Wakeboarding Training

[wakelizard]

I recently started wakeboarding and am totally in love with it. It's always on my mind but during the winter months i obviously can't jump in the lake and ride. I was hoping someone could help me figure out how to get in shape for it in May. I'm new to this whole forum thing; I hope I did this right!

[abarlament]

Why don't you pick up a similar activity, such as skateboarding or snowboarding? Other than that, general strength training and some kind of aerobic activity is fine.

[GM NOV8D]

i would tell you to surf, but that focuses alot more on the upper body as opposed to the lower. you're paddling alot more than actual surfing....but SNOWBOARDING would be your key, great lower body workout, and once you get better and into it more, its a hell of a midsection workout as well. you'll also want to try out plyometrics, and theres something you can use at home called the indoboard, its a balanceboard, made specific for boardsports [such as wakeboarding], you can find at indoboard.com

[Eric_B]

Umm, you would think snowboarding would be the obvious choice! I wakeboard too and it is definitley awesome. It's actually fun to fall on water rather than pavement or icey snow. Much easier for flips and all that. Snowboarding in the winter gave me a really strong base when I started working out this year. I could squat 200+ and leg press 400+ without much trouble. Wakeboarding actually incorporates more upper body strength than leg strength. After a long day of wakeboarding my arms and midsection are usually the most sore. It might just be the fact that I am used to it from snowboarding, but my legs never get sore from wakeboarding. It's so easy to initiate turns on the water, you really only need your legs to balance. When you start getting better you will need the arm strength to be able to pull the handle in to your body for handle pass maneuvers. This was my biggest problem when I first started. I was very weak and wanted to try 360's, but I simply didn't have the arm strength to fight the pull of the boat. I would say that seated cable rows are the best simulation of the muscles that are taxed in wakeboarding. Good luck and have fun! :

[Bill_O]

I would say squats, deadlifts and cable rows would be your big weight moves. Squats for the leg power, deads for the powering up moves (plus grip strength) - maybe some power cleans too, and cable rows for the obvious. Throw in a lot of core work then - stability ball work, woodcops and stand and pull across on the cable machines. :

[Gartrell]

Focus on your core, wakeboarding seems like it'd be abs-intensive.