease. Less than once per week. Not so much.

[Foil]

the strain can be quite severe if you do what I did way back in 2005,

Remember kite depower on the bar was still limited back then and flying a C kite was all about boosting, lots!

I took this to the extreme one day which knocked me out of kitesurfing for near on a year.
Out sailing in stiff winds and flat sea with my sailing buddy we egged each other on all afternoon to see who could boost continually without slowing down on landing and edging immediately and going large again and again,
maintaining maximum speed and height, the looser was the one who lost speed on the touchdowns.
So much fun, if a bit sketchy in the shallow water where it was flattest and where the speed was so much easier to maintain for maximum height and length of jump which helped with speed on landing.
However, as this was so exhausting we started to crash a bit, but I would not give up, but did not realize what was about to happen,
I wore myself out, completely, but still carried on,
my whole body was knackered, my stomach was really starting to burn, legs were getting very heavy and then it happened.

I landed heavily after one jump but tried to take off again anyways, as I edged hard for take off and started to lift my legs up,
I heard a big "loud" snap noise inside the body. SNAP! it was so weird as it sounded very loud, of course it was a snapping sound that only I heard.
it still makes we wince now as I recall the memory.
In agony I collapsed to the water, doubled up with pain in the stomach,
the water was shallow, kite was down, I was in a ball.unable to stand up,
my buddy released my kite and I crawled ashore.
that was the end of kitesurfing for me for near a year.
avoided an operation by taking it easy. and allowing things to repair.
took windsurfing up again as this was easy to do and helped to slowly get back up to strength and return to kitesurfing and jumping like a mad thing again but aware that I needed to stop whenever the burn ever returned.

[hongchew]

My stomach hurts much less now that I jump better without forcing on bad timed jumps

[Herman]

Freestyle swimming is good exercise and low impact for the older guy. I was amazed that it was free for over 60s in my local sports centre. It is kind of relevent. It is also a challenge to the brain if you work at it as it's very technical. Took me ages to be able to switch leg rhythms, breathing rhythms optimise rotation, arm bend etc etc. It did not make me more confident to go out further if anything it made me think harder about the length of swim you might have if something breaks.

[Herman]

Hi kiteguy4life! Nice handle. It has just occurred to me that I have recently seen an article somewhere that castigated the good old sit up or crunch. Sorry I can't remember details but if memory serves the main thrust was that the exercise had been dropped by some branch of the American military as it was not worth the wear on the lower back.
I have done loads of sit-ups often with weights in my younger years and I was considering reintroducing them to my daily routine at the time I found this article. Although I can not remember the details I do know at the time I decided that there are better ways to exercise the core.

[MattyM]

Pilates. Seriously.