Paddle on an Unlimited Board Occasionally

One of the things I think is really helpful and I'd like to do more of is paddling an unlimited board occasionally.  I don't own my own and truthfully don't plan to unless someone wants to offer me one to ride.  I can't justify the expense right now and the storage is a bit more of an issue for me than it is for a 14' board.  That said, any time I've had the pleasure to paddle a nice, fast unlimited board on fairly calm water I've really enjoyed it.  I'm curious about racing on one though don't really have an interest in racing against the smaller field that we usually see in unlimited races.  I love being in the race with the bulk of the competitors, however maybe one day I can go head to head with Thomas Maximus in Newport Harbour or something.  We frequently end up finishing races together when he's on a 14' board.  That would be really fun.

I've commented before that paddling SUP is a lot like paddling C1.  The stroke mechanics are quite similar because the body position isn't a whole lot different.  The C1 and SUP strokes are a lot more alike than any other paddling strokes that I can think of.  The big difference between C1 and my 14' SUP is the weight of the stroke.  The SUP stroke is far heavier than C1 no matter how much I try to make it light.  The reality is that boards just aren't designed to be as fast through the water as racing canoes.  When you put your blade in at the catch in a C1 the boat accelerates easily and rapidly in comparison because there is so much less resistance to it moving through the water.

To me, an unlimited board feels much more like a C1.  Being narrower and longer it moves through the water much more easily than a 14' board.  It accelerates more easily and glides much better between strokes.  As a result the stroke to me feels much lighter.

The reality is if you want to accelerate a board or a boat you have to have your paddle working against the water dynamically.  It needs to be working against the water faster than the craft you're paddling is moving through the water.  If you begin your pull and the board or boat speeds up to match your pull it won't continue to accelerate unless you  do something to provide more impulse.  The easiest thing to do is increase the rate at which you apply force against the water with your paddle.  This will result in the board or boat continuing to accelerate. 

You can try this for yourself.  If you paddle and move your blade slowly against the water your board moves slowly and doesn't accelerate much beyond the initial acceleration at the catch.  If you think of accelerating your blade through the water (actually you're accelerating the board by the paddle) your board goes faster and accelerates through the stroke.

In every paddle sport, whether it's canoe-kayak, outrigger, surfski, dragon boat or SUP, this principle applies.  So if you want to be fast you need to sometimes do things to train yourself to pull more quickly against the water than you normally do.  Paddling on a board that moves faster than you're used to is exactly that.  If you do all of your paddling on a 14' or especially on a 12'6" board, you'll notice when you get on an unlimited that your stroke feels too slow for the board.  You don't have good connection because the board moves so much more quickly that it gets ahead of your paddle.  You've got to work more dynamically with your paddle to keep up with your board.  Doing this regularly trains your nervous system to perform your paddling technique more dynamically while maintaining the efficiency that you've developed on your slower board.

How is this useful for paddling on the slower 14' or 12'6" board you spend most of your time on?   Well, if you can increase the speed with which you are comfortable working against the water on your slower board without losing any efficiency you're going to make it go faster.  Track athletes do something similar in their training to increase their sprinting speed.  They call it over speed training and will do things like run on a treadmill at faster than normal pace for short periods or get towed at faster than normal pace.  In kayak, it's not unusual to see K1 athletes spend time training in faster crew boats like K2 and especially K4.  A K1 athlete in K4 has to learn to move much more quickly to find the same connection he feels in his K1.  After becoming comfortable with this faster, more dynamic movement he can apply this in his K1 and perhaps gain some small increment of speed through his more dynamic connection.  In races which are decided by very narrow margins this can make the difference between making the podium or missing it.

I tend to have a slower, more heavily loaded stroke than many.  I'd benefit from gaining comfort with a slightly more dynamic, lighter gear.  I might not use that gear all the time but having it would certainly help make me a better sprinter.  Paddling on a faster unlimited board once a week would not only provide some variety but would help me develop my stroke in that regard.  In all likelihood it would for you as well, so if you have access to an unlimited board on a regular basis take advantage of it.

Train with a Partner or a Training Group

When I was in Miami a few weeks ago to do a clinic, I was stoked to see that the group there did a lot of their on water workouts together as a training group.  I honestly believe whether you're training on land or on the water, you get far more out of your training if you're part of a group than you do if you always train alone. 

While training for the Olympics I almost always had a training partner.  Whether it was Brian Bliss, Peter Koschanow or Jack Chubaty, most of the workouts I did I had someone there to push me and keep me honest.  When they weren't there I actually enjoyed the change of pace that came with being alone and the solitude of being alone on the water.  I could still train effectively (even without the advantage of today's modern technology like a GPS and heart rate monitor) and had some refreshing time to myself.  But when I was doing really intense stuff, or when the training program was really nasty and I was feeling really rundown, it was great to have someone else there to push me, motivate me and to share the experience with.

Unlike swimming, which seems to me like such a solitary sport, paddling is a social sport.  You can have a conversation while you're paddling.  Granted, if you're paddling hard that conversation gets difficult to maintain, but in the rest between pieces or when you're loading your board on your car you've got time to chat and share the experience of what you've just been through.  It is usually so beautiful out on the water it's really nice to be able share that with someone else.  It's a part of the workout I always look forward to.  The end of a long downwinder when we're all just sitting on our boards talking about the great rides we got, the paddle back to the dock after a killer flat water interval workout and shared stories of pain or trash talking about who won what piece - it's all part of the awesome experience of sharing what you love to do with someone else who is equally into it.  Though I have always been fully capable of training effectively alone, these are the moments in paddling that I live for.  These are the moments I love.  Having a training partner or training group certainly makes the sport more fun.

When I was getting ready to race my C1 500m final in 1984 I wanted to do a very intense warm up.  I wanted to be ready to go harder and faster than I ever had when it mattered most, and I knew I needed a push to get me to that spot before I pulled into the starting blocks.  Peter Koschanow, who,was sent to the Olympics as a reserve to cover all the races should someone on the team get sick or injured was essentially my training partner during the training camp in Sacramento, and once we got to the venue at Lake Casitas north of Los Angeles.  He dutifully went out for my warm up with me and pushed me through three all out one-minute pieces.  He helped get me to the place I needed to be to feel shot out of a cannon on the start of my final.  In 1989 at the World Championships in Plovdiv, Tamas Buday did the same type of thing, which undeniably helped me have a great race and win a silver medal in the C1 1000m.

It's really cool when you go to a competition as part of a group in which everyone has trained hard and feels confident in their preparation.  Being surrounded by these confident people instills even more confidence in you.  You feed off each other's confidence and it is no surprise when almost everyone in the group races really well.  That happened last fall when a bunch of us from the Toronto area joined Tamas Buday Jr. from Montreal at the Surf to Sound in Wrightsville Beach, NC.  Everybody had fun and everyone kicked ass.  For some of the group it might have been one of the most memorable weekends they've had in sport.  It was awesome.  The same thing happens every year with the Burloak Canoe Club at the Nationals.  Everyone is well prepared and the club has a real history of success.  Everyone feeds off each other and that usually translates into personal bests and athletes exceeding expectations.

While paddling is almost always fun, training sometimes isn't.  You're tired, run down or maybe the weather is just so crap you'd really rather not train even though you know you should.  This is where your training partner helps you get out there and do your workout.  You don't want to pick just anyone as your training partner or invite just anyone into your training group.  Look for that person who is positive, who looks at life with optimism, and who enjoys paddling and training as much as you.  They don't have to be the same speed as you.  If they're faster then they represent someone you can aspire to beat and everyday they set a standard that you can work towards.  If they're slower than you then they'll give a push when they can, they'll keep you honest and won't let you slack off, and they should inspire you every day as they try to hunt you down in a workout.

That group in Miami sure seemed to have a great dynamic going.  They all seemed to truly enjoy sharing the sport with each other and as I was leaving to head back north they were all making plans to train together in the coming week.  If you're already part of a similar dynamic you'll have been nodding your head in agreement the whole time as you've read this post.  If you aren't, then find a group or a training partner.  It will help your training enormously and make your paddling experience even more enjoyable.   

Do Your Pressing Exercises One Arm at a Time

In the last Tip of the Week we looked at standing exercises performed on one foot to enhance balance and core stability/strength while training the muscles each exercise targets.  This week I'd like to continue this theme and look at ways to really enhance core stability/strength while doing pressing exercises.

In the first Tip of the Week I looked at the bench pull and explained how many national teams in canoe-kayak use it and bench press as an indicator of performance potential.  Simply put, athletes that aren't strong enough in these two fundamental upper body exercises won't be successful in the sport.   Like bench pull, bench press is an important exercise for paddling, helping an athlete be strong at stabilizing their paddle in the water and maintaining pressure on the blade during the pulling phase.

I strongly recommend mixing up your pressing exercises for both variety and training effect.  I also strongly encourage doing pressing with dumbbells, as the extra degree of freedom of motion they provide compared to a barbell provides the opportunity to develop more functional strength. Basically the extra freedom of movement in dumbbell presses more closely replicates the tremendous freedom of movement in application of strength seen in the paddling motion.

So if every serious paddler should be doing dumbbell presses in their program they should also, at least some of the time, be doing one arm dumbbell presses.  Just like doing standing exercises on one foot introduces a lot of engagement of core muscles in the exercise, so too does one arm pressing. 

Let's consider a one arm dumbbell press on a flat bench like you see in the video.  Grab your weight in both hands and lie back on the bench holding the weight on your chest.  When you're lying on the bench with your feet flat on the ground, shift the dumbbell entirely into one hand and begin to do your presses.  You can keep your free hand free like you see in the video or you can grab the bench with it to help stabilize.  At heavy weight I almost always grab the bench.  Perform your reps just as you do when doing regular dumbbell presses with both arms.   You'll notice that with one arm you engage a ton of core muscles to keep yourself stable on the bench.  This is especially true the deeper you go in the eccentric phase.  When you're finished your reps on one side reach up with your free hand to help bring the weight down to your chest, switch hands and then do your reps on the other side.

I would recommend using light weight at first until you are acquainted with the motion and confident with it.  Then I would gradually add weight.  In time you'll find you can use as much one-armed as you'd use in each hand for a two-armed dumbbell press.

In addition to flat dumbbell press, one arm pressing works great with incline and decline dumbbell presses as well.  I also do sitting overhead dumbbell presses (pick a bench which supports your back) and standing overhead dumbbell presses with one arm.  If you want to get really creative you can combine one arm pressing with standing on one foot for your standing overhead dumbbell presses.  Just remember to always be conservative with the weight you use while learning each exercise and careful when increasing weight.  If you are lifting really heavy or explosively it's probably better, unless you are a very advanced weight trainer, to do your pressing with both hands.  Also, if you're new to lifting or lifting really heavy or to failure, it's probably a good idea to have a spotter.

I have seen some people do pressing on stability balls rather than benches in the belief that being on an unstable platform increases core engagement while they are lifting.  While doing presses on the stability ball undeniably increases core engagement, I will never do my presses on one.  I know someone who had a ball burst underneath him while pressing with a fairly heavy weight and he was badly injured.  I just don't believe those balls are made to support such weight despite what the manufacturers may say.  To me safety is paramount and I believe it is far safer to do presses on a solid bench.  In my opinion performing presses with one arm adds far more stimulus to core muscles than doing two-armed presses on a stability ball does anyway.

One arm lifting is a fantastic way to increase core stability and strength while developing your upper body strength.  I highly recommend it for anyone who is serious about their paddling or wishes to develop higher level core strength.  Give it a try by introducing it into your strength training program.

Do Your Standing Exercises on One Foot

In the last Tip of the Week we looked at a simple yet effective way to develop balance in the gym.  I introduced the concept of training proprioception and the neural pathways involved in making the types of instantaneous adjustments that allow us the keep our balance on an unstable surface or platform, be it a 2x4 on balance cushions or a SUP board. Even while doing our strength training we can still work on our balance and continue to fine tune the proprioceptors in our feet and lower legs.  I've been doing this for a while and it works quite well and also injects a little variety into your weight training.

At least once a week I do all my standing exercises while standing on one foot.  I've included a couple of videos so that you can see that it's possible to perform exercises you regularly do on two feet while only standing on one.  Initially you'll want to use weights that are lighter than you'd normally use, but in time as your stability improves you'll find it's possible to use weights which are as heavy (or very nearly) as those you'd normally use.Start with a weight which is considerably lighter than you would normally lift.  Stabilize yourself in your good lifting posture with both feet on the ground.  When you're ready to start your set, carefully lift one foot off the ground.  I usually just bend my knee and lift my heel towards my butt a bit so that my entire foot is off the ground but not far off.  Then I begin my set.  Initially you may flop around a lot and feel like you're going to topple over.  You may have to put your foot back on the ground momentarily to prevent losing your balance completely.

You'll find yourself "feeling" the ground with the foot you're standing on.  That foot is much more "aware" than it normally is when you're standing on two feet.  You'll also notice that your lower leg gets tired during your set, both on the posterior side in your calves and the anterior side in the tibialis anterior which runs up your shin.  Proprioceptors in these muscles are being called upon as well.  These muscles are also making the almost constant, subtle, instantaneous contractions that allow you to maintain your balance.  The heightened proprioception and increased muscular endurance you develop in these muscles will both be useful on your SUP.  The other area you'll really feel this (other than the main muscle group the exercise is targeting) will be in your abs, obliques and low back.  These are muscles which make up your core and they have a tremendous impact on your ability to stabilize.   If you think about performing the exercise with the same meticulous form you'd use to do the exercise letter perfect while standing on both feet, then you'll really feel these core muscles engaging when you're performing the exercise on only one.

As useful as performing your exercises on one foot is for developing balance and stability, I wouldn't do my standing exercises this way all the time.  If you're going to use very heavy weight or lift explosively, I think it's important to keep both feet on the ground to reduce the chance of injury should you lose your balance.  You're a lot more likely to lose your balance with a really heavy weight and its a lot harder to correct your balance with a heavy weight as well.  The likelihood of getting injured increases dramatically any time you use heavy weights and/or lift explosively.  Doing those lifts from an unstable position just increases the risk further.

Some of my favourite exercises to do on one foot are:

-    Standing biceps curls (see video)

-    Upright rowing (see video)
-    Standing overhead press
-    Standing lateral raises
-    Standing triceps exercises like triceps press down

For variety and to add another level of difficulty you can do these one legged lifts standing on a balance cushion or BOSU ball.  Again, I want to stress that the more unstable you are making your base the more careful you should be with the amount of weight you lift.

I spend a lot of time in the gym working on developing and/or maintaining the various components of strength required for high level SUP racing, especially in the winter when I am frozen off the water for the most part.  During the racing season I still try to get into the gym 3 times per week to maintain strength.  I figure there's a lot of important types of training we need to do and, for most of us, there is rarely enough time to do it all.  Any time we can train multiple components of fitness (like balance and strength) at the same time it's worth doing.  Try incorporating this into your gym routine.