Yolo Board is proud to present ‘Yolo Paddle Fit’, a series of articles and workouts that will help you become a better paddler and a better athlete. Yolo-ing or stand-up paddling is one of the most exciting new core fitness exercises for all ages. The act of balancing while paddling helps to train the body in a fun, new and effective way. Paddle fit will help you add a new dimension to your old training routine and may create a whole new sport to challenge you.
Remember, ‘You Only Live Once’, so go Yolo!
Starting Out: How Balance and Coordination Lead to Efficiency
by Claire Haslam, MS, ATC, CSCS Incorrect Paddling Stance |
 Correct Paddling Stance |
We've all seen the photos of celebrities doing it and heard the hype surrounding this new sport, alas some mystery revealed about stand-up paddling (SUP). SUP is a hybrid of surfing and kayaking as it is performed by standing on a long surfboard (most often larger than a long board) to travel on top of the water by means of paddling. There are a variety of levels of intensities from meandering calm flat-water to full-on wave surfing on 10 foot swells. While the experienced stand-up paddlers look as though they are leisurely walking on water, the newcomers tend to make themselves known with jerky movements, bent posture, and frequent splashing as they fall into the water. No matter what level you take part in with stand-up paddling, the basic demands of the sport involve balance and coordination.
Balance is a necessary component of all activity. It uses a complex system of nerve pathways and reflexes, vestibulocochlear (inner ear) positioning, and vestibuloocular (visual) sensations to determine a body’s gravitational homeostasis. Whether you’re standing still or running full speed, your body must find its own way of maintaining a controlled balance -- anything less and your body meets the ground. The best part about balance is that it can always be improved upon. Coordination is an organized functioning for a particular purpose and can be practiced to advance the efficiency of movement. It involves tight communication between the brain and the muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints for which the movement is produced. If you are performing a familiar movement such as brushing your teeth, coordination is accurate and concise, where all new activities challenge the efficiency of movement coordination.
If you have ridden once or if you are a seasoned expert, you know the feeling when you first stood on a stand-up paddleboard (SUP) board. The feelings of first standing on a board: feet gripping tightly, muscles in your feet and lower legs tight and burning from working too hard, the soreness in your triceps and arms from trying to desperately paddle to create momentum before the next fall. Many people feel as though they get a tremendous leg and calf workout after riding the first time simply because their feet and toes have been working incredibly hard to grip the board while their ankles and knees have been trying to control the movement and direction of the board. As with all unfamiliar activities your body felt extremely tense, movements were erratic and inefficient and using as many muscles as possible to control this new and strange environment, more simply you had no coordination. With time and practice, the body has an amazing way of learning coordination even when you are not consciously thinking about it; your muscles, vessels, nerves, and brain are establishing communications about how best to power your body through an activity in the most smooth and energy-saving way. This initial tension on the board will all soon dissipate as the feet and legs learn to relax and allow the glutes and core muscles to center the body and absorb the motions of the water.
Everyone's first SUP ride presents its own sets of challenges with a common goal of staying on the board. When in rough water the goal is simply staying on the board; and on flat water, the goal of the first ride may be maneuvering the board and changing directions. At first the movements are jerky but when an activity is rehearsed and becomes more familiar, the muscles develop a specific movement pattern and a specific memory for that activity so that erroneous movements are eliminated and learning does not have to happen from scratch every single time you perform it, thus coordination is established. The more comfortable we feel on the board the 2nd, 3rd and 4th times riding (and beyond) details this adaptation process and coordinated movement along and efficiency spectrum. Finally when a technique is perfected, you can concentrate on improving performance, specific maneuvers, functional drills, and anticipating situations. At this point we can cruise around on the board, turn the board around, paddle with different strokes, catch fish (see Yolo video section), and even avoid collisions more casually than before. Throughout the learning continuum, the board seemingly transforms from a foreign object to an extension of one's self.
Coordination soon turns to efficiency which can best explain the micro and macro rationale for early improvements in an activity such as paddle boarding, and can account for a number of physical and mental responses. When a physical body becomes more efficient (you may relate this to an automobile’s mechanical efficiency), power output and endurance increase, just as caloric expenditure and perceived exertion initially increase, but after a some training and adaptation, that same activity can be performed with less caloric necessity and less perceived exertion. In other words, with some physiological adaptations you get the performance of a BMW engine with the fuel efficiency of a Toyota Prius!
As with any new activity, whether you are breathing hard or not (which by the way is a good indicator of cardiovascular exertion) the cardiovascular system responds by creating new blood vessels to more working muscles, increasing the pumping efficiencies of the heart and blood vessels, which in turn delivers more oxygen and nutrients to the muscles and establishes healthy environments for new neural pathways needed to recruit more muscle fibers. When these initial adaptations have occurred, the working muscles can work at greater capacities on less energy and less strain on the body. With the majority of stand-up paddling being an aerobic activity (meaning oxygen utilized or oxygen powered endurance activity) this naturally makes the activity more enjoyable as the body and brain are not fighting over fuel and oxygen. It also allows for the activity to be sustained for longer periods of time without exhaustion setting in. This type of low to moderate level of sustained activity tends to burn more fat as its source of fuel; measurable by the average heart rate staying at or below 65% of max heart rate. For those who are looking for a workout that will improve fitness levels by more anaerobic means, there is plenty of opportunity with paddle boarding to incorporate variable interval sessions of hard and fast paddling mixed in with shorter rest periods of slow paddling. Both paddle boarding intentions will give you the best well-rounded workout as it naturally recruits a significant portion of your core muscles (which are also resistant to fatigue when trained!).
Mental efficiency as it relates to paddle boarding transforms in this process much like the physical efficiency measures. The first time I tried stand-up paddling my brain was going a million miles an hour, just as I am sure yours did with feelings of terror, excitement, confusion, .With improved performance and movement patterns also comes feeling of comfort, positive reinforcement, happiness, decreased stress, elation and clarity surrounding the activity. Mental exertion, just like the perceived physical exertion, decreases with practice allowing for the mental and visual scope to widen. All of a sudden your mind and visual points of reference shift from studying the motion of the water and waves one foot in front of you to looking around at the horizon, the beautiful coastline, the wildlife around you, and even continuing into other mental processes such as laughing and making jokes with your friends all the while staying upright and in control of you and your board. The process of making an activity somewhat habitual frees up a lot of mental capacity so that you may concurrently perform other tasks. Once some level of physical and mental control and comfort have been established you are free to test and push your limits on the paddleboard.
Paddle boarding has a unique way of giving you the trill of a ride, the fun and relaxation of a vacation, and the best total body workout all in the same activity. It is the most idyllic well rounded form of exercise for the mind and body. Be prepared to fall in love with this sport, especially as your efficiency improves and your open-water exploration expands.
The Core, the Posture, and the Stance
by Claire Haslam, MS, ATC, CSCSThe most popular trend in exercise training and conditioning right now is undoubtedly Core training. Core muscles are generally larger and deeper muscles that pattern themselves around the trunk, hips and butt. This type of training helps to redistribute muscular force production in the most mechanically efficient way possible for the body to produce the most amount of power while maintaining control, meaning that the big muscles take on the big tasks and the small muscles act as small movers and synergists to the big muscles. As logical as this concept sounds, the challenge lies in the body’s tendency to “turn off” those muscles which aren’t being used to their capacity in order to save energy. The “off” mode that muscles go into is based on the deactivation of neural activity from the brain, and turning them back “on” is simply a means of getting the brain to recognize them as working muscles again via activation or perturbation. As people are less active and sit more, a significant amount of core musculature is “turned off” and may remain “off” until direct activation occurs.
Core muscles are absolutely necessary for proper function and performance as they balance and stabilize the pelvis and spine and provide the hips with optimal positioning for power and balance. For athletes, the movement of hip initiation has been proven in many sports to be the primary indicator of power. For an average person, conditioning these muscles helps reduce back pain, leg pain, hip pain, and can even help redistribute pressure in the feet to reduce foot pain. From a performance aspect or simple activities of daily living it is wise to keep these muscles “on” and trained. In SUP, core muscles are essential for paddling, maneuvering, and simply standing on the board. The most amazing thing about SUP is that you can train these core muscles without even realizing it!
Core muscles are often treated differently from other muscles purely based on their size, aerobic nature, and abilities to propel the body while create significant amounts of force. The Core muscles which are most referred to in the trunk are the psoas, transverse abdominus, and obliques; in the butt, the glutes, and adductors; and in the back, the multifidi, quadratus lumborum and rhomboids. These are not your showy six pack muscles or the “beach” muscles (though some nice glutes can be argued as beach beauties) as they are the muscles that in nature are meant to be active and working to stabilize the body all day long. They are very fatigue resistant, meaning that once they are “turned on” and conditioned they can be working hard all day long and you’ll never notice because they do not have that muscle “burn” you feel as when you’re sprinting or lifting weights. We have often neglected these muscles simply from sitting in cars, at our desks, standing while leaning, and even wearing high heels. To undo some of this damage we must first learn how to turn these muscles back “on”. The “on” process is as much mental as it is physical, so be prepared to visualize, be conscious, and increase overall body awareness when doing some of these activities.
PROPER POSTURE AND STANCE
Proper posture and stance on a SUP board is important with balance is an integral factor in this activity. Even though your feet are fixed on a board, your board is not fixed to any secure surface, so there is a great need to adapt and respond to its motions and other environmental factors. The people who try to overpower and control the board rather than absorb the board’s movement are generally the ones who fall the most. If you consider applying a strong downward force through one foot while standing on the board, the reaction is for the other side of the board to pop up and thus another erratic movement, all the while your center of gravity is wildly shifting to opposite sides of the board making for a very unstable situation. Creating a power stance allows your balance point to be at an optimal position for maximum reactionary and absorption movement. Conditioning your body for this type of activity is important so that your ride is amazing every time.
The proper stance, or power stance, for ultimate stability and power is one with your feet about shoulder width apart, your knees slightly bent, with a flat lower back, and shoulders sitting directly above the hips. Many people will tend to direct pressure to the balls of the feet as we have been trained to do so in many sporting situations for quick reaction, but in reality the weight should be only slightly forward of your heels. If you are standing on solid ground, take a few moments while in this stance to really accentuate the heel force and push those heels in the ground. Tilt your pelvis backwards so as to point the tailbone into the floor (as opposed to tilting the pelvis forward creating an arching in the lower back) and imagine your low butt cheeks are desperately gripping a $100 bill. Once your pelvis is tilted backwards, or tucked under, you may feel your lower back flatten out and a slight warmth over the front of your core. This position activates the core abdominal muscles and puts your lower body into a position of maximal power and balance.
Your upper body must also follow suit, so relax your shoulders and neck and give a slight squeeze of the muscles between your shoulder blades to pull the shoulders back. Relax the neck muscles and rest your tongue on the roof of your mouth while you direct your eyes forward and down so as to look at the corner of a room where the wall meets the floor. Again, you may feel as though you will tilt backwards, but keep your bellybutton directed backwards to your spine and your tailbone pointing at the floor to keep that core activated. Your head, shoulders, and hips should all be in the same vertical line and you should be able to take an intensely deep breath validating the rib cage is open and spine is in alignment. The more you practice this stance the more comfortable you will feel because those core muscles will be more conditioned and your balance will be even between both feet and settled just in front of the heels.
PRACTICE EXERCISES
» Pendulum
Get into this power stance as described above, really push those heels into the ground and let your weight sink backwards so as to feel as though you'll fall on your butt, at a very crucial time suck your bellybutton into your lower back and tuck your pelvis, you will find that you can control your pendulum type motion without breaking form.
» Core Dissociation Rotation
If you feel comfortable in this position, give your shoulders a slight (about 45 degree) rotation to the side while maintaining a forward hip position… it is very important that you do not move your hips when you move your shoulders! Hold the rotated position for about two seconds and then rotate to the other side. You may better feel those deeper muscles being worked with this exercise. This will begin to condition your core muscles to dissociate shoulder from hip motion and thus conditioning the core through a greater range of motion, which is key in any sport
but particularly SUP. Advance this exercise by doing the same shoulder movement while your feet are in a stagger stance, or the stance which is comfortable when you are in a mid-stride walk. This will make your lower body a little more unstable, so as you keep your knees relaxed and slightly bent, squeeze the glutes and balance the pelvis so that both hip bones are facing forward and at the same height level. It is very important that the hips do not open up or drop to one side no matter how odd it feels… this is crucial to undoing many mild to severe muscular imbalances and creating the strong balanced core!
» Sitting
Since sitting is the biggest enemy of core conditioning, practice some core work while you are sitting at your desk or driving in the car.
To do this, sit up straight, and tuck your pelvis under so that your tailbone points down into the seat and your weight is just slightly posterior to your “sit bones” in your butt. Suck the bellybutton back and squeeze your shoulder blades back and down and tuck your chin slightly to bring the ears over the shoulders. Your head, shoulders, and hips should all be in the same vertical line and you should be able to take an intensely deep breath validating the rib cage is open and spine is in alignment.
» Un-lean
Standing. Note that if you lean when you stand, even something as small as leaning from one foot to the other, you are not allowing your core to work to help you.
When standing, focus on standing with feet evenly apart (does not have to be shoulder width apart) and weight distributed evenly through the feet. Engage your core by tucking the hips, squeezing the glutes, and flattening the belly button, you may feel funny doing this, but rest assured if you don’t tell anyone what you’re doing they’ll never know! Relax your lower back and shoulders and allow your very balanced state and engaged core muscles to hold you upright (as it was truly intended to do).
» The Door Jam
In your power stance, position yourself near a door jam so that when you reach both arms out in front of you the heels of your hands are positioned on either side of the doorway. With hands at about shoulder height (may vary heights later) only slightly press the heels of your hands into the doorway as though you want to push it over. Use only your core to push. Do not try to muscle the push as this will coax you into leaning and using your arms. Then alternate the push between hands (keep both remaining in their position on the door jam), making sure your hips do not move, and the power stance is maintained.
After about 2 minutes, switch your hand positioning so that you are gripping the door jam with fingertips to engage a pulling motion. While still in power stance, pull only slightly backwards with the core, do not change your power position or try to pull with shoulders and arms, these are to act solely as mechanical levers for the force being produced by the Core. Do NOT lean, you should be able to keep your power stance if you remove your hands from the doorway. Again, you can alternate pulling between your hands, which will give added awareness to the posterior sling (crisscrossing muscle patterns over the back and very applicable to the paddling motion in SUP) so long as you keep your hips stationary.
In conclusion, the exercises listed here are intended to re-educate the core muscles in their roles and “on” positions. To start out, keep a higher level of awareness about these muscles and exercises so that soon these new muscle activation patterns will be habitual and a mindlessly safe way to staying healthy on and off the board. Basic maintenance is essential for any person, but for a stand-up paddler it is optimal to continue core work to ensure a fun and safe ride every time.
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Paddle With Power Through Proper Muscle Activation
by Tommi Paavola
At the beginning of any stand-up paddle trip, it’s important to prepare the equipment you’ll need. Your body is the most important equipment of them all. You may already have a pre-paddle procedure that you follow to make sure all the necessary equipment is working correctly in order for a safe and enjoyable Yoloing to take place.
A pre-Yoloing warm-up routine can make a big difference in your stand-up paddling performance. It is possible, that by activating the right muscle groups right before paddling, your power output could increase by up to 20 percent. In addition to that, doing a few simple post-Yoloing exercises after pulling the board to the shore could help prevent the nagging pain in your shoulder or the stiffness in your lower back when getting out of the bed the next morning.
Optimal solutions to movement problems
Any repetitive movement, such as running, cycling or paddling, can create imbalances in our bodies that can affect our performance and health. Keeping the balance with correct flexibility and activation exercises will help you avoid posture-related problems and help your body last longer. A few simple pre- and post-Yoloing exercises will help you maintain your ability to paddle optimally and make it easier to develop new motor skills as you continue to learn new Yoloing techniques.
Think of your body as a problem-solving machine. Every physical task is a problem your body needs to find a solution to. The efficiency and the quality of the movement will depend on the solution your body uses. A healthy body will usually choose the most efficient movement pattern available to execute a given task. An injured or imbalanced body will not.
Muscular imbalances will always force you to use a less than optimal movement solution for the task at hand. For example, let us look at sitting. It slowly drives our bodies from an upright posture to a stooped posture and has a profound effect on how we move.
Time spent paddling strengthens the muscles of the chest and shoulders, but it also causes them to shorten and to become stronger than the muscles on the opposite side of the body. Those muscles then round the upper back, contributing further to a slumped alignment of the body, that is sometimes referred to as the “human shrimp”-posture. Additionally, short hip flexors in turn can lead to inactivity of the gluteal a.k.a. butt muscles that oppose them anatomically.
The tendency toward a rounded upper back is often the main reason for discomfort in the lower back, neck and shoulder region and the effects go beyond how well we feel to how well we can paddle. The muscle imbalances that change our postural alignment may not necessarily manifest itself as pain, but will certainly result in an inability to produce force in rotation during the stroke. As the ability to rotate is diminished, so is the optimal sequence of muscle recruitment. Postural imbalances additionally alter the paddle’s path through the water and it is possible that your technique will get worse, not better, the more you train and paddle.
Because of the repetitive nature of paddling, even small muscular imbalances can sometimes grow into unnecessarily annoying traveling companions. The prevention of muscular imbalances is much easier than dealing with the consequences of paddling your way toward injury or chronic pain.
Five minutes to more power
Recent developments in the study of anatomy and physiology have helped us design better ways to prepare our bodies for an activity and to accelerate recovery and regeneration afterward. A pre-Yoloing routine activates the nerves and muscles involved in paddling and prepares them to go to work as a well-functioning team of body parts. A post-Yoloing routine aims at balancing the effects of repetitive paddling movement and helps prevent pain and injuries.
Dedicating five minutes to your own movement machinery before and after your day of paddling will provide you with noticeable benefits and changes in your paddling performance. The routine here will improve muscle recruitment and optimize the role of each muscle whether it is a task of stability or explosive power. By using the pre-Yoloing routine, you can activate more muscle fibers than you would otherwise and get them firing in the right order. As a result, your strokes will be more powerful, require less effort and your endurance will improve as well. Heading out paddling without a routine to activate the muscles can result in poor recruitment—fewer muscle fibers do the work, and they fire out of sequence. Your muscles will fatigue faster and the decreased strength and coordination will easily lead to an inconsistent and inefficient stroke.
The issue of muscle activation involves not only the interaction of fibers within a muscle but also the coordination between muscles grouped around a particular joint. During a particular motion, each muscle group has a prime mover muscle and a stabilizer muscle that needs to be “awake” to execute it’s specific task to control and limit the movement. Muscles that are not activated—“sleeping” if you will—can cause a loss of joint stability. Other muscles may have to work harder to compensate for the poor coordination. Overuse injuries are often suffered by muscles compensating for those that are routinely not being activated.
Also, by eliminating muscle imbalances and the posture problems it creates, you may find it easier to learn and absorb new motor skills. Restricted movement or posture can make it difficult to execute new techniques properly. If you’re working on developing your stroke and your poor flexibility prevents you from properly engaging your core muscles, you are likely to use your shoulder muscles more than necessary, fatiguing them out much faster.
Pre-Yoloing Activation Routine
The best timing for the pre-paddling routine is right before you get on the Yolo Board. You can easily perform it on the shore without any other equipment but your paddle. The whole routine should only take about five minutes to perform. If you already have a warm-up of your own, buy all means, continue doing it. You can certainly combine it with these four exercises developed to optimize your Yoloing experience. Anyone with a history of injuries or back/muscle problems should consult a physician or physical therapist before attempting any of the stretches.
Exercise: Hip Flexor Lunge
This lunge will improve the flexibility of hip flexors, broaden the range of motion in the shoulder joint and activate the hip musculature and front core muscles.Start by taking a split stance position and lower yourself into a lunge position. Keep your front knee straight above the ankle. Now extend your arms up and back, as shown in the photo. To enhance the stretch, try to tighten the buttock of the back leg. If your hip flexors are very tight or you have trouble with the balance, lower your back knee all the way down on a soft surface. You can also increase the stretch in the quadriceps muscle(front of the thigh) by lowering the knee of the back leg.
Exercise: Inchworm
The inchworm exercise targets improved flexibility of the posterior chain; calves, hamstrings and lower back. It also activates the abdominal wall and creates stability and mobility of the shoulder and scapulae.Start from a push-up position and slowly walk your feet as close to the hands as possible. Keep your legs straight at all times and your heels close to the ground. When you can’t bring your feet any closer, walk back out—this time with your hands—to the push-up position. Repeat four times.
Exercise: Side Bend
The side bend works on the flexibility of hip flexors, sides and back—the lat muscles (latissimus dorsi) in particular. It activates the sides of the core and increases the range of motion in the shoulder joint.Start by raising your paddle over your head and taking a split stance position. Keep your back foot on your toes (heel up). Bend sideways by letting your hips move to the opposite direction. Bend to both the left and right four times before switching and putting your other leg forward. Keep your arms straight at all times. If your hip flexors are very tight or you have trouble with the balance, lower your back knee all the way down on a soft surface.
Exercise: Squat Rotation
The squat rotation improves the mobility of the upper back, activates the abdominal wall and the muscles engaged in torso rotation and increases the range of motion in the shoulder joint.
Place the paddle horizontally across your upper back and take a squat position. Keep your back flat and abdominals engaged at all times. Keep your head still and make a smooth and controlled rotation from side to side by reaching down toward the ground with the paddle.
Post-Yoloing Regeneration Routine
After pulling the Yolo Board ashore at day’s end, you’re probably thinking about food and rest. I recommend you focus on your post-activation routine for a few minutes before sitting down on the beach, or loading up on food. You will be guaranteed a faster recovery and you will be ready for another Yoloing session quicker.
Exercise: Lat Stretch
The lat stretch creates muscle balance of the shoulder region and improves the flexibility and regeneration of the shoulder and back muscles—the prime movers of the upper body in paddling.With your paddle vertical, hold onto the shaft at chest height. Bend from the hips and keep your arms straight. Push your chest closer to the ground while holding tight to the paddle and keep your legs slightly bent at the knees, as shown in the photo. Hold the stretch for about 30 seconds. You can use a tree or your paddling partner for support if you’re afraid of snapping your paddle in half.
Exercise: Kneeling Hip Stretch
The kneeling hip stretch targets muscle balance of the hip region. By restoring the flexibility of the hip flexors, you can help prevent lower back discomfort and tightness.Kneel with one knee on the ground (use a pad for comfort) and the other knee bent in a right angle, foot flat on the ground. Hold your paddle vertically in front of you, adjacent to your upward knee. Keeping your paddle stationary, hold your upper body upright and lean back with your shoulders until you feel a stretch in the front of your hip and thigh, as shown in the photo. Tighten the buttock of the back leg. Hold the position for 30 seconds before switching sides.
Exercise: Shoulder and Triceps
The shoulder and triceps exercise addresses the muscle balance of the shoulder and arm muscles. It realigns your posture and improves the flexibility of the arm extensors (triceps muscle) and the range of motion in the shoulder joint.Stand straight and place the paddle vertically behind your back. Hold the paddle with both hands, pointing one elbow upward and the other down, as shown in the photo. Use the lower hand to gently pull the paddle down to create a stretch in the upper arm. Keep your back straight and your head up. Hold this position for 30 seconds before switching hand positions.
Exercise: Chest and Shoulder
The chest and shoulder drill not only increases the range of motion in the shoulder joint, it also restores mobility of the upper back and the flexibility of the chest and shoulder muscles.Start by taking a split stance. Keeping a firm grip with your front hand, grasp the paddle with your other hand palm up as if you were holding a javelin. Push the paddle backward with your front hand to create a stretch in the front of the chest, shoulder and biceps. Hold the position for 30 seconds on each side.
Finding the Balance
As you incorporate these routines into your Yoloing, you may notice that you’re feeling more comfortable on the Yolo Board over longer periods of time and that your reach has improved. You’ll also have a much smaller risk of injuries and pains. And finally, by correcting posture problems and muscular imbalance, you may find it easier to learn and absorb new skills faster. The benefits of post- and pre-paddling routines will speak for themselves, give it a try! Spending five minutes performing each routine is a small investment that can yield great rewards and happy moments on your Yolo board.
Our bodies are truly miraculous machines that are very capable of adapting to new challenges. By acknowledging the importance of preparing our bodies with balanced and functional movement, we can prolong and improve our Yoloing and the quality of our daily lives as well.
Tommi Paavola is the co-owner of a company that specializes in creating and teaching effective and inspirational movement and exercise programs. Contact Tommi through his website: www.discovermovement.com
Portions of this article originally appeared in Sea Kayaker Magazine, April 2008.
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The Proper Paddle Technique
1. The catch
The blade should enter the water in a position at the side of the board where it be drawn straight down the side toward the tail of the board. The blade should be covered as it draws level with your body, be sure not to dig in to deep as to cover up the shaft. Extension for the catch is achieved by a combination of the knees and hips flexing, torso rotating and top hand reaching toward the catch.
2. Pull and leg drive
The movement pattern of the complete SUP stroke is a coordinated total body effort. The power firstly comes by pulling back with the bottom hand and down by the top hand. The back muscles as well as the shoulders and arms combined with the spinal flexion and body twist via the abdominal muscles and hips all sequence combine to create the power of the stroke. The effectiveness of this dynamic action is only possible with stability and drive created from the legs. This is made more difficult by the fact that the board itself is an unstable surface. The leg drive phase of the stroke should kick in once the blade has moved about half way back towards your feet. Applying the leg drive to early will lead to the stroke side rail dipping, causing loss of balance and less effective stroke power.
3. Push and Recovery
Once the blade has passed the centerline of your body, the stroke enters the pushing phase. This is where the blade is pushed back toward the tail of the board. The object of this segment of the stroke is to prolong the run of the board. The force is created by the continued leg drive, rotation of the hips and torso, as well as the extension of the triceps. The blade should exit the water as cleanly as possible. Too much wash out will cause loss of board run at the end of the stroke and instability during the recovery phase. Any instability may cause a loss of extension in reaching for the catch of the next stroke, or in effective paddle transfer if switching sides.
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Training for stand up paddle boarding by Gary Wise
Sport specific training programs have really become more mainstream in recent years. Previously such programs have only been available to elite level athletes and those with the financial recourses. stand up paddle boarding, whether it be recreational, surfing or distance paddling is a great form of exercising in it's own right. However to reach a higher level of performance or help recover from, or prevent injuries the stand up paddle boarder can add resistance, flexibility or even cardiovascular training to their paddling.
For so long lifting weights was discouraged in many sports such as, boxing, swimming and golf. Research has shown us that through resistance training, an athlete can make substantial improvements in their physical abilities. The role strength training plays in sports performance is not to just to build muscle mass or lifting as much weight as possible. It is about function and how to best improve your physical performance factors that are relevant to the athlete. Muscular activation during the stand up paddle boarder’s stroke relies on your ability to recruit all muscles to work together. This is a kinetic chain of motion, this functional recruitment of muscles working together can only be enhanced by training them to work together. For this to be achieved the core of our strength program must be based around functional multi-joint movements.
Following are some of the physical factors that will be enhanced by functional resistance training:
- Ability to maintain correct posture, throughout whole stroke motion. Correct spine angle and curvature better enable you to functionally rotate your upper torso.
- Improved muscular co-ordination. Stand up paddling is a function of your muscles working as a team. Therefore, for optimum performance the synergists and stabilizers must work with the prime movers.
- Injury prevention.
- Better connection between the motion of the arms, the rotation of the upper torso and the drive of the hips and legs.
- Power, the most apparent benefit, resulting in greater stroke power and muscular endurance.
- The psychological advantages of being stronger. I am of the belief that strength and will, can take you further than talent alone.
- To slow down the natural effects of aging, such as muscle atrophy.
- Slows the rate of joint degeneration due to osteoarthritis.
- An increase in lean body mass will help accelerate the rate for which you burn fat, in all modes of exercise.
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Strength Training Routine by Gary Wise
All the exercises shown in this chapter are part of my own personal training routine. These exercises have been the foundation for my own training for many years. Mostly they are multijoint exercises that are functional in benefiting my training for my sports (stand up paddle boarding, rowing, surfing, and golf).
There should be an inverse relationship between the number of exercise you do and the number of sets. This also applies to the relationship between reps and sets, my repetitions and sets roughly follow a cycle of:
- Six weeks of 5-7 reps, for 3-5 sets.
- Six weeks of 8-12 reps, for 2-3 sets.
- Six weeks of more than 12-20 reps, for 1-2 sets.
My resistance training rotation is as follows:
- Day 1 - Workout A (shown below)
- Day 2 -
- Day 3 - Workout B (shown below)
- Day 4 -
- Day 5 -
- Day 6 - Workout A (repeat Day 1, substituting in similar motion exercises)
- Day 7 -
- Day 8 - Workout B (repeat Day 3, substituting in similar motion exercises)
- Day 9 -
- Day 10 -
Workout A has a greater emphasis on the mid section and lower body. Workout B targets more the mid section and the upper torso.
The exercises below are mostly compound exercises. This means the specific exercise movement involves two or more joint movements. As stand up paddling is a total body exercise I think that you should be trying to recruit as many muscle fibers at one time as possible during your training.
As with all resistance training, start with a resistance that you can comfortably handle. Always use good form, and complete the exercise through it’s full range of motion. Do not use ballistic (bouncing) movements and move the resistance in a slow controlled manner.
On any resistance workout day a second session of paddling or even cardio can be added. Your paddling can vary from surfing, down winders, intervals or an out & back paddle. - Back to top of page
Workout A – (Group “1”)
Core and Lower Body
Squats:
Squats can be done with or without added resistance, or singled legged as shown above. Keep spine in natural curvature, keep feet flat on the floor throughout the full range of motion and look forward, not down.
Power Runner:
The Power Runner is one of my personal favorite pieces of equipment, however it is not very common. If one is not available, step-ups can be done with or with out added weight.
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Workout A – (Group “2”)
Core and Lower Body
Reverse Lunge / Twist:
I like reverse lunges (one leg steps back from a standing start) for surfing as it closer replicates stepping back for a turn, dropping back to lift the nose over a larger white water. These lunges can be done with or without the twist and with or without resistance.
Step one leg back landing on the front of the foot. Lower your body on the other leg by flexing knee and hip of front leg until knee of rear leg is almost in contact with floor. Return to original standing position by extending hip and knee of forward leg. Repeat by alternating rear lunge with opposite leg.
Leg Press:
There are many different types of leg press available. I prefer single legged leg press, this ensures that both legs are doing the same amount of work. I found that after having numerous knee operations that I would favor one leg. This is reduced if you do the same amount of work with both legs separately. Most importantly no further imbalances will develop and less likelihood of further injury.
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Workout A – (Group “3”)
Core and Lower Body
Dead lift
Be sure to keep your hips low, shoulders high, arms and back straight. Knees should point same direction as feet throughout movement. Keep the bar close to body throughout the lift to improve mechanical leverage and reduce the likelihood of injury. IMO the king of all strength exercises.
Stiff Leg Dead lift
Keep your knees slightly bent, lift the bar by extending at hips until standing completely erect. Lower bar to the top of the feet by bending hips. Bend knees slightly during the decent and keep waist straight, flexing only slightly at the bottom. This exercise must be performed on a platform to allow the bar to reach the top of your feet.
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Workout A – (Group “4”)
Core and Lower Body
Bicycle / Crunch
Start with your hands beside your head. Bring one elbow to the opposite knee in a slow controlled manner. Return to the starting position. Now take the opposite elbow to it’s opposite knee, and return to the starting position.
Leg Raises
Raise your legs from a dead hanging position, by flexing hips until fully flexed. Lower your legs under control without letting them go back past the starting position. There are many different versions of this exercise using bent knees, and different equipment such as an exercise ball or off the floor.
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Workout A – Chose ONE exercise from each group.
Workout B – (Group “1”)
Core and Upper Body
Clean & Press
The clean and press is mostly done with a barbell. Start in a position the same as a deadlift. Knees and hips flexed, feet a little wider than shoulder width. Pull the bar (dumbbells) off the floor by extending the hips and knees. Draw the weight(s) straight up, as the weight reaches hip height begin to flex the knees and move your body under the weight(s). Once the weight(s) moves past your midsection, rotate your elbows under the weight(s) and catch it on your shoulders for dumbbells and upper chest for a barbell. Again flex your knees as you push the weight overhead, fully extending your arms. Lower the weight(s) to your chest, then to your thighs and finally lower it to the ground.
Single Dumbbell Swing
The dumbbell swings are similar to the clean. However instead of catching the weight by dropping your elbows continue the weights upward movement as in a high pull until your arms are extended over head. Lower the weight to your chest and then to a hanging position between your feet. Repeat the movement to side as shown in the right photo above. Your back foot and knee should be rotated to perpendicular with your hips.
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Workout B – (Group “2”)
Core and Upper Body
Chin ups
Pull your body up until the chin is past the bar, preferably till your upper chest touches the bar or near to it. Lower body until arms and shoulders are fully extended.
Free Row
This is not a very common exercise, but one of my favorites, as your body has to stabilize itself and the pulling motion is similar to the SUP stroke. Start with your shoulders over the top of your hands, legs stiff, feet shoulder width apart, and up on your toes. Pull the dumbbell up until it touches your side beside your chest. Lower the dumbbell slowly until arms are extended and shoulders are stretched forward.
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Workout B – (Group “3”)
Core and Upper Body
Dips
Lower your body with your elbows remaining close to your side, until your shoulders are level or just below parallel to your elbows.
Triceps Extension
Lower resistance behind upper arm with elbows remaining overhead. Extend the lower arm overhead. This exercise can be done with cables, barbell or a medicine ball. It can also be done seated on a bench or exercise ball. I prefer to do any exercise that can be done standing as that’s the way we paddle.
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Workout B – Core & Upper Body (Group “4”)
Back Extension / Pole Twist
Stabilize your lower body with a back extension bench. Once you reach the top position of the regular back extension movement, rotate your shoulders as far as comfortably possible in both directions. Return to the neutral position and begin your next back extension.
Trunk Twist
Start with no added resistance. Just hold your heels a few inches off the ground as in the picture above. Extend your arms out in front of your chest, palms facing each other and rotate your arms slowly from side to side as shown.
Reverse trunk twist / pelvic lift
Slowly rotate hips and legs to each side, then with your knees still bent place your feet on the floor and raise your buttocks off the mat.
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Workout B – Chose ONE exercise from each group.
Contributor Bios
Gary Wise:
Coaching Qualifications:
Surf Life Saving:
Claire Haslam:
Claire Haslam is a Certified Athletic Trainer living in Winston Salem, NC. She has a Master of Science degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of Sydney, Australia and a Bachelor of Science degree in Athletic Training and Exercise Science from the University of Vermont. She has a strong interest in biomechanics and functional training, which is reflected in her job as an Athletic Trainer and in her active lifestyle including running (all distances up to marathon), triathlons, and of course, stand-up paddling.
Tommi Paavola:
Tommi Paavola holds a Master’s degree in Physical Education from the University of Jyvaskyla, Finland. His new enterprise, Discover Movement LLC., arranges Outdoor Conditioning Programs and Fitness Education Workshops. He is also a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach and acts as a Director of Junior Conditioning Programs at Elite Athletic Performance Institute in Ramsey, New Jersey.
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Disclaimer
The information and exercises shown are not intended to be a personal training or rehabilitation program for anyone. The information is for your entertainment purposes only. Before starting an exercise program or diet you should seek the advise of a physician or certified trainer.
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