Quote:
Originally Posted by schuey
What are the best ways to build up your wakeboarding muscles in your arms for riding? Apart from riding of course. What are the best excercises/machines to use in the gym and the best way to use them to build up riding fitness. High weight low reps, high reps low weights etc? Not weights at all?
Also I'm interested in which muscles specifically are key to wakeboarding fitness?
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Wakeboarding uses pretty much every muscle group except for your chest (ie...pushing movements.)
For wakeboarding you want/need to have strength as well as endurance. Therefore you should work on both of them. I recommend working a combination of both. Use a rep range of 6-10 reps per set. (Don't do the same amount of reps every workout for an extended period of time. Change the rep range occasionally.)
Work on a lot of pulling, shoulders, rotational, core stability, and explosive leg exercises. That will target the main muscles that you use wakeboarding.
Concentrate on using multi-joint, compound movements (Squats, lunges, pushups, rows, pullups, etc.) That is how your body works when you wakeboard, so that is how you should train.
Don't always train in 1 plain of motion. For example, with your legs, you can do crossover squats, crossover lunges, crossover step-ups, etc. That will ensure that you can engage and properly utilize your muscles when not moving in a straight line (which is a great majority of the time when you are wakeboarding.)
The TRX is great because you can do a wide variety of pulling and core exercises with it.
As far as resistance bands, if you get the correct bands, they offer plenty of resistance. The only ones that I use and recommend to my clients are "JC Bands." You can find them at performbetter.com and power-systems.com (Perform Better calls them "All-Purpose Bands.)
IMO, JC Bands are the most durable, last the longest, and offer the most resistance.