My buddies tell me what I need to do is increase my strength and muscle tone, and they are probably right. Are any of you fitness types who can suggest some exercises? Reply: I'd bet you'll get a ton of suggestions. I won a number of Master's age group national championships in slalom, so maybe my "old man's" ideas might help. Speed requires strength - brute power. Without fast twitch muscle fibers you may never have true tactical speed. But speed over the long haul is really power. And you don't get it by paddling 2.5 hours a day twice a week. You get it by paddling intervals for about thirty minutes or less three times a week [at middle age, younger folks can go with less recovery time]. The explosive power will come from explosive training - go all out 100% full speed for fifteen seconds and then rest for forty-five seconds. Do ten reps and then rest for a while, paddling around at your 2.5 hour pace. Then, when you are fully recovered, do the speed thing again. Three runs through the routine should be more than enough for one day, and might be too much. Concentrate on using as much of your upper body as possible - torso, hips, abs - in addition to arms. Do a sweep stroke on each side [left and right] feeling how the muscles work. Then use the same muscles in the forward stroke. A training technique that might help would be to stroke left, right, left with sweeps and gradually raise the top arm and bring the lower arm in a little bit at a time until you're doing a true forward stroke. When you feel your lats and all the muscles in your waist working, you're on your way to a good, strong stroke. There are dozens of other workouts in the boat that can build speed, but this is the simplest for someone who has no racing background. Email me directly for more, if you'd like. Out of the boat, get much heavier dumbells and build arm muscle by doing this: Bend over, with your head resting on a table if the support helps, and hold your torso parallel to the floor. Pull each dumbell, one at a time, up to your chest slowly and let it down slowly. Alternate as if paddling. Don't overdo it the first few times, it can be strenuous. But it builds muscle. For torso, pulley weights or an exergenie type thing works well. I'll quit now, I'm getting tired just writing this. Good luck. Jim Tibensky _________________________________________________________________ MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
James Tibensky writes: > Speed requires strength - brute power. Without fast twitch muscle fibers > you may never have true tactical speed. But speed over the long haul is > really power. And you don't get it by paddling 2.5 hours a day twice a > week. You get it by paddling intervals for about thirty minutes or less > three times a week [at middle age, younger folks can go with less recovery A lot of good advice. What many people don't consider when training for "endurance" is that having more strength will reduce your perceived effort at your normal output. If you are not going to go to the gym (which I would highly recommend) you should do as James suggests and start doing some sprints as part of each paddle. I would also recommend doing some towing practice. When you increase the amount of energy you are able to put out during these peak expenditure times, it will also affect your output when you are only paddling at 20%. Dave *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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