Can anyone suggest the best possible exercises & stretch routines to restore abdominal core and back strength.

Planking on front, side and reverse.

http://www.amazon.com.au/Sailing-Fitness-Toolbox-Katherine-Knight-ebook/dp/B00HTNK5WE

Pretty good read, certainly covers all sorts of sailing exercises including trapezing.

When I had my sore back and was struggling to trapeze I purchased an inflatable exercise ball and sat on it while watching TV, I hooked my toes under the sofa and leant back

Lots of lower back and leg stretching.. this is a huge help... do this before and after you routine... the best is bending over and touching you toes without bending you knees... ultimately you want to be able to have your palms flat against the floor, also squat like your taking a ___________, lay on you back and pull you leg up and hold it.....

Core exercises - sit ups, crunches, big ball stuff - you can find these exercises on line, pull up, push ups....



Upper leg exercises ... hams a quads.. stay away from squats until your core is built up.. very bad on the knees and lower back...at least the is a a PhD Physical Therapist told me...

Oh! Forgot... running, bike riding, or if yo have access to one of these make it your best friend..

www.crossfit.com

Get a job working construction.

Karl if I could do any physical activity without hurting for days afterwards I'd be happy.

Been down the back spasm road, start slowly on the exercise, you will be amazed what just sitting on one of those exercise balls watching TV, using computer does for your core strength

I hurt my back pretty good last summer, still bugs me. I twisted wrong at F16 worlds and couldn't breath for about one race. Sheeting in was pure murder.

Yeupp....

Been there done that and this is why I am a little passionate about it...

Tweaked my back pretty good getting out of my car and slipping on some mud..

After about a year of misery and copious amounts Advil.. finally I went to the MD, she refereed me to a PT and he started me on all of these stretching routines....then started on the strength exercises...

The stretching alone fixed it!

Ugg...that's the worst. I used to struggle with that all of the time. Step the mast (granted, it was a 6.0 with a mast made of lead), throw out the back, spend the weekend laid up in the club house and beg someone to take my boat back apart for me. I've even had to be driven home from regattas twice. Or, get to the finish of the first leg of a Tybee 500 and barely be able to walk because of a back problem. After that, it evolved into sailing weekends going fine but I would seemingly have random fits where I would be reduced to living in a recliner for a couple of days about two or three times a year.

I had done all sorts of therapy - high powered ultrasound therapy, tinge units, muscle relaxers, pain meds, motion therapy, chirokooks, etc. None of it made much difference. Then, at the urging of my wife, I went to a particular sports massage therapist. I hated the thought of that - and even more so it being a dude (call me what you want) but this was really starting to affect how I lived.

I went to this guy only three times and he got me to take notes of activities and bouts with back trouble and he had me go through the motions and activities that we do when sailing. Turns out, I could calibrate my calendar by the fact that I would have a major back problem almost exactly two weeks after sailing an extended event and I had previously never put this together (Steeplechase, week long nationals, other distance race, etc.). It had been suggested to me by other folks that I had disc issues and all sorts of stuff previously, one leg was shorter than the other (I was in serious pain and a bit drawn up on one side, you know..it made sense that my hips were not being held square by my muscles), all the fun chiropractor crap. This guy's analysis was that it was a muscle issue and the pain areas were the result of other areas that were having spasms and/or a lot of tension from being overworked and the pain resulted from muscles were the last ones left resisting the tension in the other areas. Sounded hoaky but he would fix it every time by focusing on areas where the pain didn't exist (and with no Mf'n joint cracking!). He gave me things to do in the meantime to help reduce the chances of it happening again and I haven't needed to see him in a few years.

I don't do much of the periodic maintenance that he advises but I do a lot of different working activities along the same lines now that keep my back muscles working a lot. I also really try to avoid periods of inactivity leading up to big events. I haven't had a significant problem in a couple of years, thankfully, and I'm amazed that I lived with it for so long while it was such an easy fix. You just have to find the right people with the right knowledge.

Since 07 developed constant back pain. in 2009 a surgeon's diagnosis was arthritic bone spurs. He said do chiro, physio, pilates, yoga, chant,burn incense, hold crystals, whatever floats your boat, but come back when the pain gets too bad so I can fuze your spine. GP's handed out painkillers. Later they took some of them back for side effects like strokes, liver cancer and heart attacks. Doing any physical activity means pain for 24-48 hours. Sailing one day I met a cat sailor and pain management specialist. New X-rays show one leg is 9mm short. So he gave me foam pads for one heel and stretches. 3 minutes of pigeon pose each side, small knee lifts,knee to chest. It is Bloody Agony stretching groin, glutes and hamstring muscles after a rough night. I had an immediate improvement sleeping and a drop in pain, but muscle spasms have returned. The best help ever besides hot packs is a spiked ball to lie on to target tight muscle groups. It hurts like hell when you find the right spots (there's always 4 or 5) but pain and tightness eases in minutes. Now trying to do the ball chart, crunches, pilates 100's, knee lifts. Sad to say can't hold a plank for 30 seconds but working on it. It is a good pain now and hoping for a vast improvement at long last.
cheers

Like I said before.... little steps first, other wise its like buying a pair of runners and expecting to run the Boston marathon, and that wont end well !!

If your having troubles doing some of the stretches then DONT strain things by attempting it after an initial failure, your better off doing the harder stuff in a swimming pool where the load is off of the damaged area.

Build up the strength slowly and know your limitations or you'll end up doing more harm than good....

again.... little steps

Just remember, you're going to need to maintain this for the rest of your life...

Took me about two months of stretching to be able to bend over an put my palms flat against the floor. Took a three week vacation form my routine and now have to just about start over again...

Good luck to you... sounds like you're pretty motivated to get better and I hope you do...

Pelvic floor exercises that women do after pregnancy...
You know, for when things turn out different...

This always works for me.

I've undergone 20 years the ultimate Iron-shirt Chi-Kung training by which you made yourself invulnerable for blows, sword-cuts etc. So speaking of core strength.
But it didn't help me against injuries from overloading my body in sport ("surmenage").

IMO the best exercise for happy trapezing is ...trapezing!
Especially on bumpy water. Take afterwards a modern Cox-2 inhibitor NSAID pill. I'm addicted to Arcoxia-90 (etoricoxib). Has a halfvalue time of 22 hours!

So one little pill works for 2 days and suppresses any imflammation and pain.

Will check out my Dr for Arcoxia. Find that doing a stronger routine every second day yields benefits. Going too hard and fast at my advanced age means being sorer longer. I can now plank, shaking all the while, for 30 secs, do 12 push ups, 60 sit ups in blocks of 20 or so before the stomach complains too much. Do Pilates 100's and working with new exercises from the physio to reduce late afternoon and evening muscle soreness. Getting there albeit slooowly.

Okay, ofcourse doing muscles exercises, especially round the pelvis, are good, even very good. In Chi Kung the pelvis and the belly are the centre of all (the "tandien").

But sailing and catsailing in particular require dynamic action of your body. So the coordination of these enforced muscle groups is even important as the strenght itself. You don't want to end up as a weightlifter who cannot move swiftly anymore.
That's why I emphasized on trapezing on bumpy waters.

(And be assured that only a fool like me waste his fully trained body too much in any sport he does)