The Health Benefits of Wind Tunnels

The third time I went to the wind tunnel I decided to go with my girlfriend so we could share 30 minutes of time together.  We decided to get a DVD of the experience so we could see what we were doing later on and maximize the benefits of this wonderful sport.  It was late at night possibly 9:00 pm mid-summer in Arizona so the temperature outside was somewhere in the high eighties to low nineties.  When we arrived, I was like a kid in a candy store.  They had music blaring in the wind tunnel facility, which only served to get me all the more pumped up for the workout that was about to be undertaken.

Although we were both in respectable health, I had some allergies that were acting up making my pre-flight fitness feel a bit less than normal.  The instructor was extremely well mannered and respectable.  I was able to build on the control I had gained from my previous experiences and work on more of the basic orienting movements.

The instructors at the wind tunnel are more like fitness instructors than simply a basic instructor.  They have no easy job as they are there to not only train the individuals inside the wind tunnel but they also have to make sure the people are safe no matter what trouble the student gets themselves into.  They are almost like referees of a boxing match and it is impressive as to how quickly they can step in and remedy a situation.

My girlfriend had a little more difficulty adjusting to the wind tunnel, which was strictly based on her experience level.  She kept fading to the side of the tunnel requiring the instructor to reposition her many times.  By no means does this mean that she is an uncoordinated individual as she was a top ranked gymnast back in the day along with being an avid sports participant.  Any second I figured it would just click for her and I would be the one trying to figure out how to catch up with abilities.

It was only the two of us in the queue so it was basically three minutes on and three minutes off for thirty minutes.  Life does not get much better than this.  By the end of the session, my girlfriend had pretty good control but was becoming fatigued after letting her fitness go for several years.  This disrupted her ability to learn a bit as the focus went from trying to do what the instructor was trying to get her to do to just trying to survive the final two three minute rounds.

Additionally, it seemed like the flexibility that she had gained over her sports career served more as a hindrance than help by the end of the session.  Her shoulders and back are so much more flexible than mine that it required continual muscle strength and endurance in order to hold the basic position.  Although I have essentially played every sport that has come my way, I was never very flexible.  I could essentially relax more muscles and still hold the position because my back and shoulders do not bend back as far as hers does.  In all of the sports I have ever played this was the only one where I found it advantageous not to be flexible.  My lack of flexibility was finally an asset.

When we were finished we were both so hungry that we joked about wanting to eat an entire raw Buffalo on the way home.  It was a great bonding experience and we talked the experience all the way home to Tucson, Arizona.  We were both sore the next day and we loved it.

Tags: arizona, fitness, health, sports, wind tunnel

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 2:18 pm and is filed under Early Wind Tunnel Experiences. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.