The Science of Canoeing By Richard Cox

same group for as many as five trials in one session. It is often helpful to take a deep breath and hold it while
tensing the muscles, and to let go with muscles whilst breathing out. Should any muscle group not respond after
five trials, move on and return to it later.
Relaxation
Before you start it is helpful to go through the procedure for tensing the muscles so that you are quite clear how
to tense them. Sixteen individual muscles are listed below in four major groups. You should read about each of
these muscles and see how you most prefer to tense them. Briefly tense each muscle as you read down the list.
Do not tense too hard - just enough to feel the tension.
Major Group 1 - THE HANDS AND ARMS
A. Right Hand and Forearm. Make a fist, clench your hand. You may feel the
tension in your knuckles, fingers and your lower arm.
B. Right Biceps. The biceps is the upper arm muscle. Press the elbow down
against the chair and at the same time pull the elbow in towards the body. If you
find this difficult, lift the lower arm hand off the chair and bend the elbow to
make the muscle bulge. If you do tense the biceps by bending the elbow, tense
the upper arm before the lower one, i.e. do B before A.
C. Left Hand and Forearm. Clench your fist as you did with the right hand and
forearm.
D. Left Biceps. Use the same method as for right biceps.
Major Group 2 - HEAD, FACE AND THROAT
A. Forehead. To tense the muscles in your forehead, just frown.
B. Cheeks and Nose. Wrinkle your nose. Do not worry about making funny faces
when you are practising.
C. Jaws. Clench your teeth hard and pull back the corners of your mouth.
D. Lips and Tongue. Press your lips together, teeth apart, tongue against the roof
of your mouth.
E. Neck and Throat. Pull your chin down towards your chest and at the same time
try to prevent it from actually touching the chest. If this does not work for you,
press your head back if your chair is tall enough, or if you are sitting against a wall.
Major Group 3 - CHEST AND STOMACH
A. Chest. Take a deep breath and breathe out smoothly. Do not breathe out so
slowly that in fact you are trying to hold air in and do not breathe out so fast that
you push air out. Breathe at whatever rate needs the least effort. Correct
breathing is a great help in relaxation.
B. Shoulders. Shrug your shoulders.
C. Upper Back. Arch the shoulders back as if trying to touch the shoulder blades
together. Feel the muscles pull below the shoulder blades.
D. Stomach. Make your stomach hard, pull your stomach in and hold it tight.
Alternatively you can tense it by pushing it out.