But be smart about it. Keep the following three principles in mind to train more eff ectively:
OVERLOADING means increasing the demand placed on your body. Any increased demand causes the body to adapt. This adaptation is what makes you stronger. Overload by altering the physical activity, frequency, duration or intensity of your training sessions. Mix things up and don’t let your body get used to anything.
RECOVERY is the easy part. It is during recovery that the positive adaptations to overloading occur. First, get lots of sleep and proper nutrition. Recovery can be both passive (a day off ) or active (low-intensity training). Taking a day off allows the body to repair itself. Easy active recovery can improve your overall fi tness and help you avoid overuse injuries.
SPECIFICITY means you train the particular muscles used for paddling. This becomes more important the closer you get to the paddling season.
phase 2 > endurance and muscular strength
Begin increasing the amount of weight you are lifting. Reduce the number of repetitions in each set to eight. It should be diffi cult, but manageable to complete each set.
Tighten your core muscles by adding abdominal rotation exercises like Russian twists (come up into a half sit-up and twist to the right and left several times).
If you are looking for something a little diff erent try indoor rock climbing. You will notice improved grip, forearm and core strength when you take your fi rst paddling stroke.
Lengthen your endurance sessions. Cross-country skiing or snowshoeing with poles are good ways to target specifi c paddling muscles. Doing hill repeats on skis or snowshoes is a great interval workout. Pick a hill that takes a few minutes to climb, go up the hill hard, and then repeat three to fi ve times, letting your body recover each time. Do one or two of these interval sessions a week. Find a rowing machine if your climate isn’t blessed with snow.
phase 3 > anaerobic strength
Time to work the system harder. The formula for these work- outs is simple: shorter duration, higher intensity. Try 10 sets of one-minute spurts of maximum exertion (e.g. running, swimming or skiing full-out), followed by two minutes of ac- tive recovery. Space these workouts throughout the week and use at least one easy day as active recovery between. Continue to do at least one long, easy session and one more intense interval day each week to maintain the aerobic base you developed in phase one.
Focus your strength training on gaining power by again in- creasing the weight. Do three sets of each exercise still, but reduce the number of reps from eight to three. These work- outs don’t take long but are hard on the body, so remem- ber to recover. Continue focusing on core and rotational strength and target specifi c paddling muscles with body- weight exercises like push-ups for your triceps and deltoids and pull-ups for your lats.
Finally, don’t neglect your legs. You’ll need strong quads to leap on top of the podium after your fi rst race.
JODI BIGELOW is the author of Kayak Fitness (due out in April), has been on the Canadian Wildwater and Marathon Kayaking teams and is founder and head coach of Paddlefi t,
www.paddlefi
t.com. w w w. c a n o e r o o t sma g . c om ■ 39
PHOTO: RICK MATTHEWS
PHOTO:
iSTOCKPHOTO.COM/YURI ARCURS
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