Skateboard will prolly do more for your fitness than your board skills. Not sure where you are but here it's a crap time of the year to learn. The wind is gusty so you go from being under powered to ever powered. Do an assesment of the wind if it's consistent and clear skies get the right board/kite combo out and have a shot, if it's gusting > 5 knots of the average wind speed on you fav weather obs website either body drag or skate. Seriously you're twice as likely to have a bad experience that either scares or injures you out of the sport at this time of the year.

When spring comes and the first sea breeze kicks in get your sick leave forms prefilled in and hit it hard, every day its on!

go wake boarding or you can go to a cable park.

That brings back memories...unfit! I started late in the season before last and it didn’t take long before I realised the 2 hardest things about learning was, to have patience and not get knackered too quickly. Decided to do some jogging and swimming in the off season to improve my fitness and it made a massive difference with the amount of time I could practice for when the season kicked back in... the swimming also reduced my concerns about coming a gutsa in the deeper water...

I think using anything other than a kite to work your balance against would mostly be ineffective and pretty much a waste of time/energy for the purpose of practising basic kite board technique. The balance you must master when kiting is the balance relationship between the pull of the kite (transferring to your entire body through a harness) and the edging of the board. Skateboards and wakeboard parks although possibly still fun cannot offer an analogue to the forces that need to be in touch with.

You need to lean back against the kite's pull. That'll load up the heel side edge...

You ski or snowboard at all?

I think it's iKitesurf.com that has good tutorials - search out the beginner ones on stance...

Hi KiwiDave,

I startet to skateboard to improve my general body stiffness. As mentioned above the cable park will definitely improve your board skills way better. However the next park is 1 hour away, it costs a lot and you have to wait sometimes long to get in the water (what sucks).

When I go kiteboarding I often get muscle pain on the top end of my legs (close to Mr Peebody). Going to the gym four times a week and skateboarding nearly 1 hour a day helped me to overcome this general stiffness. Cruising around with a skateboard and doing this snake like movements will give you more confidence with the board. However, bear in mind skateboarding can be really painful if you don't use protectors (like me). That includes heaps of ripped pants, sprains, general pain and bleeding from various body parts. I am skateboarding on a Penny board ... maybe a long board will be better to start with.

Cheers

Tobias

i was skiding out a lot too, i bought some bigger fins and found it helped a heap, just keep the old ones for when you improve. they cost me $30 on ebay now im going upwind on oposite foot

No advantage at all trying a skateboard. Save that thrill till you have hit the (softer) water a few times.
Then gear up with body amour.