My legs are too tired - am I doing something wrong?

[vojtech]

I am 58 years old and I started kiteboarling last year. I picked it up quite nicely and went for a week in Hatteras in the fall. In there I got more wind that I am normally used to in Ontario and after couple of days my legs were KILLING me after only an hour on the water. I didn't feel overpowered with my kite, but I couldn't use the full power of the kite because my thighs were just giving up. The wind was mostly around 20-25 knots and I was on my 12m kite with JL Flightdeck board. I am just under 200 lb guy so I think my set up was find for the wind. Am I doing something wrong or is this just the old age?

[Rocks]

maybe its the wind strenght, maybe the water is too cold or maybe you should train a bit more, before u go out. Try bicycle, or gym or yoga (least one is the best!)..
Take care

[icebird]

Hi Vojtech,

Maybe your condition or technique, but not your age. There are plenty kiters older than you.
It's hard to tell from your description, but it sounds like your are unconsciously using more tension than you need to and maybe not letting the harness do enough of the work.

Play around with your stance, observe what others do, focus consciously on relaxing for a while and check later to see if you ride with more tension than you need to. Too much tension is very common in different sports when getting caught up with the action. You might also be compensating for other parts of your body that tire early and then you should try to build up strength in these areas.

Doing some other regular excises like cycling or running and doing squats will most likely help your legs. I believe you generally get good exercise from kiting alone, but whenever you tire or hurt in some part of the body, some focused training is usually a good idea. Situps, pushups etc. could also help improving your core body strength and hence your stance.

Mikkel

[Peter_Frank]

I am 58 years old and I started kiteboarling last year. I picked it up quite nicely and went for a week in Hatteras in the fall. In there I got more wind that I am normally used to in Ontario and after couple of days my legs were KILLING me after only an hour on the water. I didn't feel overpowered with my kite, but I couldn't use the full power of the kite because my thighs were just giving up. The wind was mostly around 20-25 knots and I was on my 12m kite with JL Flightdeck board. I am just under 200 lb guy so I think my set up was find for the wind. Am I doing something wrong or is this just the old age?

I dont know how much you have surfed or windsurfed or similar sports earlier ?

Would just mention one thing almost everyone has learned from these sports though:

If you are out 2-3 days with power (good exciting conditions - or just the joy of being on holiday), most surfers no matter what age - will often be dead meat on the 4th day, and it would be better to take a rest and NOT go out at all, as your coordination sucks (first symptom of fatique) and your muscles will be very sore. They need 24-48 hours to be able to deliver again.
Going out several days in a row if you really push yourself a lot (no matter how much this is - very personal), will require a rest in order to continue again.

So not necessarily anything wrong with you - as you had been out more than usual (and not a teenager no more...), and every surfer I've met meets a wall when out often and for longer time than usual - where a day "off" is needed

Dont know if you can use this for anything - as it is not a "solution".
But better than thinking you are totally unsuited for this

Of course better coordination coming from being out more often for shorter periods, means you can relax when your strength are not needed - thus having much more power and more hours in you
If you have tension because of less perfect coordination, you WILL tire very fast.

Just like if you have to try something new for the very first time - your muscles will "tremble" and you will be tired 20 times as fast as normally

So it should get better over time

Kindly, Peter Frank

[waynepjh]

Try "sportlegs" Its a vitamin that removes lactic acid. Its not a gimmick and it works. Also drink plenty of water. being dehydrated also will make you more tired. waynepjh

[Galeltic]

if your first day kiting at hatterea then normal way for tired leg and later better

[thebroz]

I'm surprised no one else mentioned board size. The JL flight deck is a pretty big board for wind over 20 mph. It will give you more surface area to push against & hence wear out your legs sooner. But all the other comments about fitness are on point, you need to do some squats or lunges to strengthen your quads, especially if you only get to kite occassionally. See if you can try a smaller board next time you find your legs wearing out & see if you can feel the difference. I'm over 235 lbs & once I can be powered on my 12M, I get on my JL mod 3 139x40 and it is a huge difference compared to my Nobile ext 139x46. Good luck.

[Jnonny]

..outside of strength/endurance conditioning (and/or just pushing beyond what your body is used to), drinking lots of water, etc as others have mentioned ..also might consider stance --as any "sit/squat" in your stance will escalate leg/quad fatigue significantly.. try and take a look at some pics of yourself riding and examine your stance --be sure that you're not bending too much at the hips (i.e. sitting/squatting) and/or try to focus on pushing your hips forward while riding and see if that helps..




--John
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[BWD]

Board much too big.
Kite probably ok, but could be overpowered depending on which type/model.
Also, maybe you keep the kite too low?

[Windrider]

Two first things that came to my mind:

(1) Board size - that's a big board in that kind of wind. I would've expected you to be using nothing more that 140x40 in those conditions

(2) Chop and/or waves? Was there more chop and/or waves than you are used to? If so, that could account for it. You use your legs much more as shock absorbers (thigh muscles) in chop and waves. Slightly diffrerent muscles at work, so they wouldn't be as ready for an extended period of good kiting as the rest of your body.

Also, I totally agree with Peter regarding the fatigue perspective. After about 4 days, your body needs one day of rest to recoup. Then you should be good for another 2-3 days. If you don't get that one day of rest, you will be really klutzy and fatigued until you do get the down time.