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How can I get faster and morepowerful on the water?Part 1: Train off the waterWhether you are a sprint kayaker, white water kayaker, skipaddler, or multi-sporter I bet you are thinking “What do Ineed to do to go faster?”Speed is a function of distance and time, so to increase the distance paddledand decrease the time taken we need to produce more power per stroke.Because muscles contract forcefully (strength) and quickly (speed), we shouldfocus on improving their strength and speed!A guaranteed way to achieve this is a well-planned and executed strengthtraining programme. An endurance athlete may be thinking “oh great so I haveto get big to go faster!” Let’s clear some things up here: A strength programmeincreases strength, not mass. (It is actually pretty hard to add large amountsof muscle even when this is your goal. It requires intense training and largeenergy excess.)A common mistake that many paddlers make (myself included!) when strengthtraining, is performing exercises which mimic paddling. A Seated Double CablePush/Pull exercise instead of a Barbell Row and a Bench Press because youdon’t lie down in a boat is well… say no more! Strength training in the gymmakes you stronger. The overall weight you will be able to lift using the latterexercises is far greater than the first combination example. I am not suggestingthat there isn’t a time or place for single limb exercises. Research has shownthat an individual’s maximum strength lays the foundation for peak powerproduction. However, a combination of both conventional strength training andexplosive resistance training yields greater peak power results. By includingboth types of training methods in your gym routine you will cover both thestrength and speed components of the power equation.Remember the old school way of lifting weights? Strange looking men intracksuits did squats, Olympic style lifts, chins and bench press followed bymany bicep curls? Guess what, they were right all along (minus the curls thatis….) Now that old fashioned training is back in vogue there is a fancy newname for it, so we sport scientists feel we have come up with a new idea. Itis more commonly known today as functional training. The key principle isto use large muscle groups in complex movements, essentially what we doin sport.A great example is a pull-up. You may think that you can’t perform a pull-up.That’s ok because variations to this exercise such as inverted rows and cablepull-downs can help to achieve your goal. Or why not try negative pull-up’s,where you jump into the top position of a pull-up and slowly lower yourselfto the bottom position.A great example of an explosive resistance exercise is a split jerk. This is amodified Olympic lift, performed by driving a barbell above the head usingthe entire body.To get maximum results from strength training, athletes with experience in thegym should aim for 4-6 reps per set, completing 3-5 sets. If strength training isnew to you then 3 sets of 10-12 reps will be enough to achieve early results,while developing technique with a safer, lighter weight.Will this strength and power training crossover into your paddling? I wish I12 ISSUE FORTYthree • 2 0 0 7