Off Season Training

As we approach the end of the regular wakeboard season I want to find out how people are staying in shape and the type of wake-specific training they do.

I've had 9 operations including a couple of ACL tears, a dislocating shoulder, and a handful of meniscus procedures--needless to say most of the training I do now is just to maintain my joints. After speaking with my spine doctor he told me that I should stop cycling: his point was that my aggressive cycling program through the years have trained the wrong muscles and overdeveloped slow-twitch muscle fibers, when sports like wakeboarding require more explosive movements and shorter, high intensity intervals. He recommended crossfit. While I understand the science behind this sport-specific training, I still think, as well as my knee surgeon, that cycling is the absolute best training I could do to promote good joint health in my knees-- especially during the rehab phase.

I work in physical therapy and am a personal trainer as well. I think wakeboarding is insanely hard on the body, and is truly a "young person's sport". But I love it and so I'll keep riding and probably continue to wreck myself. But as I approach my 30's I realize bodies change, muscle mass is not so easily gained, flexibility is lost and those "old injuries" start to creep back and haunt me. I'm a shoe-in for a total knee replacement in my 40/50s-- but whatever.

What are you doing for training? Crossfit? Yoga? Marathons? Trampolines? Is it just resistance training with minimal cardio? There is a model for good wake-specific, off season training somewhere in all of this.