Sailing Fitness Training

I think the best fitness training for moth sailing is moth sailing.

Otherwise wall sits, sit ups, cycling, swimming and free weights would be more than enough to help. Running will only improve cardio and fat loss and I don't think it is as important as building strength in the upper body or legs (unless you need to loose weight that is). I also hear that eating less can help loose weight too. ;)

Wall sits are basically standing with your back to the wall, feet apart (shoulder width) and about 0.5m away from the wall. Slide with your back down the wall until your legs are parrallel to the ground. Hold that position as long as possible and repeat. 30 seconds will be most peoples limit. Do it while watching 'Desperate Housewives' or 'Big Brother' on and off for 15-30 mins. As the legs require static contraction when hiking, it pools blood in the muscles and hurts after a while. This simulates hiking and will help maintain hiking for longer periods.

Upper body strength is really important especially in the upper arms and lower torso. Your upper body should always be moving when foiling, ie leaning back to induce lift and leaning forward to flatten the boat off to go faster. After a long session on the water, my ribs actually hurt afterwards as I am moving my upper body so much.

The mainsheet should never be held static (foiling or not foiling). Constant trim is required in order to maintain a balanced boat. This requires good bicep strength. The best thing is just doing bicep curls every day using a free weight (as much as possible x 3). Bent over lateral raises is also good if you have a bench or similar.

I am not one for doing gym work, but forced myself to do so prior to the 2003 and 2005 worlds. Personally I prefer to swim and ride. At times I was swimming up to 20km a week, but stopped when I got kicked out of the squad for refusing to pay memberships fees (long story).

I ride whenever I can in summer, but a good bike and gear will make a big difference. Cycling takes up a lot of time, so ATM I would never ride more than 50kms in a day.

I have had a really good fitness base behind me tho which probably made a big difference as well to my training and fitness now (ie 15kms swimming, 250kms riding and 40kms running a week), but doing all this doesn't leave much time for anything else.

Basically any training or cross training is good as long as you enjoy doing it and it doesn't take up too much time from the other important things.