Sam Blaker - Winter Sailing Fitness Tips 2026

After a busy season competing on the water, it can be tempting to switch off completely during the cold winter months. But from experience, the sailors who feel strongest, sharpest, and most confident at the start of the season are the ones who use the off-season wisely.

With less daylight and cold temperatures, we typically have fewer hours on the water, but this provides an opportunity to build your off-water fitness in preparation for the competition season. 

Winter fitness isn’t about becoming a professional athlete or living in the gym; it’s about understanding the real demands of sailing (your class of boat - hiking vs trapezing, helming vs crewing) and training your body to meet them. 

A successful winter training block will help you sail longer, react faster, and reduce your risk of injury when the pressure is on.

For 2026, sailing fitness is all about muscular endurance, resilience, and consistency, not just lifting heavier weights than last year.

Unlike many sports, sailing rarely requires a single maximal effort; instead, it requires:

• Muscular endurance rather than pure strength.
• Holding or repeating the same position for long periods of time.
• Staying mentally sharp during the final races later in the day, when fatigue sets in.

One of the best examples where sailing fitness is tested is hiking. Long periods of isometric quad contraction place huge demands on the legs. Hiking involves an isometric muscle contraction, which means your muscle contracts without its length changing. Isometric holds lead to restricted blood flow, causing these muscles to fatigue quickly unless they're specifically trained for it.

Not to mention:

• Long days on the water - sometimes lasting 6 hours, meaning you need to have a good enough level of sailing fitness to perform well.
• Variable weather and sea state, providing extra physical effort and demand.
• High mental load alongside physical work.

Sailing fitness training requires the involvement of a wide range of muscle groups, like your legs, back, arms and core.

LEGS
Legs are arguably one of the most important muscle groups when it comes to hiking and sailing fitness. They improve hiking endurance, stability, and help you to have a "locked in" position.

KEY EXERCISES

• SQUATS - Bodyweight vs weighted, goblet vs barbell. This is important for increasing the strength of your quadriceps, which are a key muscle group used in hiking, and will improve your sailing fitness.

• HIP THRUSTS - Glute bridges vs Single Leg Glute Bridge, and Barbell Hip Thrusts. This is vital for raising your posterior side out of the water, increasing your sailing fitness.

• WALL SITS - Easily accessible isometric leg exercise targeted to your quads, and is a great way to strengthen your sailing fitness training.

• SEATED LEG EXTENSIONS AND HOLD - This is a great session that directly simulates the position used whilst sailing. Hold for a few seconds in extension to contract the quads isometrically, and strengthen your sailing fitness with added weight.

IMPORTANT TIP!

Focus on your form - using a lower weight and higher repetitions before advancing the weight when training over the winter to improve your sailing fitness.

Your core muscles are vital for stability and general sailing fitness. Almost all movements on the boat are stabilised by your core. A strong core protects your lower back, improves power transfer, and helps you stay efficient when fatigue sets in - which also promotes sailing fitness.

SAILING FITNESS: KEY EXERCISES

• FRONT AND SIDE PLANKS - Isometric holds simulate contraction whilst static hiking. Side planks target obliques. Important for moving the shoulders to get over waves, which is another practical way to improve your sailing fitness.

• DEAD BUGS - Help with coordination and stability, and promote sailing fitness in a range of positions and movements.

• PALLOF PRESS - One of the best sailing fitness exercises that targets your core. This trains the ability to resist rotational forces.

The back and arm muscle groups are vital areas important in promoting sailing fitness for pulling actions, like constant mainsheet adjustment and pulling on control lines.

As sailing involves small, constant adjustments, we should aim for low-weight, high-repetition exercises to stimulate the demands we will experience on the water, which improves shoulder stabilisation and endurance, and overall sailing fitness.

SAILING FITNESS: KEY EXERCISES FOR ARMS AND BACK

• BENT OVER ROWS - This involves a pulling movement using a barbell or dumbbells, where you hinge at the hips and pull the weight towards your torso. This targets your middle back muscles, which are essential for sheeting and for maintaining hiking posture.

• FACE PULLS - This exercise is performed using a cable machine (like in the image below) or using resistance bands. This strengthens your upper back and shoulder muscles.

• SEATED ROWS - This exercise is performed using a cable machine or using resistance bands, and replicates the movements used during sheeting and adjusting control lines. To stimulate the demands of sailing, perform this move in an extended hiking position.

• PULL UPS - This exercise targets the large latissimus dorsi muscle, and also improves grip strength, which is important in windy conditions. You should use resistance bands to support yourself here.

• BICEP CURLS - This exercise isolates your arm muscles, giving you the strength needed to grip the mainsheet under load. This will also help to reduce excessive strain on your shoulders.

Cardiovascular endurance is often underestimated in sailing, but in my opinion, it is a major contributor to performance, not to mention its effect on your sailing fitness.

As the hours on the water progress, fatigue increases, reaction times are slow, and decision-making suffers, resulting in more mistakes. You might notice this more when returning to the water after a break, like after Christmas, as your sailing fitness may have taken a hit over the holidays.

Improving your cardiovascular endurance helps reduce fatigue, improving performance during later races. 

TYPES OF CARDIO:

• Cycling
• Running
• Swimming
• Rowing

To target your cardiovascular system, we will undertake long-duration, low-intensity exercise (Zone 2). You should be able to hold a conversation at this intensity.

Consistency is key. Aim for 2-3 aerobic sessions per week. This will build an aerobic base over the winter months for intensity to be added on the water when the weather improves!

Your upper thigh (quadricep) muscle groups are contracting isometrically to hold the hiking position for a long period of time. 

KEY TIP: A tight toe strap will help you get locked in. Try to hike with pointed toes, which will help increase your leverage and also offload your knees and load your leg muscles, which will reduce the risk of injury.

The glutes are contracting isometrically to prevent your buttocks from hitting the water. Back muscles are contracting for continuous mainsheet adjustment and for adjusting controls such as the kicker and downhaul in the gusts. Abdominal muscles help maintain a hiking posture, your obliques help shoulder rotation to aid in getting over the waves. Most importantly, cardiovascular endurance is needed to prevent fatigue on long days spent on the water. 

• Long Sunday Group Rides
  • Find a local cycling club and take part in their weekend group rides.
  • Great place to meet people.
  • Provides some friendly competition.
• Parkrun
  • Some competition during the winter months.
  • A great way to start the weekend.
• Pallof Press
• Bulgarian split-squats.

Hydration and nutrition are often overlooked during training. As we exercise, our energy intake increases and therefore we need to fuel effectively. This involves increasing our calorie intake. With inefficient fuelling, you will fatigue more quickly, which will affect your performance. This is especially important during long days on the water and long bike rides.

SAM'S PRO TIPS:

• Stay hydrated before, during and after sailing.
• Don't be afraid of carbohydrates on sailing days - they're your primary fuel source for longer, more demanding days, and a simple form of carb loading can help sustain energy.
• Prioritise protein intake after sailing or training to support muscle repair.
• Good nutrition supports performance, speeds recovery, and helps you train consistently throughout the winter months.

One of the biggest changes over the past few years is how accessible fitness tracking has become. Tools like Strava, GPS watches, and heart rate monitors can be hugely motivating during the off-season.

Strava is arguably one of my most-used apps on my phone, as I find it highly motivating to look through my sessions and to track my progress, and see where I might need more recovery.

Not to mention the competition I have with my friends!

The goal isn't to obsess over numbers; it's about staying engaged and keeping active during the winter.

In the summer of 2024, I graduated with a first-class honours in Sports and Exercise Science, and I have since used my knowledge to start Sport Body Therapy, where I offer tailored training plans.

Feel free to get in touch for any questions.

Winter fitness doesn't need to be extreme or complicated. 2-4 focused sessions per week, built around the real demands of sailing, is enough to make a noticeable difference.

Train for endurance, control and durability - not just strength for strength's sake.

If you step back on the boat at the start of the 2026 season feeling strong, stable, and ready for long days on the water, your winter training has done exactly what it was meant to do.

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