- Rock
climbing: great full body activity, but must never be
done alone an without the required equipment. You must also feel
confident on your teammates and avoid any risky situation. Always
climb with experts or people who have enough experience. Rock
climbing requires you to use all your body parts, most of all
your fingers. Not many exercises allow you to strength your fingers
and hands as climbing does. One of the biggest benefits of rock
climbing is the mind and emotions control. You can't climb if
you don't learn to control the fear and think while working under
uncomfortable situations (sounds familiar?). Go climbing, but
remember: safety first!
- Windsurfing: a lot of fun, a lot of speed and tons of impacts
against water, Mylar and carbon fiber, but who cares?...it's a blast and you
g'otta pay the price! Windsurfing is a complete water physical activity: provides
elasticity to the torso , strength on arms and legs and an unbeatable element:
balance. Balance is the first thing you learn when starting windsurfing and will
help a lot when sailing, even more if you are planning to become or you are a
bowman. Another advantage of windsurfing is that it will teach you the importance
of the speed to survive in the world of sailboats and sailboards. Speed on a
windsurfer is the key element to maneuver and actually drive the board from one
point to another under control and safely. Same principle is applicable to sailboats,
even though a sailboat will be slower compared to the windsurfer, if you don't
have speed you can't point going upwind, you can tack or jibe properly and even
worst you fall to the back of the pack, so no matter what you do, do it going
fast. Windsurfing 2 -3 weekends a month will help a lot physically and mentally,
while having fun on the water.
- Biking: great endurance builder , biking can be done with
friends and family for extended periods of time depending on the pace and individual
cardiac conditions. It is a sport that can be done in the city following some
designed routes or in the country where is more challenging. On either case no
less than an hour per day is good at the beginning. You may want to gradually
increase the time on the bike as long as you keep developing strength and find
your own rhythm.
- Muscle strength: as we mentioned before, muscle strength is
needed, but I first recommend get in in shape with aerobic routines instead of
jumping straight from the couch to the bench. Building muscle mass without endurance
and elasticity may work against you in the long run. If you haven't trained much
with weights lately, it will be necessary to "educate" the muscle again
with 3 to 4 exercises per muscle in series of 10 to 12 and combine one large
muscle with a smaller and not repeat the same muscles the next day, i.e.: chest
and biceps, abs and lower legs. Next day go with back and triceps with upper
legs section and so on. Start with light weights, even if you feel you can work
with heavier. Remember that, any gym will have a trainer that can assist you
on particular needs
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