One of the wonderful things about sailing is how forgiving it is. You can participate at any exertion level: casual cruiser or hot racer. But during a course, you will do more drills and maneuvers in a short period of time than you would during a normal sailing outing. Chances are, you’ll discover a few new muscles and experience a different kind of fatigue at the end of each day. And you might feel like Deborah Loeff, a pediatric surgeon in Chicago who bought her own boat after her first lesson. “I loved it,” she exclaimed. “Very athletic and mentally challenging.”
If you’re overweight and out of shape, don’t let this hold you back. You might run out of breath pulling lines, and you might feel clumsy getting around the boat at first. But the fact is, it won’t hinder your ability to learn to sail. (However, you might want to think about starting a fitness program when you get home.) Certified instructors are trained to watch for signs of weariness and give you easier jobs or let you rest.
Women who sail regularly generally emphasize working on upper-body strength and toning exercises for sailing. To compensate for small size or too little strength, Stephanie Argyris recommends learning to use your whole body — your trunk and hips, not just your arms, especially when pulling on lines and using winches when you take one of our US sailing courses at Offshore Sailing School.
While researching this book, I was surprised to find that few women thought about sailing workouts before taking a sailing course. Maybe that’s because fitness is so much a part of our daily lives. If you don’t have a regular exercise regime, I suggest you do a little preparation each day to keep the minor aches at bay. These exercises for sailing can be done wherever you are, at home, on the road, in the gym. But, they might not be for everyone. Check with your doctor, physical therapist or trainer. Get a copy of Fitness Afloat, a video developed for sailors. Start slowly if you haven’t exercised in a while and follow these steps when you begin training for sailing.
Agility and suppleness. Limber up before you go out. Bicycle 5 miles at a good, steady pace on a nice cool morning; use a stationary bike in the gym or at home; do a 10-minute fast walk. Stretch each morning to avoid a pulled muscle or soreness at the end of the day. The following sailing workouts should be done in slow rhythmic repetitions, not sporadic pulsing, always with a flat back and tight stomach and buttocks. Take deep breaths throughout.
Strengthen stomach muscles to avoid back stress. The number of repetitions depends on your stamina. Start with eight of each and build up from there. Keep your back flat on the floor, knees bent, lower legs parallel to floor, stomach muscles and buttocks tight. Alternate flexed ankles with pointed toes to work the muscles in your lower legs.
Arms and upper body. When you do standing exercises for sailing, remember to keep your back and shoulders in line, buttocks tucked in,and stomach muscles tight. Legs should not be more than shoulder-width apart.
Upper body and chest muscles. Holding small weights or soup cans will augment these sailing workout exercises. Always keep your back straight, and your stomach and buttock muscles tight.
Leg muscles. Remember: For all the leg sailing workout exercises, keep your buttocks tight (you get a little boost in shaping that area too), back straight, and stomach muscles tensed.
Diana Smith, an avid racer and NWSA founding member, carries a 6-foot length of ¾ inch surgical tubing wherever she goes. On a boat, she hangs it over the boom or over handholds in the cabin below and pulls against it to strengthen her shoulders and upper back. For a simulated pectoral machine, she wraps it around a vertical post and sits with her back to the post, pulling the ends to the front. To simulate a rowing machine, she sits with feet extended and wraps the tubing around her soles.
Women who cruise over long distances find their bodies become sinewy and strong. They tend to eat less and consume healthier food. With no real deadlines, stress levels fade away; you feel younger and better. There are all kinds of exercises for sailing you can do when cruising, using various parts of the boat — the boom and handholds for stretching; bungee cords, winch handles, halyards and lines for upper body; foredeck surface and cockpit seats for leg work and abdominals. Cans of food work well as weights. The day-to-day activity of cruising is a workout in itself. You tense and relax muscles as you balance against the boat’s movements, bend and pull on lines, row dinghies, and swim.
Reprinted from “Sailing – A Woman’s Guide” By Doris Colgate Published by Ragged Mountain Press
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