Wednesday 7 October 2015

Technique – Take a “Big Picture” Approach





I’m frequently asked questions about technique that are quite specific about things like top arm angle, hand position at the exit, amount of bend in the knees etc. These days, before I answer, I ask the person asking the question what they think of their overall stroke. Are they moving the board as far as they can each stroke?

If you’ve taken a clinic with me in the last year or so, you’ll know that I’ve changed my approach to teaching technique. I can’t stand in front of a group of people and say, “This is how to paddle”. Take a look at as many of the top paddlers as you can. You’ll see that they all have their own styles and all have their own approach to making their boards move fast. Some look similar in the way they paddle and some look radically different. Consider three of the top male paddlers in the world, Danny Ching, Travis Grant and Connor Baxter. They all look markedly different, and when I’ve spoken with Danny and Travis and they describe how they paddle and what they focus on it’s easy to see why. They each have their own way of looking at technique and therefore take slightly different approaches to moving their boards through the water.

The fact of the matter is we’re all different. If we were to measure all paddlers anthropometrically we’d see that even paddlers of the same height and weight are different. Bone lengths, measured from joint to joint (elbow to wrist for example) are going to be different. Even if those lengths are identical for two paddlers it is almost certain that the origins and insertions of muscles crossing the joints are going to be different. And then of course the size and strength of those muscles is very likely going to be different as well. If no two paddlers are identical, why should we be trying to copy another paddler when we’re trying to develop our own technique?

In my opinion the best place to start when trying to learn or refine technique is to not worry about fine details in the stroke and instead take a “big picture” approach and start by considering what we are doing on a larger scale.

In my opinion there are four main elements of technique for moving the board forward in this big picture that we should be thinking of:

1. Securing the paddle blade in the water and pulling ourselves past the paddle.
2. Maintaining positive to vertical blade angle as long as possible.
3. Using big muscles preferentially over smaller muscles.
4. Using our body weight whenever possible.

If you’ve got a great memory and can handle three more then these ones are pretty important as well:

5. Separating muscles we need from ones we don’t and relaxing everything we don’t need.
6. Making our movements as fluid and rhythmical as possible.
7. Not doing anything to upset the forward movement of our board.

That’s pretty much it. For simplicity’s sake I’d prefer it if there were only four, and truthfully I could probably just go with points 1 to 4. However points 5 to 7 certainly aren’t insignificant and I think all seven are pretty straightforward and easy to remember. To me those are the principles of good technique. Everything else, all the fine details that people like to talk so much about, are basically things each of us do to try to achieve these seven elements. Each one of us is going to solve the problem of executing these elements of technique in a different way, depending on our own unique set of physical characteristics and our own interpretation of them. There isn’t one right way to do this and a number of other ways which are wrong, although there is going to be a right way for you. The trick is discovering it.

When I am teaching a clinic or doing private coaching now I look at the big picture first. I try to get a feel for how well the paddler is able to move their board by addressing those seven elements. If they’re really fast and appear to be meeting each one of those technical objectives but their paddling isn’t aesthetically pleasing, what am I supposed to say? That they’re technique is wrong and they should be doing something different? I think it is more practical to congratulate them for finding a way that seems to work for them to achieve these basic foundational elements of technique and make their board move fast, even if the way they do it isn’t the way I would.

More often than not, the paddler that has come to me for help isn’t hitting all of those main technical elements and either isn’t going as fast as they could or is expending far too much energy in every stroke. This is the time to start considering the finer details of the stroke. I prefer to take a trouble shooting approach, looking to see how things like hand and body positions might affect the paddler’s ability to pull themselves by their paddle or engage big muscles effectively. Usually small adjustments in the position of some part of the body or a suggestion of what to focus on at a particular part of the stroke are enough to make a big difference. But the paddler still has to develop their own movement with these new body positions and develop their own, unique interpretation of good SUP technique.

I guess you could say that our interpretation of how to best achieve these seven principles is our own unique “style”. We’re all different so we’re all going to have our own style and look a little different when we paddle.

I think it makes a lot of sense to watch other paddlers and look at their interpretation of SUP technique. There’s a lot we can learn by doing that, especially if we’re watching paddlers who do those seven things very well. We can borrow from another paddler’s approach and try to make it work for us. Often it will. But we’ll still look a little different doing it. What doesn’t make sense is to try to copy details of another paddler’s movement (even the very best) without considering that “big picture”.

Over the next number of weeks I’ll take a look at each of these seven elements of technique in more detail. I’ll try to identify common mistakes that make it difficult to do them well, and suggest some things you can try to do them better. Stay tuned.

Thursday 1 October 2015

Use a Paddle with the Correct Shaft Stiffness for You


There was a cool little piece I saw on a SUP Connect weekly recap yesterday that included “5 Tips to Help Improve Your Paddle Stroke”. It was pretty good in that it polled a number of the top SUP racers and asked them for their tips. Contributing paddlers were Mo Freitas, Connor Baxter, Kai Lenny, Annabel Anderson, and Lina Augaitis among others. You can find it by clicking here.

Tip 1 was about finding the “Right Paddle for You”, and both Kai and Annabel offered tips focusing on paddle length and blade size. Questions about paddle length and blade size are undoubtedly the most common ones asked by paddlers looking to purchase their first paddle. Choosing the right height and blade size for you can make your paddling a lot more pleasurable and help you perform a lot better. Choosing wrong can have a huge negative impact on your performance and make your paddling more frustrating and less enjoyable. It can also result in injury. Clearly choosing the right height and blade size is important, and Kai and Annabel offer really good advice.

One of the things that is much more rarely mentioned when discussing paddles is shaft stiffness. In my experience, shaft stiffness is a pretty important factor to consider as well.

Conventional wisdom suggests that a stiffer shaft is better than a more flexible shaft for serious racers. When the paddle shaft flexes it represents a loss of energy and means that less of the force you’re generating is applied against the water to move the board forward. While I can’t disagree with that, as with many other things in paddling it's not always that simple.

When I was paddling C1 I found that the paddles I liked best were stiff, but still had enough give to them that it helped me “feel” the water. In the early 1980s we used to get our paddles from Hungary. They were beautiful wooden paddles, not unlike the pieces of art that I see EJ Johnson make for SUP. I remember when I was very young picking one up on a European tour one year and coming home excited to try it, only to find out it was far too flexible for my liking. My catch and the first part of my pull felt too soft and ineffective because so much energy was lost in the bending of the shaft. While it felt like some of that energy was returned in the later stages of the stroke when the shaft straightened out again, the loss at the catch was something that I couldn’t live with. Remember the most effective part of the stroke is the part in which the blade angle is positive through to vertical. You don’t want to be giving anything up in that part of the stroke in exchange for something gained when the blade angle has passed through vertical and is negative.

Later in my career, when carbon paddles were starting to become popular, I got a paddle that was super stiff. Remembering my experience with the soft shaft paddle, and thinking that a stiff shaft preserved energy and would allow everything I put on the paddle to be exerted against the water to move my boat forward, I asked for one to be made as stiff as possible. I had no idea exactly how strong and rigid carbon fiber could be.

While this super stiff paddle was lighter than anything I had used before it was a disaster. The first time I used it I was shocked to find that I had virtually no feeling for the water I was trying to hold on my blade. Thinking that I just needed to get used to it, I continued to use that paddle twice a day for another three weeks. Surprisingly it didn’t get any better.

At that time I was as physically strong as I have ever been in the gym, and I have always been strong on my paddle. Yet I didn’t have the strength to deal with this paddle. The paddle was so stiff, with so little flex in the shaft or the blade, that it was incredibly hard to feel the water with. And since I couldn’t really feel the water gathering on my paddle blade at the catch, I couldn’t feel it being held there during the stroke. The blade was hard to control through the water and my paddling felt terrible. In fact, my speed decreased markedly while I struggled with this paddle while the energy I seemed to expend each stroke increased.

Experience has shown me that the perfect paddle is not only one which is the right height and blade size for you, but also the correct stiffness. Just as it’s possible to have a paddle that is too soft for your ability, it’s also possible to find one that is too stiff. Neither is good.

Most SUP paddles have enough give that a strong, top-level paddler isn’t going to encounter one like the super stiff C1 paddle that I couldn’t handle. But if you’re a middle of the pack paddler or more on the novice side, don’t rush out and get the stiffest shaft paddle you can buy without at least trying it first. You’ve got to match the stiffness to your strength, fitness and technical abilities in the same way that you do blade size and paddle height. You’ll have to go by feel when you try it. You’re looking for something that is stiff but still allows you to feel water gather behind it and that you can control through the water.

Even top-level paddlers might want to keep a paddle with a softer shaft in their quiver. This season I asked Jimmy Terrell to make me a V-drive with a softer shaft to use when I am doing high volume paddling and I start to feel it in my 52 year-old joints. When I really jack up the volume I tend to get sore, particularly in the elbows, to the point where they are extremely tender. Ice packs and anti-inflammatories become my best friend. I’ve found that switching to a softer shaft paddle in training can ease that and help me do the high volume training without exacting the same toll on my joints and connective tissue. I can easily go back to a stiffer shaft paddle a few days before I race and immediately adjust to it.

So this week’s Tip of the Week is to consider shaft stiffness as well as blade size and paddle length when purchasing your paddle. If possible, try before you buy, and match paddle stiffness to your ability. And if you are an experienced paddler who logs a lot of mileage and occasionally suffers from sore shoulders, elbows and ribs, try training using a paddle with a softer shaft. You’ll find it really reduces the load on joints and connective tissue, and you can always go back to the stiffer paddle before you race.