Any personal trainers/paddlers out there? I am looking for advice on exercises that will strengthen the muscles used during the Eskimo roll hip snap. I paddle a Current Designs Gulfstream and have been trying for years to develop a dependable roll. I was first taught the C-to-C roll and want to stick with it for now. After five to ten attempts, failure is almost a certainty due, in part, to a weak snap. I belong to a fitness club with Cybex machines and free weights. I confess to being 74 years young but in great shape - considering. Thanks for your thoughts.. Bill Wetzel Dover, NH *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
>Any personal trainers/paddlers out there? I am looking for advice on >exercises that will strengthen the muscles used during the Eskimo roll hip >snap. I'd suggest an old yoga/karate exercise where you lie on your side on the floor and lift both legs as high towards the ceiling as you can. If that's too hard to start with, lift just the top leg and work towards lifting both legs with sideways tipping of the hips. Whatever you do, do it slooooowly!! The slower you exercise the better your form will be, the safer it will be and the harder it will work you better, resulting in better results. Advice from a 64 year old strong fat guy, who spent a couple of years working as a personal trainer in a 24 Hour Fitness place. I wouldn't feel to sanguine about the degree of knowledge of the average personal trainer. 98% of those I knew didn't know _at_%^_at_ about exercise. I had to take all of 32 hours of training to get to be a "Certified Personal Trainer". If I didn't have a BA in Biology from Harvard I'd be just as ignorant as most of them are. At least 75% of the class time was spent learning how to con people into signing up for personal trainer sessions. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. daflory_at_pacbell.net Go Sea Kayaking!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speak softly and study Aikido, then you won't need a big stick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Hi Bill, After many years of teaching roll, I can tell you that women usually learn the technique faster than men. But you will wonder how can this be possible being women "weaker" than men ? The answer is exactly that ... women know they don't have the same strengh ( generally speaking, ladies ... ) so they rely on their technique, developing it, finding the way to do it without strengh. And they succeed. By using our strengh for everything, we men always fall on the same mistake, we concentrate on finding the right spot, the proper moment when to apply our strengh, and forget about the technique. We fail. Unless you specifically know that your hips are weak ( I mean, said by the physician ), you may be on the wrong path. The fact that there are so many different ways to do the roll, is indicative that not everybody feels comfortable with the same technique. You may like the C to C roll, and be failing it just because your body doesn't feel completely comfortable with it, or even when you think you understand it step by step on your mind, your body just don't respond as supposed to. This is a very common problem, happens to everybody, your age shouldn't be a problem at all. There is no need of strengh for any rolling technique, not at all. It is just a smooth continuous movement, but very unusual and generally dificult to understand by the body. My suggestion is this ... Take a brake with the C to C. Try other techniques, I would suggest the screw or the pawlatta. Screw is my favorite for being absolutely efortless and smooth, easy to understand. Develope it untill you feel confident that no matter what happens during your practices, you can rely on it as a bomb proof backup roll. Then go back to the C to C, practice it wearing a snorkel mask. This way you can take your time underwater, see what you are doing, see if your body is doing what you want him to do. Get asistance from an instructor or a friend with a good roll. Analyze every simple movement and find where you fail. Then you can practice easily, so if you fail your first chance with your c to c , you will still be able to reposition yourself for that bomb proof roll you have achieved before. I have recenly teaching the roll to a friend. After a few days sistematically failing the c to c, ( he saw it on a video and wanted to learn it ) I convinced him to try the screw roll. He made it in only half an hour. 2 hours later he could do it on both sides. Now we will go back to the c to c which I am sure he will complete without trouble. Being able to roll with any of the techniques lets your body get used to the new movements and gives you that extra confidence that you can rely on it and not bail anymore. Then you can concentrate to work out all the other techniques. The hip snap of the c to c is meant to supply an extra impulse that will roll the boat very fast. You also position your paddle well above the water level when you reach the first "C". These two characteristics are very desirable in white water, where you are dealing with rocks and rapids ... the faster the better. But in seakayaking all you usually have is water, sometimes wind, so you can use any of the other techniques which don't require the hip snap at all. As I said, the screw is very easy, efficient, and you finish in a position from which you are ready to paddle or brace as required. I hope I have been of your help. And thank you for showing all of us that age is not an excuse when you want to learn something new, even when it is fisical and demanding. Go to work "kid" ... you have a lot of practice ahead !!! Best regards ! Fernando Lopez Arbarello *** KAYAK ARGENTINA *** http://home.earthlink.net/~kayakargentina *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
In a message dated 8/13/2002 9:09:21 PM Pacific Daylight Time, kayakargentina_at_earthlink.net writes: > practice it wearing a snorkel mask. This way you > can take your time underwater, see what you are doing, see if your body is > doing what you want him to do. And another thing, Radical Gear makes a underwater snorkel breathing tube for about thirty bucks. You can see the ad in most kayak magazines. You can make one with a snorkel you may have handy, some clear pvc tubing and a bit of foam to fit under your legs to keep the tube in the correct position. Just run the tube up through your spray deck (around the waist) leaving enough length to comfortably grip in the mouth. Replenish air in the cockpit after you've taken a breath or two from it. It tastes gamey but unless your cockpit is super epoxy smelling it won't hurt too much. Watch out for grit, mud and sand, too. My wife used the Radical Gear unit as the one I made and used was pretty well badly done. It helped quite a bit. The tube, with a mask, may help you sort things out under there until you get the muscle memory developed. Rob G *************************************************************************** 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/ ***************************************************************************
Radical Gear's web site announces that they are out of business and have sold all of their products and are not accepting any orders. Steve Holtzman ----- Original Message ----- From: <Rcgibbert_at_aol.com> > And another thing, Radical Gear makes a underwater snorkel breathing tube for > about thirty bucks. You can see the ad in most kayak magazines. You can make > one with a snorkel you may have handy, some clear pvc tubing and a bit of > foam to fit under your legs to keep the tube in the correct position. Just > run the tube up through your spray deck (around the waist) leaving enough > length to comfortably grip in the mouth. *************************************************************************** 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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