Using Power Kiting to Boost Your Fitness

What is Power Kiting?

Power kites aren’t the gentle kites of your childhood. A power kite is a foil made from high-tech high performance fabric that generates power both from its speed through the air and its size. These enormous sheets can harness the wind to the extent that the largest are able to pull with the sort of power more commonly associated with an internal combustion engine.

Thankfully there are many sizes and makes of power kites and each is made with a specific purpose in mind, including ones for beginners.

The Workout Benefits of Power Kiting

A session handling one of these kites can provide you with a first class workout. Using a beginner’s four-line kite (and not considering the wheeled and waterborne variants of the sport) the key to successful power kiting is using your body to control the kite and the forces acting on it. That means a lot of leaning backwards and bending your knees braced against the wind.

You’ll be controlling the kite’s flight as it climbs and dives whilst making sure you change your stance as the wind changes. To get the kite to turn means pulling the handle on the side you want it to turn to. After a short time doing this you’ll already be knacked. Flying kites is surprisingly hard work. It will challenge your upper body like no gym workout you’ve ever done. Biceps, triceps, shoulders and wrists will all be working very hard to stop you flying into the air.

But it doesn’t stop there: your abdominal muscles will be desperately trying to keep you grounded, while your thighs, knees and ankles will all play their part in the workout.

Getting Started

Start with expert advice. To choose the right kite and avoid getting one unsuitable for your level of experience or intended purpose you should go to a knowledgeable retail supplier who doesn’t mind answering questions, or perhaps consult one of the power kiting internet forums. As a beginner you should also strongly consider having some training sessions before setting out to fly on your own.

Flying a Power Kite

You should always fly your kite somewhere that’s free from people and any large objects. The cables and the kites themselves can do some serious damage if they collide with people or property. Flying a kite beyond your capabilities or in unsafe conditions can get you carried off if the wind is strong enough. Wearing a helmet and pads is highly recommended.

To start with you will need to determine which direction the wind is coming from. If it isn’t obvious then picking up some grass or some other vegetation and watching how it falls should help.

When your kite is in the air think of yourself as being in a dome shaped container. Straight up and straight out will be the areas where the kite has the least power because a minimal surface area will be in contact with the wind. On the other hand straight ahead at a 45 degree angle above the ground is the power zone.

A four-line kite has two power lines attached to the top and two break lines at the bottom. There are two handles and each has one power line and one break line attached. To launch the kite you need to get its face to the wind. Angle the handles away from you to slacken the break lines and tighten the top lines. To bring it down to land, angle the handles towards you to reduce its exposure to the wind.

Next Steps

Once you learn to work a beginners kite properly there are a whole range of power kiting activities to try. An exhaustive description is beyond the scope of this article. But some more advanced options include:

• Kite boarding: strap yourself to a kite powered skateboard.
• Kite surfing: on water and using a surfboard.
• Snow kiting: with either skis or a snowboard (imagine skiing uphill!).
• Kite buggying: sit in a kite powered buggy that can hit speeds of 55 mph, with the ability to do sliding turns Hollywood action films only dream of.

I hope this might have whetted your appetite to give power kiting ago. If so then happy kiting.