For most people, playing outside during the summer makes staying in shape much easier than in the winter. In the colder months, many of us experience a decrease in muscle tone and shrinking clothing phenomena. As a water sport enthusiast it’s important to stay in shape during the off-season so that you can continue to hone your skills each year and avoid injury. Here are some tips for keeping fit this winter so you will be ready for spring water sports.

• If your muscles are tight, you are more prone to injuries so make sure to add at least 15 minutes of stretching into your off-season fitness program everyday or go to a yoga class a few days each week.

• You should spend a significant portion of your fitness time focusing on your leg strength with leg presses, extensions, and curls.

• Abdominal muscles are key in helping you maintain the correct water skiing form. You can strengthen them with mini sit-ups and crunches.

• Rowing three to four days a week is a great way to help keep up your shoulder and back strength.

• Short, fast, and high-intensity cardiovascular workouts are essential for building endurance and doing bike sprints, track sprints, hill workouts, aerobics, or other activities that raise your heart rate quickly at least three days a week will help you keep in great shape.

• Taking up snow skiing or snowboarding can give you an alternative cross-training fitness program for the winter.

• Trampoline training helps participants keep a lean body while also giving them the opportunity to learn new wakeboard tricks.

• Basketball can increase overall fitness endurance and build spring in your legs.

Waterskiing and wakeboarding are excellent forms of fitness because they exercise major muscle groups in your whole body while giving you a cardio workout. This makes finding replacement cross training exercises challenging but don’t worry if you are not able to follow all of the recommendations listed above. What’s most important is that you remain active during the winter. Make time for some weight training, cardio and stretching to ensure that you will have the energy, strength, flexibility and balance to continue to improve behind the boat next summer.

Thankfully keeping your boat in great shape for skiing season isn’t nearly as much work. Ensure that your ski boat is properly winterized and stored in a safe place. Also make sure that your boat insurance policy will continue to provide coverage for your boat during the winter months. You want repairs to be covered in the unfortunate event that there is water or animal damage to the boat. Finally, in the spring touch base with your boat insurance representative when you update your policy and share with them any updates you have made to the boat so that these will be covered under your policy.

Now you have some tips for keeping yourself and your boat in tip top shape for the winter months so you can get the most out of the boating season next year.