It was winter, and one of my students asked me this questions: is there anything a kitesurfer-to-be can do during the winter to prepare for the summer, so, learning will be easier and faster? I quickly replied: Sure, work on your endurance, as there is a lot going on the water; make your legs stronger, as you will be standing on the board most of the time with one leg slightly bent most of the time; and strengthen your core, ‘cause when we ride we are always leaning away from the kite and this leaning is somewhat unusual for our torso. This was my quick response, and then I thought about kitesurfing as a whole, looked at the big picture, I came to realize that kitesurfing is all about balance. Every day we are walking the surface of this planet keeping our vertical position leveraging one main force: the gravity. While kitesurfing, we are leveraging two additional forces: the pull of the kite and the response from the board. That is three variables altogether that you will master to leverage over time and to make this process easier it would be helpful if you practice balancing ahead of time. I would recommend doing a variety of activities to build your sense of balance. Simply riding a bicycle can help, rollerblading, ice skating, skiing, snowboarding, and even walking a balance beam can help. Yoga has plenty of postures that can help you develop a sense of balance. This is a learnable skill, and it might take some time to develop, but once you have strong balance, you have laid the foundation to build your kitesurfing skills upon.
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