windfreaks - injury and exercise

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Prevention, Here are some tips:

Have some lessons, good technique always results in less injury- and will make your experience more fun!

Regular stretching and warm up

A warm-up helps your body prepare its muscles and mind for both mental and physically exertions and reduces the chance of injury. Kite surfing is no different. A good warm up will prevent injury during activity and is a crucial part of any sport.. The aim is to increase circulation, blood flow around the muscles of the body and core temperature in a gradual manner. During the warm-up any injury or illness you have can often be recognized, and further injury prevented.

Extra un-restrictive clothing (tracksuits - hats) can be worn, to help increase the body temperature, which in turn will speed up the warming up process of your muscles.

The warm-up is a slow-medium combo of simple rhythmic exercise to get the heart rate up a little, the blood moving and the tissues loosening up. What is important is that you warm up and do some static stretching. The body will take time to warm up properly; i.e. shut done areas such as the digestive system, in order to supply the muscles with more blood.

Aim for a minimum of 5 minutes for a warm-up and the same for stretching. When working out, take into consideration that it may take a good 30 minutes for your body to be working at its best.

During cold weather, and certainly if you're going to do an activity which requires sudden bursts, make sure you spend more time warming up. Suitable exercises include jogging on marching on the spot, simple squats, arm circles and skipping.

A warm up must include simple stretches as well. During the warm up the stretches are simple, not deep and held for 20 seconds (At the end of exercise during the warm down; do deeper stretches, holding for 1 min).

Include side stretches, touching the toes, stand with wide legs reach down to one ankle then the other. Make sure you rotate the wrists and ankles and arch the back a few times. Stretching is one of the most under-utilized techniques for improving athletic performance, preventing sports injury and properly rehabilitating sprain and strain injury. Don't make the mistake of thinking that something as simple as stretching won't be effective. It is the athlete’s secret weapon!

Sports massage

We all develop knots in our muscles from sitting at a computer, driving a car, training hard and general stresses and strains of day-to-day life. These knots often contribute to pain ache and predispose us to get muscle strains. It is a good idea to get a sports massage every couple of months to keep muscles loose and prevent problems.



If you have any questions or need advice, please feel free to contact Body in Motion on 01202 720 200 or contact us via our web site