I’ve been wanting to write about this topic for a while now, as a women who took up extreme sports in her 30’s, I have a lot to comment and when I say it’s been a physical and emotional journey, I really mean it.

Extreme sport has given me a life I never thought possible, snowboarding for example lit a fire in me that I hadn’t experienced since gymnastics and has taken me to some incredible parts of the world. Wakeboarding is where I’ve met some of my best friends, the community there is invaluable. Surfing and kiteboarding grounds me, it brings me back to nature, simplicity and gives me the ability to forget life’s stressors. Extreme sport has given me a reason to keep showing up at the gym, extreme sport is my why. Participating in extreme sport post 30 is very doable, you just have to be a little more strategic. Read on for some hot tips. 

Stretching is important!

This is me shouting from the rooftops! Stretching is so sooo important, as adults we just don’t stretch enough. Many of us are at a desk for the majority of the day, hunched over and looking down, mimicking the hunchback of Notre dame. We’re not really designed for that, so our bodies get tight and sore and before we know it, touching our toes is like a Guinness World Record feat. It doesn’t have to be much, dedicating just 5-10 mins per day to do some stretching will make a difference, there’s a heap of easy stretching tutorials on YouTube. When I take a slam wakeboarding, my body sometimes twists in unnatural ways, I like to think that the more flexible I am, the better off I’ll be, being that bit more flexible might just prevent that knee twist or hamstring pull. 

Keeping your body strong

This has been a profound lesson for me after multiple injuries. After shattering my pelvis while snowboarding in 2020 (me vs tree), I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to walk normally again let alone return to the sports I love most, but with a strong drive to recover and help from a physio who gave me a kickass programme, I did eventually recover and was able to return to sport sooner than anticipated. I know being strong can’t prevent all injuries but it can reduce the risk, think harm minimisation. I definitely feel better in myself knowing I’ve taken steps to ensure I’m as strong as possible. Getting a tailored exercise programme specifically for you and your chosen sport is the way to go if you can, otherwise just getting in the gym is fine, as long as your form is correct and not damaging your body. If you do happen to get injured, don’t skip the rehab, put the time in and use it as an opportunity to come back stronger than ever. 

Side note – Reformer Pilates has been a game changer, doing exercises under constant resistance on the reformer machine builds strength so fast and those small stabilising muscles start to function better improving balance, posture and muscle definition.  

Some people won’t understand

“Do you have a death wish?”, “you should stop”, “isn’t that for kids?”, “when will you grow up?”, just a small sample of delightful things people have said to me over the years along with a few smirks and eye-rolls when I speak passionately about wakeboarding or another sport. Coupled with the fact I don’t have children in my 30s warrants a whole other set of opinions that some people feel I must hear. I’ve taken on board the saying “other people’s opinions are not your business” because I actually don’t care, as long as I’m having fun in my life and not hurting anyone, then I will continue to live my best life. Never allow the opinions of others to bring you down, continue to do what you love, you don’t have to justify it. Remember too, often when someone is nasty, it’s because they are struggling with something themselves, it’s not necessarily about you. Don’t get me wrong, most people are great and are too busy living their own fabulous lives to make any sort of comment about how I live mine. 

Progress can be slow

Probably the most frustrating part of participating in extreme sports as an adult. It goes something like 5 steps forward, 10 steps back, there are regular progress plateaus where you feel you are not improving at all. It’s hard, especially since women are biologically wired for self-preservation. It goes back to the beginning of time, women are wired to protect themselves as to be there to care for and nurture offspring. This means sometimes it’s harder for women to just throw caution to the wind and attempt that new trick, we think about what could happen, what could go wrong and it holds us back and can hinder fast progress. In saying that, there’s many bad ass women across all domains of extreme sport who throw down hard so this absolutely doesn’t apply to everyone. All is not lost though, we can still progress, often breaking a new skill down into smaller, simpler steps works wonders. 

Keeping the mind strong is also important, don’t get into a funk about poor performance. I’ve personally found that listening to sports psychology podcasts really helps. My favourite is ‘Sports Psychology Coaching’ by Eli Straw. He talks about everything from exercising positive self talk, the use of visualisation, gratitude, building confidence and much more! All which is relevant not only to sports but general life too. Episodes are short and easy to listen to.

Side tip from a sports psychologist – When you’ve had a bad session and feel like you’re not progressing anymore, try not to focus on that one session alone, look at the bigger picture and think back over the last few months, when you do this you’ll realise that one (or two or three) bad sessions doesn’t matter because over the last few months there has been improvement. Think about what you can do now that you couldn’t do three months ago? 

Find likeminded people 

This part won’t be hard, sporting communities are full of amazing people who share your passion. These are the people who will keep you motivated and encourage you to keep going when you feel like giving up. There will be many laughs, shared stoke, shared disappointments and fun social gatherings. The girls and guys I’ve met through extreme sport have become some of my very best friends. 

Final words 

Continue doing what you love, keep your body strong, stretch those limbs, stick with the people who light you up, ignore the haters and have the time of your life, after all 30 is the new 20 and 40 the new 30 right?