[Paddlewise] Improving the Forward Stroke

>>>>From: Joshua Teitelbaum <teitelba_at_post.tau.ac.il>
Subject: [Paddlewise] Improving the Forward Stroke [was: Real life rolling]

<snip>

5. PUSH-PULL. True, in the beginning, we always teach that the top hand
pushes and the lower hand only guides. That is good for teaching
beginners, because it is less tiring. But I believe now that one should
divide the force between about 70% pushing with the top hand and 30%
pulling with the lower hand. This proportion may vary.<<<<

The part about this advice (and especially the advice given to beginners to
regard the pulling hand as being mostly for guidance) that is not clear to
me (I'm not suggesting it's incorrect) is that as you fully extend your
"pushing arm", you're creating a more acute angle (viewed from directly
overhead) with respect to your direction of travel and thus some of your
power will also be directed at an angle and wasted.  Perhaps this is
inevitable, given the shape of the human body.  I like to vary my paddling
style while touring (to work different muscles) and have experimented with
the technique of not pushing at all with my "pushing" arm (and even pulling
with both arms simultaneously, even though it doesn't fit into a rhythm very
well), and felt it actually generated more thrust per unit of muscle energy,
although it would obviously fatigue your "pulling" arm significantly more to
do this style all day.  Is this heresy?

Evan Dallas
Woodinville, Washington
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