Michael Blackburn – författare

Fitness to Win will show you how to develop your fitness, strength and endurance, improving your flexibility and agility, so you can deliver your best consistently on the race course in any conditions.It takes you through issues of body weight and nutrition before focussing on the fitness required for hiking, trapezing and board sports. It explains how to get the most out of your training, how to plan it to fit in with your competition schedule and how to recover quicker to do it all again! It also addresses how to avoid injury, preserve your lower back and minimise the effect of travel and other lifestyle issues.This is all backed up with over 100 gym exercises designed to help performance in specific areas. These are demonstrated by top British Sailing Team sailors Micky Beckett and Matilda Nicholls with over 160 photos and access to videos by the author.Fitness to Win is relevant for club sailors through to Olympic hopefuls, and has specific suggestions for young athletes, master sailors and old salts.It is written by a world champion sailor, Olympic medallist and coach to multiple gold medallists who has spent his career exploring what drives better sailing, smarter training and performance under pressure. Some of the material was first published in 1997 and updated over two further editions (latest in 2010). Fitness to Win is the most substantial update yet, with clearer explanations, more practical detail and a complete refresh of the design, layout and readability. It also draws on 15 more years of experience, including coaching three Olympic champions who have won the last four gold medals in the ILCA 7 class.