Since it hasn’t been windy for last 4 days here in WA, Australia, I came up with many great ideas. One idea was to share some of my training techniques that I use to help keep my body strong for the upcoming season.
I’ve been working with a personal trainer and phisio-therapheutist (Walerian Smolana from fizjoforma) for last 6 years and I think the outcome is pretty good. I’ve become the world champion twice now and only had two minor injuries during that time (sprained ankle and stretched MCL).
Additionally, during that time Walerian and I we have developed the best strengthening and anti-injury program for my discipline (freestyle kiteboarding).
Kiteboarding
Kiteboarding is my main discipline and my entire world is circles around it. My training, nutrition and personal life is all about kiteboarding.
My main problem is that I love being active and I love all the other water sports, giving up that for hours at the gym studio does not really work for me. I love being outside, and breathing the fresh air. Because I am moving from place to place a lot, all my training sessions are designed to be practiced anywhere I might be in the world.
My Stratergy
Rule nr.1 Be active. On a windless days I will try to do other sports that are available at the place. For example when I am at home in Warsaw, I will go for a cycle or a swim with my parents. On the other hand when I am in Egypt, I will go for a snorkel or a wakeboarding session at the local wake park, in other places I will go surfing, running or dance class at the local discotheque ;)
Rule nr. 2 Variety. I always have different workout routines, however when something is hard for me then I will repeat it on multiple sessions, so I get better at it. If I keep doing the entire work out over and over again, I get really tired of it. To keep motivated I try doing different exercises or different cardio routines every week, so actually my off-water trainings are exciting and challenging. This includes various activities like hot yoga, cryo-chamber, tennis, sauna, spinning, skating, winter cross country, boxing, slack-line, rollerblading, sailing, windsurfing etc.
Rule nr. 3 Have fun !
Whether it is balancing on a ball or jumping on a trampoline, I always try to have fun while doing boring workout routines. When I run, I will listen to my favourite tunes, when I go for a bike, I will choose my favourite road to admire the landscape. These little things keep me motivated and make my cardio and strenghtening training more enjoyable.
Stretching
I love yoga, I can say that it is my second main sport, because I try to practice it every single day.
Yoga sessions give me not only stretching and peaceful time but also strengthen the muscles I don’t use while kiteboarding. All the balancing poses (triangles, warriors, dogs and trees) are really good for the stability of my body which is crucial while doing crazy tricks with a kite.
Strengthening
For my discipline, which is freestyle kiteboarding it is very important to be able to rotate my arms and legs in weird positions while spinning around in the air. That’s why I do a lot of functional training, like TRX, swiss ball or trampoline. All these activities give strength to the muscles I need for keeping my body in one piece but also they teach my body how to land in a correct way. When I can’t control my body because I am upside down, spinning around, my muscles will remember these little moves I learned on the ground and most probably I will land my tricks safely.
Nutrition
My main strategy is to have a balanced diet. I am travelling around the world all the time, so it’s really hard to give organic and super foods to my body every single day. However If I have an opportunity to indulge my self with this amazing super foods, I will definitely go for it. I love everything that is green and healthy :)
Some tips from my Walerian were to drink more water than I think I need and to keep my body fuelled throughout the day. Don’t go training hungry, he says, eat small meals, but eat them more often ! This is a good advice for me, because so often I stay at the beach all day long and forget to eat which makes me more tired not only during the session, but also afterwards.
Relax
Very often we forget about giving our bodies a rest. We are constantly on a go go go mode. My life especially is very active with trainings and travelling. Giving my body a good rest, do yoga or having a lazy day at home, gives me an extra energy for the next day activities. I think people are scared of resting, because they think if they miss one training, they will never reach their goal. In my opinion this is completely the opposite, a day or two off our routines can give us amazing results. We will have an opportunity to analyse what we are doing wrong, and how we can improve it, additionally a resting day is priceless for our bodies:)
To sum up, I keep training and practice healthy eating and at the same time I try to keep a balanced life and don’t forget about enjoying it because that’s what the most important for me, to be happy and try to have fun everyday !!!
XO
Karolina
[source: www.karolinawinkowska.com]
