Muhammad Ali wouldn’t make love for six weeks before a fight and many football players won’t make love on the night before a game. An article in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness shows that sexual relations on the night before competition have no effect on endurance to exhaustion on a treadmill, strength, the ability of the body to transport oxygen to muscles and the amount of blood pumped by the heart.

Lovemaking is not a very demanding exercise. The most aggressive love makers burn about 250 calories an hour, or 4 calories per minute. The average person makes love for only five minutes and burns fewer than 25 calories. It takes as much energy to make love as it does to walk up two flights of stairs. If you think that you shouldn’t make love on the night before a game, you shouldn’t participate in pregame warmups. They’re much more demanding than lovemaking.

While younger men notice no loss of athletic prowess after making love, it may be different for older men and women. Lovemaking does use up energy and older men and women may not be able to compete at their maximum on the day after they make love. I have discussed this with many older men and women and the vast majority feel that sexual relations keep them from competing at their best on the next day in tennis, bicycle racing and long distance running.

For younger athletes, not making love can interfere with athletic performance. On the day before competition, most athletes usually reduce their workouts and have extra energy. If they don’t make love, they spend the night tossing and turning and wake up, exhausted. Casey Stengel, the former manager of the New York Yankees, said that its’ not sex that wrecks these guys, it’s staying up all night looking for it. The Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills were separated from their wives before four Super Bowl Games. You know their record, zero and four.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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Monday, Jan. 8

There are five games on the NBA card for Monday night and four of the five contests involve non-conference matchups. Below is a detailed look at each game tonight.

SEATTLE at PHILADELPHIA (-6, 214

Kiteboarding or kitesurfing, if you don’t already know, is like snowboarding on water. This, behind a boat, is called wakeboarding. OK, now forget the boat and add a giant kite for the power source. The kite is controlled or steered using a control bar in the hands of the rider. The kite can be flown is specific patterns to generate greater power, or can be used to jump or fly through the air. We are not talking about little hops either; you can really get up and float for some serious air time. The power is directed to a harness by “hooking in”; this takes the load off the arms which helps reduce fatigue.
Kiteboarding is the fastest growing water sport in the world, and for good reasons.

The freedom of jumping 10, 20, 30ft off the water, without the necessity of a wave for a ramp, means that people who live near lakes can still fly through the air. Snowboarders love it as a summer alternative to riding on snow, not to mention there’s no lift ticket to buy. Windsurfers love it because you can kiteboard in less wind, and the gear fits in a economy car, instead of the truck, or trailer. Surfers can get out on the water when the surf is too low or blown out. Wake boarders are forced to rethink what big air really is, plus saving all the gas money they were putting into their boats every weekend. People who have never tried a board sport at all are getting into kiteboarding.

Ideal learning conditions include warm, flat and shallow water coupled with consistent wind. Being able to stand up after a gulp of water or a head first plunge is not only convenient but comforting. Having a boat right there where you need it saves time, as the beginner will end the kite surfing lesson far down wind from where he or she started.

Taking kiteboarding lessons with a qualified instructor is a must. The best thing to do first is to buy or rent a trainer kite, and watch an instructional video to get the basics down. Next, is the first three hour kiteboarding lesson, in which you will learn the safety issues and systems, setup of the kite, launching and landing, the wind window and power stokes, water re-launching and body dragging. From there you can continue with lessons or go practice on your own. The cost of equipment has come down over the years; a beginner setup will run $1000-$1500 for everything. Unlike many sports, such as snow
Skiing, kiteboarding is not something you should expect to be able to learn in an afternoon. Once you get it, you’ll be hooked.

Captain Jeff Hoxtell
PASA Kiteboarding Instructor
kiteboarding, and
kiteboarding lessons