Stretching after session
05/22/2015
One of the few thing we athletes are scared of, are the injuries that can stop us to do what we love.
Many times, injuries are due to bad habits and bad training.
It is true that after an intense session, what we most want is to have a shower and relax, but we cannot forget about the importance of STRETCHING!
With stretching we help our body to eliminate the lactic acid that muscles accumulate, often leading to aches and pains.
Furthermore, we will avoid overloading the muscles if we stretch them properly.
For me, the ideal is to stretch just after the session, when the muscle is still warm and to keep the position at least for 30 seconds. Less than this, the strething wont be effective.
It is important to meet the equilibrium between training time and the time we give to relax to our body. We have to relax properly in order to reach a good recovery.
Alterning windsurf sessions with other sports and stretching will help us to recovery faster and better.
Let’s see some exercises to stretch the back:
first photo: Stand with your legs slightly apart, tilt your body to one side. Lean the hand at knee’s height.
Try to keep your upper arm stretched behind the ear, this helps to better stretch the lateral muscles of the back.
In this one, lying belly up, lift your legs and bring them back up to reach the ground with the feet. This exercise is very useful for us windsurfers; it helps us to stretch the bottom part of the back that while sailing often remains in the same position throughout the session. At the beginning it will hurt, but just resist a bit to unlock the back muscles.
In the second photo, while seated legs apart stretch on one leg with one arm behind the ear toward the straighten leg and one inside.
Sitting legs apart bend your back gradually towards the ground.
Hope this will help you,
Have fun and stretch!
