I've just purchased the Sarah Hauser's windsurf training program. It's not a gear review, but in these no wind times I will share my experience to empower others. I'm not being sponsored, paid full price!

www.nc6training.com/programs-info

First thing I realised I need a little bit of kit. Heading to Kmart to pick up a ball, tube and elastic band tomorrow. Luckily I have a pull-up bar. Going to try the solid shoulder meditation in the next few days, watch the first vid so I can make sure I have the right kit and set it up right but I won't dive into the program fully for a week.

Will post with an update in a week or less. Wish me luck!

Go for it.

I've been trying Sarah Lee's training program.

Easy to follow, but poor results so far.

Surfing when no wind. Otherwise dirt windsurf or wind skate.

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Manuel7 said..
Surfing when no wind. Otherwise dirt windsurf or wind skate.

I hate to do physical exercise with dumbles and stuff, so boring, so i never do it. Unfortunately not many sports that are available to me work the shoulders well enough and i have pretty weak shoulders.

Windskate seems like a fun activity for off season, is it physical enough to work the shoulders?
How about mountain biking?

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Sea Lotus said..

Manuel7 said..
Surfing when no wind. Otherwise dirt windsurf or wind skate.

I hate to do physical exercise with dumbles and stuff, so boring, so i never do it. Unfortunately not many sports that are available to me work the shoulders well enough and i have pretty weak shoulders.

Windskate seems like a fun activity for off season, is it physical enough to work the shoulders?
How about mountain biking?

Yes, mountain biking is pretty awesome for overall fitness and fun. Also I feel it combines well with windsurfing as you use more core and upper body muscles than typical road cycling. Just don't crash and get injured!

MTB is great but as mentioned very likely to cause injury.

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Sea Lotus said..

Manuel7 said..
Surfing when no wind. Otherwise dirt windsurf or wind skate.

I hate to do physical exercise with dumbles and stuff, so boring, so i never do it. [...]

People ask me what I do to stay in shape in-between sessions, I answer "I rest!"

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Sea Lotus said..
Windskate seems like a fun activity for off season, is it physical enough to work the shoulders?
How about mountain biking?

It's awesome, much like anything else, it'll depend on what we work on. I sailed in 0 (push start) to 40 knots (got flattened on dirt )

Ok. I got the gear. Ready to start now. The training provides options to use common household items but those that know me are aware that I like a bit of kit.

The training intro nots provide links to where to get the stuff ' what specifics to use. Very helpful.

This seems like a comprehensive and scalable structure to me. Now I need to let go of my current fitness routine, I have been doing for the last 10 years. Life changes!

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Grantmac said..
MTB is great but as mentioned very likely to cause injury.

Hmmm, not sure I fully agree.
It really depends on how heavily you want to push your boundaries.
I consistently ride at about 80% as a max (because I'm a fair bit of a chicken) and have had 3 minor accidents (with a bit of bark off on 1 of those crashes) in the last decade. Friends who are way more talented than me are going to their limits and having big ones that take them out for 3 months +.
If you're not super competitive and enjoy motoring along with some redundancy, then mountain biking is a great way to keep fit.

Weekend training regime

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russh said..


Weekend training regime

That's about the same as my training too Russ. Maybe a few Voltarens before sailing and after if needed.

For strengthening the upper body you could try rock climbing in the gym? It's fairly safe and it's fun! There are multiple gyms in capital city's these days. Just depends where you are. It's high intensity training for short duration. You just have to be a bit careful to make sure your fingers don't get injured as the rest of your muscles get stronger faster.

From 58 secs ....

Day 1: core workout then a run. Challenging but I can see how this stuff directly relates to windsurf outcomes. I had to go for the 'soft option' on a couple of exercises. 50 minutes went very quickly!

Two sessions and the rust is all off. A few days of muscle ache and I am ready to rock. Favorite training program -walk in the park and a cold evening guiness(one only) with mates.

When I worked on the car racing circuit, we would have specific menu's for specific tracks depending on their demands.
Some like Spa in Belgium was full on high intensity and certain meals for the drivers and teams were introduced at certain times so the body could adjust, then Ramp up certain things within those meals so that would stimulate the endorphins and senses.
I strongly believe that certain programs can improve certain situations and influence how your body then adjusts to those certain needs.

Day 2: Pascasmayo work out. I'm not fit enough! Again can see the connection to real world windsurfing. I need to have a good hard look at myself!

Ok, typo. That was day 3. In typical man approach I did not read the instructions well and was not following the program sequence and overreached myself! I was also doing a 30 min run on top of the program each day.
It now looks a lot less of an immediate challenge to me. Really enjoying the journey!

Day 5, er, 2. Solid shoulders day was a nice starter, did Kanaha core and more today. The different level of work/skill are by exercise which helps. You just play the video as you exercise and it is explained as you go. My run is adversely affected from 'the work'. Sure hope it gets windy in a bit so I can use the building 'mojo' :-)

Next day, solid shoulders level 1. Good workout. Will start to summarise weekly now so not to be perceived as a spammer.

Why quiet? It's been mega windy!

Been doing the Fiji stretch routine whilst windy. Great 20 min routine. Even after a couple of weeks, noticed better balance.

Still keeping it lighter at the moment as been windy. Getting more flex and strength in shoulders. Feeling a bit more confident in the water as I sense I am investigating in better flexibility than the same effort on my old routine.

depending on whether or not you are a back foot or front foot sailor- and whether or not you ride a front of back foot board- focus on that leg.

oh - i forgot- we sail both ways.So you still need to do both legs.

unless you only sail one tack.

But seriously: Push ups, pull ups and anything to strengthen your legs. A bit of core helps ALOT with wave windsailing.

A broken roller blind where you have to wind up the blind every morning by hand is GOLD for the forearms
(ours has been broken for 2 years and i dont plan on fixing it.) Use a wetsuit that doesn't give you fore arm pump

For me both tacks, front foot. Trying to get better on my weaker jump tack. Equal on both for waveriding, stall forwards and other moves on one tack and can barely jump on the other. Hoping this will help.

i';ve got a pretty serious training regime i follow for wave sailing,

rock up to the point, talk **** for 30min,
drink a tin, punch a dart.
rig up,
drink another tin
carry my gear down the stairs, talk to who ever is at the bottom about the stairs.
go for a sail, have a huge wipe out and swim for my gear.
come back in, have a tin

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Carantoc said..
I've been trying Sarah Lee's training program.

Easy to follow, but poor results so far.

Oh no that's because you need to go the healthier Sarah Lee Carrot cake it's got a vegetable in it. I think the Sarah Lee sticky date is healthy too, as it has fruit in it, I think dates are a fruit.

Ok, now been on this for a solid month. Last sail was a noticeable improvement in balance when waveriding. Also when I got back to shore the other day some were saying it was a hard 'ish' day and I didn't notice. Im usually one of the soft ones on this tack.

Its a commitment, but so far so good!

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martyj4 said..

Grantmac said..
MTB is great but as mentioned very likely to cause injury.

Hmmm, not sure I fully agree.
It really depends on how heavily you want to push your boundaries.
I consistently ride at about 80% as a max (because I'm a fair bit of a chicken) and have had 3 minor accidents (with a bit of bark off on 1 of those crashes) in the last decade. Friends who are way more talented than me are going to their limits and having big ones that take them out for 3 months +.
If you're not super competitive and enjoy motoring along with some redundancy, then mountain biking is a great way to keep fit.

Mountain bike on a pump track for two hours a week. Been a lot of core strength improvement- for those who have a pump track handy

Get down to your local boxing club and train up for a few sparring rounds in the ring. Bet you will never have been this fit before.