I find that when I play reality-based characters, it is only as fun for me if I have a lot of time to do research. If I don't it just isn't exciting but if I do, it can be fun because I can learn about that person and the world that they live in and I can become somebody else.
I carry a golf ball to put under my feet when they get tight, and a Thera-Band for general stretching.
My experience and what I do in snowboarding is really quite independent of the industry and the more independent it is, the more pure and better I feel about snowboarding.