Ron Lugbill Whitewater Slalom Racing Blog

Ron Lugbill Whitewater Slalom Racing Blog

Welcome!  This blog is not just for my ideas- it's for yours.  That's why I started this blog- so we can all share ideas.  Please comment on articles if you want to.  I hope to generate some discussion on these issues.  Tell me what works for you, how you train, what you have learned, etc.  Your input is encouraged!

People from all over the world visit this blog.  If English isn't your native language, comment in your own language and we can translate it.  We want you to feel free to comment, even if your English isn't perfect.

I've been involved in this sport for over 40 years.  I've coached World Champions and Olympic Champions.  I've even been World Champion in the team event.  I've raced c-1, k-1 and c-2.  I know the sport has changed over the past 40 years- I've seen it evolve.  Whitewater slalom is a fantastic sport and we all love it.  That's why we are here- because we love this sport.

Please be respectful in your comments, even if you disagree with someone, keep it civil.  I want to encourage disagreements.  People inevitably have different ideas.  We all want to hear yours. 

And have fun paddling!  Greetings to all! 

offset gates

Offset Gates

Offset gates, or staggers, are a series of 3 or more downstream gates that alternate between one side of the river and the other. Right-left-right, or left-right-left. They are often the most difficult gates on the course.

There are some alternatives to just going direct for offset gates. You can do one or more gates as a reverse gate. If you practice reverse gates, this can make the offset combination easier, but sometimes it is slower.  It is important to practice reverse gates so that you are proficient at them before you get to a big race. You usually want to have already completed the turn for the reverse before the gate and then have your boat moving across as it goes through the gate in the direction you want to go next.

Another alternative is to do a little back ferry move between two of the gates. Have your boat at an angle to the current and moving slowly downstream. Take a back stroke or several back strokes to move the boat across the river to a point just above the next gate. This is also sometimes slower because you lose the boat speed or glide of the boat when starting to back. However, sometimes it is used as a plan B in case you make a mistake on the course and are out of position, and you can save the move by backing. And sometimes it is a good plan A because it sets you up to get a good approach for an up after the offset sequence.

But the basic way to do offsets is to go forward. Direct. Make sure you have a good line at the beginning of the offsets because if you start getting behind, you will have troubles later. On hard offsets on fast water, like we often see at World Cup events, have the boat sideways to the current for the first down gate. Then, do a pivot to turn so the boat is sideways for the second gate. If you do this, the turns are done before each gate so that they bow isn't up in the air as you are going through the gate, which can lead to a touch. 

This may seem counter-intuitive, but you don't want to aim your boat for the next gate. That is the natural tendency. You see the next gate, so you look at it and that is where you go. Instead, you want to have the boat sideways to the current at each gate and aim way upstream of the next gate. That way, you can get the turn down well ahead of the next gate, so the boat is pointed upstream of the gate following it and cross-ways to the current each time.

For easier offsets, you don't have to have a sideways angle to the current for each gate, but you should still get the turns done before each gate. That way, you keep the boat speed going better and you are set up for each gate in the sequence.

A workout that is technical, yet not physically demanding is to set up a series of offset gates in hard, fast water. Then, carry up for each run. With all downstream gates, you don't get tired, yet you are practicing some hard moves. And not paddling up but carrying up means you get a long rest between runs and you don't have the extra fatigue of paddling back up.

Sometimes, one of the down gates is in an eddy. If that is the case, you usually do not want to be angled as you go through the gate. You won't get washed downstream. Just go straight through the gate and do a pivot as your body crosses the gate line and then turn the boat back upstream before you enter the current. Do not enter the current with the boat sideways and no speed as then you will get immediately peeled out and go downstream.

Practice offsets often. They are hard technically and important skills to learn for whitewater slalom racing.

team approach to training

Team Approach to Training

Many paddlers train alone, or sometimes with a coach. But if you want to increase you chances of success, a team approach may be beneficial. Sort of a board of directors of your corporation. In addition to a coach, have a strength and conditioning coach, a sports psychologist, a doctor, a financial sponsor, and a former champion athlete on your team. You can get helpful advice from these different people to help you achieve your goals.

Michael Phelps, the champion Olympic swimmer used such an approach. He had a doctor monitoring his sleep to see if he had the correct amount and the correct type of sleep to get optimum recovery. They tested his blood to make sure he had the proper amount of different nutrients. He had much more support than most athletes get from the US Olympic Committee and USA Swimming.

But you can get this team together yourself, or with the aid of a family member. There are probably a lot of people who would like to help you, if you just asked them. Schedule an appointment with them, then have periodic appointments with them afterwards. Don't wait for problems to arise. Schedule regular meetings with members of your team so they can advise you and answer any questions you have.

Lots of people are doing this all on their own. You can draw on the expertise of various people. There are people who have advanced degrees in a certain field and devoted their entire lives to a subject that you have only thought about a little and may have an opinion about but have not read all the research and don't have all the experience that they have in the field. You will be much more successful if you can draw on these various people's experience.

I see lots of athletes making judgment calls without sufficient basis for their decisions. They self-diagnose and self-treat every problem they encounter.  Rather than rely on someone who has seen thousands of shoulder problems, they just use their own judgment about how to fix their own shoulder. Rather than consulting a strength and conditioning coach, they just do the same workout they always do, or one they found on the internet. This kind of poor decision-making will lead to poor results. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. The expertise is out there. Just go and ask for it. Get a team together of people who will support you in your training.

overreaching

Overreaching

Overreaching is a training approach where you intentionally train excessively for a short period of time and then rest or taper to get a super-compensation and improve your performance afterwards. This is different from overtraining, where you just keep training too much over a longer period of time and your body breaks down and you have to rest for months to recover. Another way to distinguish overreaching from overtraining is that overreaching is planned for a limited period of time, whereas overtraining is not planned and lasts for a longer period of time. One week of hard training is not overtraining if you then back off, that is overreaching. But training hard for months on end, then getting sick or injured as a result is overtraining.

But in either overtraining or overreaching, there is a decrease in performance. With overreaching, you have a temporary decrease in performance, followed by a taper so that the performance increases afterwards and you reach new personal bests. Here is an article about overreaching and overtraining: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/overtraining-overreaching-and-all-the-rest-part-1.html/

Overreaching is not a concept for beginning or even intermediate athletes. They can make good regular progress from normal training and recovery between workouts. However, they need to be careful not to follow the same training programs that elite athletes use. It is often tempting to try to copy the best athlete in your sport. However, that athlete has built up to that level of training over a period of 10 or more years. If you don't have that kind of training time behind you and you aren't in that kind of shape, copying the training of a top elite athlete can lead to overtraining. You need to do a program that is appropriate for you at your level.

As for a specific time period to plan overtraining, I have seen plans lasting from 5 days to about 3 weeks of planned overreaching. If you do less than 5 days, it's probably not enough stress for optimal super-compensation. If you do more than 3 weeks, you risk getting into overtraining territory. And the recovery time afterwards is crucial. It should be commensurate with the overreaching phase. I have seen recovery plans varying over about the same length of time, 5 days to 3 weeks. Shorter overreaching periods probably mean shorter recovery periods and longer overreaching periods would require longer rest or recovery afterwards. The big problem most athletes have is not truly resting or tapering after the hard training. You might want to take a couple days completely off, then use a taper schedule where you do fewer workouts, take fewer runs, but maintain the intensity and have long rests between runs.

For example, one plan might be to overreach for 1 week, doing 3 workouts per day. At the end of the week, take 2 days off, then only train 3 days per week with 1/2 the volume and long rest periods for 2 weeks. At the end of the first week, you will feel slow and tired. By the end of the second rest week, you should be feeling fresh and strong and faster than ever. That is the super-compensation effect. Again, this program is designed for elite athletes, not for beginner or intermediate athletes. If you aren't racing at the national or international level, you are better off just training normally, with some training and some recovery between workouts, rather than using this type of program. And in any case, make sure you maintain good technique when using this program. It is easy to start using poor technique when you get tired. Make sure your last strokes in the workout are as perfect as your first strokes in the workout were. Here is a link to the article:

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/overtraining-overreaching-and-all-the-rest-part-1.html/

 

shoulder injury prevention

Shoulder Injury Prevention

Shoulder injuries are common in our sport. Often these injuries are due to muscle imbalances. The muscles in the front of the shoulder become over-developed and the rotator cuff muscles in the back of the shoulder are under-developed. There should be a balance in your upper body training between pushing and pulling exercises. Excessive pushing exercise without exercising the pulling motion can create muscle imbalances that lead to injury. For example, if you do bench presses or push-ups, you should also do inverted rows or bent rows to balance the muscles.

And you should do rotator cuff exercises to work the smaller muscles around the shoulder. These are often weak in comparison to the muscles in the front part of the shoulder. Often, people have shoulders that are rounded and moved forward. This can create a situation where impingement is possible.

A board-certified orthopedist, Dr. Kirsch, has a unique approach to shoulder health. He says that we should be hanging from a bar daily to open up space in our shoulders. Our distance ancestors did this, other primates often hang from branches, etc. creating space in their shoulders. He says you can actually change the bone structure over time by hanging from a bar often. Here is a link to a video of some physical therapists talking about and demonstrating this approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmt7uSU3mmU

Dr. Kirsch also recommends 3 exercises to strengthen the rotator cuff. Front raises, with a light dumbbell or other light weight, side raises, and back raises. This works the shoulder muscles in different ranges of motion to balance the different shoulder muscles.

The bar hangs aka dead hangs are also effective in lengthening the spine. This helps the body recover, so they are good at the end of a workout. And the dead hangs are also good for developing grip strength.

Some of you have already experienced shoulder pain. Others should do these exercises as prehab, a way of preventing injury. Part of your dry land training should be prehab, to decrease the odds of injury. And your strength training program should balance the pushing and pulling exercises for your shoulder health.  Here is the link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmt7uSU3mmU

 

 

oscillatory training

Oscillatory Training

Oscillatory training is resistance training with a light weight in a very limited range of motion- 4-6 inches. And very fast movment. For example, on a bench press, you use a weight about 1/2 your max. and move it up and down very quickly from about 4 inches above your chest to about 8 inches above your chest. Do this for 5-10 reps, then do a full range movement to work the entire range of movement.

This article explains why this little-known type of training is beneficial. http://vandykestrength.com/pages/oc_training_methods

Basically, the concept is that your body doesn't want to get injured. So, it has special fibers intended to keep things from moving in a dangerous way. However, these muscle movement inhibitors, such as Golgi Tendon Units also inhibit muscle movement that is non-injurious. So, they slow you down in an effort to protect you.

Doing oscillatory movements teaches these fibers that it is ok to move like this and to get out of the way so you can move quickly. Oscillatory movements are also great at fixing a difficult sticking point in your strength. For example, on the bench press, you might be plenty strong on the last part of the lift, but have trouble at the bottom of the lift. Working on oscillatory movements with a lighter weight at the bottom of the lift will help you get past this sticking point.

Strength is important in sport, but sometimes our strength training is done at speeds that are slower than athletic movements. Most normal strength training is considerably slower than move movements done in sports. So, strength training can slow you down as the body gets used to the slower speeds. So, some faster movements are also necessary, such as Olympic lifts, plyometric training, ballistic training, training with light weights at high speed, and oscillatory training.

You don't want your muscles to be trained to be slow. You want them to be used to going fast so they will go fast in the race. Paddling at speeds that are slower than race pace and normal weight training can make the muscles used to this slow movement speed. Oscillatory training is one type of training that you can use that can help get the muscles used to faster speeds.

Here is the link to the article:  http://vandykestrength.com/pages/oc_training_methods

 

 

 

beetroot juice to increase performance

Beetroot Juice to Increase Performance

Usually, in sports research we have to rely on studies from other sports such as running or swimming. Even other sports do the same thing.  We all extrapolate results from one sport and presume that another sport will have similar results. There isn't enough research money to do different research on each sport.

Sometimes, the results do vary from sport to sport. For example, most sports show increased performance from strength training. This has been repeated in many different sports. An exception is swimming. For some reason, strength training has had mixed results or no results from strength training. Nonetheless, most top swimmers do supplemental strength training.

In any case, here is a study that used elite flatwater kayak racers. OK, not whitewater racers, but as close as we are going to get. And the study found better performance after taking beetroot juice. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25202886

Beetroot juice has nitrates, which are supposed to help with oxygenation of the muscles. It has been studied in other sports and most results have been positive although some research has been inconclusive. It has been shown to help swimmers. And flatwater kayakers.

I thought that the benefit would be in recovery, but in the study, it helped performance when taken right before the activity. Long term use wasn't measured. It was a laboratory ergometer test. And if you look at the study, the numbers were low, I think 6 male and 5 females. So, with such a small size, it is not super reliable. But at least we aren't extrapolating from a different sport and assuming that it applies to whitewater slalom racing.

Here is a link to the study:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25202886

 

strength training reduces chance of injury but stretching doesn't

Strength Training Reduces Chance of Injury But Stretching Doesn't

To decrease your risk of injury, strength training is recommended, according to the studies on injury-prevention.  http://www.running-physio.com/strength-review/

Strength training in the range of 70% and up of 1 rep maximum helps to prevent injury significantly. Another component to decreasing injury risk is to avoid overtraining. Overtraining frequently results in injury.

Stretching, on the other hand, does not reduce the chance of injury. It may actually increase the risk of injury if done right before training or an event. I still believe it is helpful to increase range of motion and for recovery purposes.

In any case, doing strength training builds the muscles, the tendons and the ligaments, which decreases the risk of injury. According to the research, this is best done with heavier weights and lower reps. 10 reps or less with weights at least 70% of 1 rep maximum. Of course, proper technique must be maintained in weight training. In particular for Olympic lifts, using a coach or personal trainer to advise you on technique is important.

And working with a coach or personal trainer is valuable for your strength training. Strength training is not limited to just lifting weights. I highly recommend bodyweight exercises as a way to build strength and to avoid injury. Bodyweight exercises develop the core in addition to the limbs and they are functional. They use real movements that a person would actually carry out, rather than isolating muscles. 

Some people don't like hanging out in the gym lifting weights, so there are some sports that are just as effective as weight training. Gymnastics is a great way to train athleticism and strength. Rock climbing is also excellent for developing the body in a functional way. Parkour has become popular and uses bodyweight training to develop strength and movement. Wrestling is another sport that develops the body in a good, functional manner.

Here is the article on strength training and injury prevention:  http://www.running-physio.com/strength-review/

 

don't try to go fast

Don't Try To Go Fast

Ok, this post may sound counter to everything I posted before about working on speed, quickness, power, etc.  In training you should concentrate on those things.  But when it comes race time, you shouldn't be concentrating on going faster.  You already have your natural speed from training and you just go with that and concentrate instead on your lines.

Sprinters in running say that if you try to hard, you actually run slower.  You need to somehow, zen-like, move fast without trying too hard.  You keep the boat flowing on the water.  You need to be confident in your speed to do this.  If you are thinking about how fast someone else is or how you need to beat someone else, or how you need to make up some time because of some mistake you made, you will be out of the flow.  It is counter-intuitive, but you will go slower by trying to go faster.

There is an exception to this rule.  This is rare in bigger competitions, but sometimes there is a section of the course where you need to pick up the pace.  On certain courses, the top half is difficult and the bottom half is easier.  On this type of course if you just try to stay on line the whole way, you will lose a little time on the bottom section.  On easier water or flatwater, you do go faster by picking it up a little.  This still shouldn't be something strange or different from what you do in training.  But you may need to incorporate into your race plan that you paddle a little faster starting at gate 15 or whatever.

But basically, you go at your own speed.  You can't magically get faster at the race than you were in training.  You are only as fast as you already are.  So, you go that speed in the race.  Trying to all of a sudden go faster because it is race day won't work.  It will throw you off since your body isn't used to that.

This has implications for your training.  You need to do a lot of training at race pace for race simulation and some training faster than pace in order to get faster.  If you do a lot of training slower than race pace, your body will get used to that slow pace and you will race at the slower pace.  Paddling slowly is a bad habit to get into.  So, it's better not to train than to train when you are exhausted and can't maintain proper technique or a reasonable speed.

If you practice like you race, then you can race like you practice.  Get used to paddling fast and clean and with good technique in practice and then it will automatically happen on race day.  You don't have to have any special plan to change things on race day.  You just go out and take the same kind of run you would in practice.  Race your own race.  Go at your own speed.  You can't be someone else.  You can only do your best.  That is all you can ask of yourself- to do the best that you can do.  So don't try to go at someone else's speed or faster than you have ever been before.  By performing your best, you might be surprised by how fast you actually are if you are confident enough to just race at your own speed.

lines

Lines

Where your boat is at each point of the course is crucial in our sport. You don't just have a course of about 20 gates. You have 3 imaginary gates between each gate to make sure you stay on line. Where you are between gates is crucial. If you are on line, you will likely be very clean and fast. You lose a lot of time by being off-line.

I see a lot of boaters going down the course off-line, but acting like they don't know they are off-line. The top guys will be on line. But I sometimes tell younger boaters to use the lines that the senior boaters or the women use, more conservative lines because the younger boaters often don't have the strength to pull off the more direct moves that the top men use. So, there are different lines for different people. You need to learn to be obsessive-compulsive about being on line. And the bigger and faster the water, the more important it is to be on line. On easier water, you can make up some time just by paddling faster, but on bigger water, it is crucial to be on line.

So, what is the correct line? The general rule is that if the next gate is a downstream, you need to be angled towards that gate is the standard rule. But this is incorrect. You need to be angled towards a point upstream of the next gate.  That way, you can turn before the next gate and be angled towards the gate after it. 

However, there is an exception to the general rule that you should be angled across towards the next gate as you go through a downstream gate.  If the downstream gate is in an eddy, you normally just go straight through it and then turn towards the next gate.  This may seem counter-intuitive, but there is no worry about slipping downstream if the gate is in an eddy and you can just do a pivot and then head towards the next gate.

If the next gate after a down is an upstream, you don't have to be angled towards it.  You need to figure out the best approach for the next up and get on that line as soon as possible.  On artificial courses, you often want to be headed mostly downstream towards an upstream gate, without too much cross-stream angle.  On natural rivers, you usually want to be going across as you approach an upstream gate.

In the case of double upstream gates, you usually want to take a very direct line between the 2 upstreams.  A lot of boaters make the mistake of losing time by going up high out of the first upstream instead of going directly across the next upstream gate.

And another place where boaters sometimes lose time is on the exit of upstreams.  Unless you have to ferry out of the up for the next gate, it is crucial to get the boat moving downstream towards the next gate as soon as possible.  Many boaters waste time by doing a great entry to an upstream and lose time by going a long ways up on the exit.  Get the boat moving downstream as soon as possible after an up, unless you have to ferry across for the next gate.

Apply these general rules for slalom lines and you will have a good run.  Break them and you will pay for it in lost time, penalties and lost energy fighting against the water.  Good boaters use the water to their advantage and keep the boat on line and moving as much as possible, with little loss of boat speed.

evidence-based practice in whitewater slalom training

Evidence-Based Practice in Whitewater Slalom Training

 

What I am attempting to do with this blog is to bring in some research basis to training for whitewater slalom racing.  I frequently have cites to research to support my positions. 

However, some of the blog is based on experience and that is normally because there is a lack of research in the area.  I haven't found any research on the sliding pry stroke, for example.  I use it, but others may have different experiences.

An expert, experienced coach or athlete also has significant experience upon which to base their opinions.  They have seen hundreds or thousands of athletes trying different techniques and have taken note of which ones were successful and how they became successful.

I hope that you readers start taking note of what the basis is when you read an article or hear something about how to train.  Some things that may seem scientific may not actually have been proven to work.  However, often new techniques have no research basis simply because they have never been tested scientifically.  Science is often 10-20 years behind the practice.  In the meantime, it's hard to determine whether a new technique is superior or not.  In the meantime, you could be losing races to an innovator who is trying a new, untested approach.

However, there are some things that have been shown not to work.  These disproven methods may continue to be done for many different reasons.  Most people just don't know about the training research available.  Many people just do what they have always done.  Many just do whatever they were taught and they may not have been taught correctly.  Few look themselves to see what is the most effective way to spend their time training.

Evidence-based practice is a buzzword in many different professions.  For example, education, science, medicine, and business, professionals look to the research to apply what works in their area. 

I don't want to stifle innovation by advocating for evidence-based practice in whitewater slalom training, but I do want the information to be available to people so they can use the research to improve their training.  That is what I am trying to accomplish with this blog.  I hope it is helpful to you.

Here is a link to an article about using evidence-based practice in training athletes:

http://jimkielbaso.com/?p=131

What I am attempting to do with this blog is to bring in some research basis to training for whitewater slalom racing.  I frequently have cites to research to support my positions. 

However, some of the blog is based on experience and that is normally because there is a lack of research in the area.  I haven't found any research on the sliding pry stroke, for example.  I use it, but others may have different experiences.

An expert, experienced coach or athlete also has significant experience upon which to base their opinions.  They have seen hundreds or thousands of athletes trying different techniques and have taken note of which ones were successful and how they became successful.

I hope that you readers start taking note of what the basis is when you read an article or hear something about how to train.  Some things that may seem scientific may not actually have been proven to work.  However, often new techniques have no research basis simply because they have never been tested scientifically.  Science is often 10-20 years behind the practice.  In the meantime, it's hard to determine whether a new technique is superior or not.  In the meantime, you could be losing races to an innovator who is trying a new, untested approach.

However, there are some things that have been shown not to work.  These disproven methods may continue to be done for many different reasons.  Most people just don't know about the training research available.  Many people just do what they have always done.  Many just do whatever they were taught and they may not have been taught correctly.  Few look themselves to see what is the most effective way to spend their time training.

Evidence-based practice is a buzzword in many different professions.  For example, education, science, medicine, and business, professionals look to the research to apply what works in their area. 

I don't want to stifle innovation by advocating for evidence-based practice in whitewater slalom training, but I do want the information to be available to people so they can use the research to improve their training.  That is what I am trying to accomplish with this blog.  I hope it is helpful to you.

Here is a link to an article about using evidence-based practice in training athletes:

http://jimkielbaso.com/?p=131

Just two

Just Two

As part of my reductionist, simplification theory of whitewater slalom racing, I have come to the conclusion that it only takes 2 things to be really really good at this sport.  Training on a good artificial course and strength training.  And you could probably do fine without the second one.

This is what most of the top athletes in our sport do.  They train on a good artificial course such as Augsburg or Pau or Charlotte or Nottingham.  And they do some sort of strength training.  You can probably get by with training on an easy course at home if you frequently get to a good whitewater course to train, at least once a month or so.  And the strength training helps supplement the boat training, but isn't absolutely necessary.  I have seen top athletes who weren't doing much out of the boat training.  And I have seen others who mainly trained in the gym and only paddled at training camps and occasionally at home.

Some people don't like working out in the gym.  There are very good alternatives to doing the weight lifting.  I highly recommend doing gymnastics both for strength and for the varied movements and general fitness.  Other good sports to work on strength include rock climbing and Parkour and bodyweight training.  So, if you are one of the people who aren't gym rats, try some of these other sports to build strength. 

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I actually prefer the bodyweight training because it is very functional and can be done without much equipment.  It works tendons and ligaments and muscles and it helps you perform great party tricks like one arm push-ups.  And I don't favor the types of strength training that most people in the gym do- bodybuilding and the machines.  They aren't functional and the movement speed is slow and they aren't really designed for athletic performance.

As for the training on a good artificial course, this is the main part of your training.  Strength training only supplements it.  Doing full length courses on a good whitewater course is great training.  So are sections, where you do part of the course, then rest, then do another part, rest, then another part.  If you get feedback in the form of coaching, or times or video, that is most helpful.  It improves the quality of your training to get varied feedback.  Also, it improves the focus of the workout if you know you are getting timed or watched by a coach. 

So, that is my easy, reductionist theory of slalom training.  It's not really complicated.  There isn't some hidden secret handshake or magical formula to get really good at this sport. 

Technique even at the highest levels isn't some secret known only to a few people.  If you watch videos, you will see the technique of all the top racers, easily available on you tube.  And it's not that esoteric.  The majority of strokes are forward strokes.  Second in frequency is the duffek stroke.  Then, some back strokes and sweeps and that is about it.  These are all strokes you learned in your first week of paddling probably. 

I do teach some more strokes and stroke drills with athletes, especially c-1s.  But half of the top racers don't use these less common strokes and stick with the common strokes- forward, back, duffek, draw, sweep.

I may generate some controversy with my reductionist theory of 2 things.  But it's in coaches' interest to make things sound complicated, rather than simple so you will go to them for the complex knowledge only they possess.  This sport isn't something you can't figure out by yourself.  I write a series of blog posts mainly to give racers the general sports info. they may be missing.  Most racers figure out more advanced technique by watching and doing.  They were taught more in their first year of paddling and since then, they mainly figure things out by themselves.

Do these 2 things and nothing is stopping you from moving up in the ranks.  Paddle on artificial courses and do some strength training.

cross training for paddling

Cross Training for Paddling

I have written numerous blog posts about resistance training for paddling.  Weight training is essentially doing a different sport in addition to paddling to improve your performance in paddling.  Power lifting and bodybuilding and Olympic lifting are other sports that people compete in. 

However, some people do not like weight training for one reason or another.  It might seem boring or they might have negative associations with it.  You do not have to do weight training.  But if you don't, I suggest that you do other sports for cross-training.  Particularly for children, doing lots of different sports is important.  You want a wide range of movements and sports background while you are younger.

Some of the sports that I can recommend for cross-training are gymnastics, parkour, wrestling and rock climbing.  These sports all build all-round athleticism and upper body strength.  Here is a link to a study showing that rock climbers have superior upper body strength to people who lift weights:  http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/3/3/178/htm

Pre-adolescent children should engage in a variety of sports and become generally athletic, and do lots of unorganized play, regardless of which sport they might later specialize in.  There has been a trend towards early specialization, but a lot of the wunderkinds burn out by the time they are 18 and never make it to the top levels in the sport.  The research supports doing lots of different sports for children, not just one sport daily year-round.  Such a regimen could lead to burn-out or injury or lack of progress further down the line.

For adolescent males especially, there is an important window for building strength since the body is producing high amounts of hormones and is ready to build lots of muscle during the adolescent years.  But strength training does not necessarily mean weight training.  Bodyweight training is just as good, and perhaps better.  Gymnastics, parkour, wrestling and rock climbing also build muscle but might be more fun and appealing to the child.  The best exercise is the one you will actually do.  Forcing children to do strength training, or any kind of training they really don't want to do is counter-productive.  Better to find a sport they enjoy.

So, for pre-adolescent children (under 12 or so), I recommend not specializing in slalom racing every day, year round, but only do it seasonally (for example daily during spring and summer) or part-time (1-2 times per week), but do several other sports, including some strength training, and lots of unorganized play.  For adolescents, some form of strength training (bodyweight training, parkour, gymnastics, weight training or wrestling) should be done regularly and the paddling training should be done more frequently, but there should be some breaks in training and some cross-training.  Perhaps 80% paddling and 20% cross-training.  Past the age of 18, the strength training should continue, but the emphasis should be on training in the boat.

So, the good news is that you don't necessarily have to hang out in the weight room if that isn't your thing.  You could also hang out in the climbing gym or the gymnastics class or the parkour class or the wrestling team.  Anyone of these could take the place of a regular resistance training program.  Here is the article about rock climbers being stronger than weight lifters:  http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/3/3/178/htm

how to race well

How to Race Well

 

 

Many paddlers wonder about what their race results will be.  Will I win?  How fast will I be?

Rather than concentrating on the outcome, the focus should be on the process.  How should I do this gate?  Where should my boat be at this point of the course?  Even if you pick up a penalty or make a mistake, keep thinking of the course, not on your score.

It's like trying to play basketball when you are looking at the scoreboard- you are taking your eyes off the ball.  It's not a good strategy for racing.  Just keep on going and don't worry about the result.  Don't think about the gate you just hit or whether or not the gate judge saw it.  Stay in the moment.

Anyway, I can tell you how you will do in the race.  You will do about the same as you do in practice.  You won't magically become someone different on race day.  Your race run will be about the same as your practice runs are.

So, the way to make your race runs better is to make your practice runs better.  Every run in training should be well-planned and thought-out with a lot of focus and attention.  Training is not about working muscles or a specific energy system- aerobic, anaerobic or whatever.  Training is about getting highly focused, quality runs.  Train fast and clean and then you will do the same in the race.

On the other hand, if you train without studying the course ahead of time, or if you are too tired or sloppy or in a bad mood, you are training to do poorly.  You would be better off not training that day if you won't have a high quality session.  Doing low quality sessions leads to low quality in your race runs.

Also, on your race runs, your competitor is the river, not the other boaters.  Concentrate on the things you have control over.  You have absolutely no control over the other boaters.  You also have no control over the race organizers or the gate judges.  The only thing you can control is yourself.  That is what you need to concentrate on- your run on the course.   Take the run just as a run in training- no special effort is necessary if you have been training correctly.

Doing lots of race simulations will help you race well.  Rather than never doing full-lengths in practice, seek out opportunities to do full-lenths in practice.  On weekends, go to a place where there is a full length gate course to practice full lengths.  Try to take the full lengths like a race as much as possible. 

There are a lot of skills you need for full-lengths that you don't need if you are just doing short courses.  Memorizing a full-length course is an important skill.  Course study from the bank is also an important skill.  Being able to look at a course and planning out every move is an important skill that takes a lot of practice to develop.    Doing quality full-lengths in practice will help you with these skills.

 

Many paddlers wonder about what their race results will be.  Will I win?  How fast will I be?

Rather than concentrating on the outcome, the focus should be on the process.  How should I do this gate?  Where should my boat be at this point of the course?  Even if you pick up a penalty or make a mistake, keep thinking of the course, not on your score.

It's like trying to play basketball when you are looking at the scoreboard- you are taking your eyes off the ball.  It's not a good strategy for racing.  Just keep on going and don't worry about the result.  Don't think about the gate you just hit or whether or not the gate judge saw it.  Stay in the moment.

Anyway, I can tell you how you will do in the race.  You will do about the same as you do in practice.  You won't magically become someone different on race day.  Your race run will be about the same as your practice runs are.

So, the way to make your race runs better is to make your practice runs better.  Every run in training should be well-planned and thought-out with a lot of focus and attention.  Training is not about working muscles or a specific energy system- aerobic, anaerobic or whatever.  Training is about getting highly focused, quality runs.  Train fast and clean and then you will do the same in the race.

On the other hand, if you train without studying the course ahead of time, or if you are too tired or sloppy or in a bad mood, you are training to do poorly.  You would be better off not training that day if you won't have a high quality session.  Doing low quality sessions leads to low quality in your race runs.

Also, on your race runs, your competitor is the river, not the other boaters.  Concentrate on the things you have control over.  You have absolutely no control over the other boaters.  You also have no control over the race organizers or the gate judges.  The only thing you can control is yourself.  That is what you need to concentrate on- your run on the course.   Take the run just as a run in training- no special effort is necessary if you have been training correctly.

Doing lots of race simulations will help you race well.  Rather than never doing full-lengths in practice, seek out opportunities to do full-lenths in practice.  On weekends, go to a place where there is a full length gate course to practice full lengths.  Try to take the full lengths like a race as much as possible. 

There are a lot of skills you need for full-lengths that you don't need if you are just doing short courses.  Memorizing a full-length course is an important skill.  Course study from the bank is also an important skill.  Being able to look at a course and planning out every move is an important skill that takes a lot of practice to develop.    Doing quality full-lengths in practice will help you with these skills.

long endurance training reduces power

Long Endurance Training Reduces Power

Power is very important in our sport.  Power is the ability to move against resistance quickly.  This is different from strength, which is just the ability to make the movement against resistance.  In strength, time is not a factor.  In our sport, as in most sports, it's the ability to make hard movements quickly that improves performance.  Just being strong isn't enough if you can't make the move fast.

In an effort to improve their aerobic base, many athletes engage in long endurance training, much longer than the race time.  This type of training is counter-productive because it has been proven to decrease power, a very important factor.  Long endurance training is also catabolic, meaning it reduces muscle mass.  And it isn't specific to our sport.  Rather than working on things that will make you faster, you are spending your time making yourself slower.

Here is a research article on the topic:  http://upupup.aboc.com.au/the-book/appendix-3-resources-and-research-papers/power-athletes-and-distance-training-1

This isn't just an isolated study.  Numerous studies have shown that long endurance training is detrimental to performance in power sports.  Coaches still prescribe long endurance training because they are either repeating the same type of training they did when they were athletes or because they are unaware of the newer research in power training and endurance. 

It is true that cardiovascular fitness is important.  However, that can be developed better through short interval training, such as 30 second intervals or 1 minute intervals.

Paddling slowly is a bad habit.  You are training your muscles to move slowly.  Instead, you need to train the muscles to move quickly against resistance.

Some people use long slow paddling as recovery training.  But there is no evidence that this helps the body recover.  I recommend doing short slow running, hydro-therapy and stretching to help recover.  There are other good recovery methods that have been proven to work.  Contrast baths, compression garments, yoga, deep breathing, ice baths, walking, swimming, nutrition and rest and sleep are effective recovery methods.   Better to use these methods rather than paddling slowly and possibly training your muscles to move slowly.  And many people end up actually going long and hard on these "recovery paddles" so that it turns into a hard workout and they are training their body to go long and slow, and they don't actually recover at all and are not fully recovered for the workout the next day.

Many of us are addicted to paddling and just want to paddle all the time.  However, instead of just following a routine or habit, you need to carefully consider your training.  Alternating between intense focused workouts and doing active recovery is a good program so that at each workout, you are fresh and focused and ready to have an excellent session instead of just slogging through another workout.   

Remember, you get faster at night and in between workouts.  Training tears down muscle tissue.  But training points out to the body in what way it should rebuild.  The more specific the stress, the more the body adapts to that particular type of stress.  So, you should be going at race pace or faster and doing the same type of movements as in a race if you want your body to make the proper adaptations.

Here is the link to the article: 

http://upupup.aboc.com.au/the-book/appendix-3-resources-and-research-papers/power-athletes-and-distance-training-1

 

 

 

 

 

bodyweight strength training program

Bodyweight Strength Training Program

Bodyweight Plan Month 2 Concentric Phase

For the inverted rows (horizontal pull-ups), you can use a bar, or if you don’t have one, you can use a rod or tool handle or you can even do them under a table and grab both sides of the table.

4 sets for each exercise. 1 rep.   Rest for 1 minute between each set and between each exercise. If this is too hard, do fewer sets. If it’s too easy, do more sets, but don’t do more reps. Keep it at 1-2 reps. If you do more reps, the movement speed isn’t as fast.

These exercises are great functional exercises, meant to develop the core and power and concentric strength.

These functional exercises are intended to work on basic movements such as pushing, pulling, jumping, and core stability and also for injury prevention.

Make sure you maintain excellent form when you do these exercises. If you are too tired to do the exercise with perfect form, then you should stop for the day. Do not go to failure- stop before you slow down.

1. Start with a dynamic warm-up such as jogging, jumping jacks, burpees and alternate toe touches (no slow stretching). 3-5 minutes. 
2.  
3. One arm pull-up. 1 repetition. 4 sets.   1 minute rest. Work towards doing a one arm pull-up. Here is a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjVFQVxQVK4
4.  
5. Handstand push-ups. 1 repetition. 4 sets. 1 minute rest. Work towards doing a handstand push-up. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlzb1BBA9t4 
6.  
7. Pistol Squats. 1 repetition. 4 sets. 1 minute rest.   Work towards doing a pistol squat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Yuq9pD7JY

Try to go down to parallel with floor. At first, you might have to go down less.

1. One Arm inverted row. 1 repetition. 4 sets. 1 minute rest. 
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27oPBqM03rs
3. One Arm Push-ups. 1 repetition. 4 sets. 1 min. rest. 
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7v1Tng8N4U
5. Front Lever. 1 repetition. 4 sets. 1 min. rest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXYCKTwK9EI 
6.  
7.  
8. Abs.   Do 4 sets. 1 minute rest between each rep. Here are the links:L-Sit.   Hold your hands down at your sides with your feet in front. Lift entire body off floor with your hands. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16a529mtX68  
9. At first, you may need blocks under your hands. At first, you can do it with only lifting one leg. Then the other.
10.  
11.  
12. Shoulder Rotator Cuff Exercise. http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3631

Bar hang. Hang from a pull-up bar as long as you can. Relax. Breath deeply.

 

1. Running sprints. 5 second sprints. 4 reps. 2 minute rest.
2.  
3. Finish with some easy stretching/yoga type exercises. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9u-svNHgao

stroke timing

Stroke Timing

 

Many paddlers get used to paddling on flatwater and don't learn proper stroke timing to take advantage of waves and drops in whitewater.  Stroke timing is important.  You can hesitate to plant the paddle at just the proper spot- you shouldn't necessarily maintain a steady cadence.  You can also double up (or triple up) on strokes on one side, rather than always alternating right-left-right-left.

You can also increase the stroke rate or decrease it, depending on the situation.  For example, you might want to increase the stroke rate when starting from a standstill on flatwater, but might want to do more guiding and steering strokes once the boat is up to full speed on fast-moving current.

You usually want to place your stokes on each wave, catching the full wave with your blade, rather than placing your paddle in the trough between waves.  Also, when your boat is on top of a wave is a good time to turn, since the ends of the boat are in the air, and there is less resistance to the turn. 

On artificial courses, where there are strong upstream currents in the eddies, you often want to be paddling on the upstream side when entering the eddy.  That way, your boat won't get spun out on the eddy line before you get to the upstream gate.  Try to maintain the boat speed through the eddy and the upstream gate and back into the current.

When running steep drops, you often want to get in a good stroke right before the drop to lift the bow up and to keep it from dropping down at the bottom of the drop.  Another critical moment is when paddling through a hole, you usually want to reach to the far side of the hole to pull yourself through, rather than catching the water that is flowing upstream in the hole itself.

It's important to try to place your strokes, to wait a second sometimes or to do a very short stroke so that the stroke timing is appropriate.  Stroke timing is crucial and needs to be studied for each course.  Any additional comments on stroke timing, readers?

Many paddlers get used to paddling on flatwater and don't learn proper stroke timing to take advantage of waves and drops in whitewater.  Stroke timing is important.  You can hesitate to plant the paddle at just the proper spot- you shouldn't necessarily maintain a steady cadence.  You can also double up (or triple up) on strokes on one side, rather than always alternating right-left-right-left.

You can also increase the stroke rate or decrease it, depending on the situation.  For example, you might want to increase the stroke rate when starting from a standstill on flatwater, but might want to do more guiding and steering strokes once the boat is up to full speed on fast-moving current.

You usually want to place your stokes on each wave, catching the full wave with your blade, rather than placing your paddle in the trough between waves.  Also, when your boat is on top of a wave is a good time to turn, since the ends of the boat are in the air, and there is less resistance to the turn. 

On artificial courses, where there are strong upstream currents in the eddies, you often want to be paddling on the upstream side when entering the eddy.  That way, your boat won't get spun out on the eddy line before you get to the upstream gate.  Try to maintain the boat speed through the eddy and the upstream gate and back into the current.

When running steep drops, you often want to get in a good stroke right before the drop to lift the bow up and to keep it from dropping down at the bottom of the drop.  Another critical moment is when paddling through a hole, you usually want to reach to the far side of the hole to pull yourself through, rather than catching the water that is flowing upstream in the hole itself.

It's important to try to place your strokes, to wait a second sometimes or to do a very short stroke so that the stroke timing is appropriate.  Stroke timing is crucial and needs to be studied for each course.  Any additional comments on stroke timing, readers?

different speeds

Different Speeds

 

 Many boaters only have one speed that they use for all situations.  Slow. 

If you want to win, you need to have at least 3 speeds- fast, faster and fastest.  These 3 speeds require 3 different training methods.

Your pace during the race may vary.  There will be times when you want to go all-out and other times when you are mainly coasting. 

First, the fast speed should be the speed that you normally race at and the speed you do full lengths at.  This isn't an all-out speed, but just under that.  By training fast, you will be used to going fast and will naturally be fast on race day without any special effort or changes.  Don't do much training at speeds slower than this (except recovery training) because your muscles will get used to this slower pace and it will become your race speed also.

The faster speed is what you do over 30 second courses.  This should be a large part of your training because when doing 30 second courses, you will get used to going slightly faster than race pace, so your body will get used to going slightly faster and your times will get better.  At the same time, 30 second courses develop the aerobic and anaerobic systems. 

And you can practice moves and figure out what is the fastest way to do different moves because you get instant feedback in the form of counting time and penalties.  With full length courses, it is sometimes difficult to figure our where you gained and lost time in practice, unless split times are done on different sections.  With 30 second courses, you normally know where you gained or lost time, so you learn something with every run about what is the fastest way to do moves.

Third- fastest.  Everyone should also do some speed work at times from 5-15 seconds.  These are all-out efforts and develop the speed you need to be really fast.  You only need to do these once or twice per week, but they should be a part of your training year-round.  This is the way to get fast, in case you were wondering.  The 30s and full lengths will help you maintain the fast pace, but if you don't have the speed to start with from doing very short courses, the speed you maintain will be a slow speed.

Don't get stuck in the same slow rhythm in your training.  Slow paddling trains your muscles to go slow. 

Vary your speeds, going from fast to faster to fastest.  Avoid the monotonous slow paddling rut.  The only exception is for short, slow recovery paddling, which isn't really training, but just recovery from training.  Other than that, your training should consist mainly of fast pace (race pace, race length training), faster pace (30 second courses), and fastest pace (all-out efforts lasting less than 15 seconds long).

 Many boaters only have one speed that they use for all situations.  Slow. 

If you want to win, you need to have at least 3 speeds- fast, faster and fastest.  These 3 speeds require 3 different training methods.

Your pace during the race may vary.  There will be times when you want to go all-out and other times when you are mainly coasting. 

First, the fast speed should be the speed that you normally race at and the speed you do full lengths at.  This isn't an all-out speed, but just under that.  By training fast, you will be used to going fast and will naturally be fast on race day without any special effort or changes.  Don't do much training at speeds slower than this (except recovery training) because your muscles will get used to this slower pace and it will become your race speed also.

The faster speed is what you do over 30 second courses.  This should be a large part of your training because when doing 30 second courses, you will get used to going slightly faster than race pace, so your body will get used to going slightly faster and your times will get better.  At the same time, 30 second courses develop the aerobic and anaerobic systems. 

And you can practice moves and figure out what is the fastest way to do different moves because you get instant feedback in the form of counting time and penalties.  With full length courses, it is sometimes difficult to figure our where you gained and lost time in practice, unless split times are done on different sections.  With 30 second courses, you normally know where you gained or lost time, so you learn something with every run about what is the fastest way to do moves.

Third- fastest.  Everyone should also do some speed work at times from 5-15 seconds.  These are all-out efforts and develop the speed you need to be really fast.  You only need to do these once or twice per week, but they should be a part of your training year-round.  This is the way to get fast, in case you were wondering.  The 30s and full lengths will help you maintain the fast pace, but if you don't have the speed to start with from doing very short courses, the speed you maintain will be a slow speed.

Don't get stuck in the same slow rhythm in your training.  Slow paddling trains your muscles to go slow. 

Vary your speeds, going from fast to faster to fastest.  Avoid the monotonous slow paddling rut.  The only exception is for short, slow recovery paddling, which isn't really training, but just recovery from training.  Other than that, your training should consist mainly of fast pace (race pace, race length training), faster pace (30 second courses), and fastest pace (all-out efforts lasting less than 15 seconds long).

 Many boaters only have one speed that they use for all situations.  Slow. 

If you want to win, you need to have at least 3 speeds- fast, faster and fastest.  These 3 speeds require 3 different training methods.

Your pace during the race may vary.  There will be times when you want to go all-out and other times when you are mainly coasting. 

First, the fast speed should be the speed that you normally race at and the speed you do full lengths at.  This isn't an all-out speed, but just under that.  By training fast, you will be used to going fast and will naturally be fast on race day without any special effort or changes.  Don't do much training at speeds slower than this (except recovery training) because your muscles will get used to this slower pace and it will become your race speed also.

The faster speed is what you do over 30 second courses.  This should be a large part of your training because when doing 30 second courses, you will get used to going slightly faster than race pace, so your body will get used to going slightly faster and your times will get better.  At the same time, 30 second courses develop the aerobic and anaerobic systems. 

And you can practice moves and figure out what is the fastest way to do different moves because you get instant feedback in the form of counting time and penalties.  With full length courses, it is sometimes difficult to figure our where you gained and lost time in practice, unless split times are done on different sections.  With 30 second courses, you normally know where you gained or lost time, so you learn something with every run about what is the fastest way to do moves.

Third- fastest.  Everyone should also do some speed work at times from 5-15 seconds.  These are all-out efforts and develop the speed you need to be really fast.  You only need to do these once or twice per week, but they should be a part of your training year-round.  This is the way to get fast, in case you were wondering.  The 30s and full lengths will help you maintain the fast pace, but if you don't have the speed to start with from doing very short courses, the speed you maintain will be a slow speed.

Don't get stuck in the same slow rhythm in your training.  Slow paddling trains your muscles to go slow. 

Vary your speeds, going from fast to faster to fastest.  Avoid the monotonous slow paddling rut.  The only exception is for short, slow recovery paddling, which isn't really training, but just recovery from training.  Other than that, your training should consist mainly of fast pace (race pace, race length training), faster pace (30 second courses), and fastest pace (all-out efforts lasting less than 15 seconds long).

how to reduce penalties and major time errors

How to Reduce Penalties and Major Time Errors

 

Here is a systematic way of reducing both your penalties and major time errors in races.  Get a notebook and after every race, make a little diagram of the gate sequence where you had problems.  Do this for every touch (penalty) or major time error.  Have arrows showing what the sequence was and make a note of which pole was touched and what it was touched with (boat, body, or paddle).  Then, write your analysis of why this happened and what you can do in the future to avoid it.

You won't want to do this probably.  You feel that you already know what went wrong.  But, by writing down and analyzing every error, you will reduce your errors systematically.  Eventually, you will have made every error and analyzed them all and filled up your notebook.  At that point, you will be making very few errors.

Another method is to have someone take videos of you and the top boaters at every race.  Then, you can analyze the runs by watching the video after the race.  Video analysis should be part of your training.  The more you learn by analyzing videos, the better you will be at analyzing race courses ahead of time.

A very important skill in our sport is being able to look at a course and figure it out from shore, before you take your run.  You look at the gates, the water, etc. and based on your prior experience, you know what you need to do and where you need to go through the entire course.  The most experienced boaters are better at this than less experienced boaters.  But you don't have to just wait for the passage of time to get this experience- you can do training and analysis that will help you acquire this skill more quickly.

Try to get as much race experience as you can on good, hard courses.  Do race simulations and full lengths in practice on good whitewater slalom courses.  Plan out your runs extensively in practice, just like you would in a race.  Analyze your runs afterwards with videos.  And keep a notebook of all penalties and major time errors and your runs will become more and more perfect. 

Here is a systematic way of reducing both your penalties and major time errors in races.  Get a notebook and after every race, make a little diagram of the gate sequence where you had problems.  Do this for every touch (penalty) or major time error.  Have arrows showing what the sequence was and make a note of which pole was touched and what it was touched with (boat, body, or paddle).  Then, write your analysis of why this happened and what you can do in the future to avoid it.

You won't want to do this probably.  You feel that you already know what went wrong.  But, by writing down and analyzing every error, you will reduce your errors systematically.  Eventually, you will have made every error and analyzed them all and filled up your notebook.  At that point, you will be making very few errors.

Another method is to have someone take videos of you and the top boaters at every race.  Then, you can analyze the runs by watching the video after the race.  Video analysis should be part of your training.  The more you learn by analyzing videos, the better you will be at analyzing race courses ahead of time.

A very important skill in our sport is being able to look at a course and figure it out from shore, before you take your run.  You look at the gates, the water, etc. and based on your prior experience, you know what you need to do and where you need to go through the entire course.  The most experienced boaters are better at this than less experienced boaters.  But you don't have to just wait for the passage of time to get this experience- you can do training and analysis that will help you acquire this skill more quickly.

Try to get as much race experience as you can on good, hard courses.  Do race simulations and full lengths in practice on good whitewater slalom courses.  Plan out your runs extensively in practice, just like you would in a race.  Analyze your runs afterwards with videos.  And keep a notebook of all penalties and major time errors and your runs will become more and more perfect. 

start practices with short sprint training

Start Practices With Short Sprint Training

 

Here is an interesting article about doing very short speed courses at the beginning of training sessions:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/speed_and_skill_optimization_a

The article recommends doing 6-8 all-out sprints of about 6 seconds each at the beginning of your workout.  The rest periods should be approximately 50-75 seconds between sprints.

The author states that most coaches know about the strategies and techniques in their sport, but know little about how best to develop speed and technique.  Many coaches have as their aim to tire out the athletes in order to develop endurance.

However, this approach fails to develop speed and technique, which are the most important qualities of most sports, including ours.  Speed and technique should be worked on in early in training sessions when you are fresh, not later on. 

When you are tired, you cannot develop speed because you won't be going at top speed.  And you can't develop new technique when tired either- the athletes aren't receptive at that point because of the fatigue.  You should strive to maintain good form when you are tired and the coach should emphasize maintaining good form if the athletes are tired because it is easy to develop bad habits and ingrain poor technique when fatigued.

So, start workouts by doing speed work.  This takes less than 10 minutes but will make you much faster. This article recommends 6-8 sprints all-out with about 1 minute rest in between each sprint. 

If you have a group of boaters and they wait a little between each paddler, this comes out to about 1 minute rest.  If you time each paddler on the sprints, it encourages them to go all-out and gives them some feedback on how they are doing. 

So, the new training paradigm is to concentrate on speed and technique work, especially in the first half of workouts.  Slogging it out doing long loops will not make you faster or improve your technique.  It's not hard work alone that will make you better- it's smart work that will bring you better results.  Here is the link to the article:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/speed_and_skill_optimization_a

Here is an interesting article about doing very short speed courses at the beginning of training sessions:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/speed_and_skill_optimization_a

The article recommends doing 6-8 all-out sprints of about 6 seconds each at the beginning of your workout.  The rest periods should be approximately 50-75 seconds between sprints.

The author states that most coaches know about the strategies and techniques in their sport, but know little about how best to develop speed and technique.  Many coaches have as their aim to tire out the athletes in order to develop endurance.

However, this approach fails to develop speed and technique, which are the most important qualities of most sports, including ours.  Speed and technique should be worked on in early in training sessions when you are fresh, not later on. 

When you are tired, you cannot develop speed because you won't be going at top speed.  And you can't develop new technique when tired either- the athletes aren't receptive at that point because of the fatigue.  You should strive to maintain good form when you are tired and the coach should emphasize maintaining good form if the athletes are tired because it is easy to develop bad habits and ingrain poor technique when fatigued.

So, start workouts by doing speed work.  This takes less than 10 minutes but will make you much faster. This article recommends 6-8 sprints all-out with about 1 minute rest in between each sprint. 

If you have a group of boaters and they wait a little between each paddler, this comes out to about 1 minute rest.  If you time each paddler on the sprints, it encourages them to go all-out and gives them some feedback on how they are doing. 

So, the new training paradigm is to concentrate on speed and technique work, especially in the first half of workouts.  Slogging it out doing long loops will not make you faster or improve your technique.  It's not hard work alone that will make you better- it's smart work that will bring you better results.  Here is the link to the article:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/speed_and_skill_optimization_a

talent can be developed

Talent Can Be Developed

 

Many people believe that only a certain few people have the necessary talent to become very skilled at an athletic activity.  But more recent research shows that talent can be developed.  It's a process called myelination in the brain.  Here is a link to an article about myelination and sport:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/the_making_of_talent_myelination

Deliberate, focused practice builds myelination that is focused and precise.  Sloppy, substandard practice builds sloppy, careless myelination.  It's not just the amount of practice, it's the focus that you bring to practice that makes the difference between the winners and the also-rans.

Going through the motions in practice produces sloppy brain patterns that you will repeat in races.  If you have highly focused practices, your brain will get used to that pattern and replicate it at competitions.

Yes, there are certain body types that won't excel at certain sports.  For example, a large muscular frame is not best suited to being a great jockey.  But the idea that athletes are born, rather than made is not supported by science.

In our sport, I have seen both short and tall paddlers perform at the highest levels.  Both muscular and thin athletes do well in whitewater slalom racing.  You may have to work on your weak points, but your success or failure in this sport was not pre-ordained at birth.

By doing lots of quality practice and making it as high-quality and focused as possible, you will improve the myelination in your brain and therefore your performance on the race course.  The difference is not in your genes, but in your brain.  Here is the link to the article about talent and myelination:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/the_making_of_talent_myelination 

Many people believe that only a certain few people have the necessary talent to become very skilled at an athletic activity.  But more recent research shows that talent can be developed.  It's a process called myelination in the brain.  Here is a link to an article about myelination and sport:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/the_making_of_talent_myelination

Deliberate, focused practice builds myelination that is focused and precise.  Sloppy, substandard practice builds sloppy, careless myelination.  It's not just the amount of practice, it's the focus that you bring to practice that makes the difference between the winners and the also-rans.

Going through the motions in practice produces sloppy brain patterns that you will repeat in races.  If you have highly focused practices, your brain will get used to that pattern and replicate it at competitions.

Yes, there are certain body types that won't excel at certain sports.  For example, a large muscular frame is not best suited to being a great jockey.  But the idea that athletes are born, rather than made is not supported by science.

In our sport, I have seen both short and tall paddlers perform at the highest levels.  Both muscular and thin athletes do well in whitewater slalom racing.  You may have to work on your weak points, but your success or failure in this sport was not pre-ordained at birth.

By doing lots of quality practice and making it as high-quality and focused as possible, you will improve the myelination in your brain and therefore your performance on the race course.  The difference is not in your genes, but in your brain.  Here is the link to the article about talent and myelination:

http://xlathlete.com/blog/articles/entry/the_making_of_talent_myelination 

reverse periodization

Reverse Periodization

 

Here is an excellent article on reverse periodization:

http://iceskatingresources.org/EnduranceTrainingPlan.pdf

The idea is to start out by concentrating on speed and shorter intervals, then progressing to more volume so you can maintain the faster speed over the length of the race, and then tapering before the race.  Physiologically, reverse periodization emphasizes the muscles, rather than the heart and lungs.

Unlike traditional periodization,  there is no long period of slow endurance work.  Instead, you start out working on speed, trying to get fast, and then training to maintain that speed over the length of the race.  There is little emphasis on long slow training.

It has been used for many years.  The East Germans used it with their sprinters and swimmers.  Many track coaches have used such an approach, normally calling it a "short to long" training program.  It has been used effectively for whitewater slalom racers also who have won World Championships.

It is probably not the best approach for people who have never trained before or who are very out of shape.  However, for experienced athletes, it could be an effective method.  Read the article here:

http://iceskatingresources.org/EnduranceTrainingPlan.pdf 

Here is an excellent article on reverse periodization:

http://iceskatingresources.org/EnduranceTrainingPlan.pdf

The idea is to start out by concentrating on speed and shorter intervals, then progressing to more volume so you can maintain the faster speed over the length of the race, and then tapering before the race.  Physiologically, reverse periodization emphasizes the muscles, rather than the heart and lungs.

Unlike traditional periodization,  there is no long period of slow endurance work.  Instead, you start out working on speed, trying to get fast, and then training to maintain that speed over the length of the race.  There is little emphasis on long slow training.

It has been used for many years.  The East Germans used it with their sprinters and swimmers.  Many track coaches have used such an approach, normally calling it a "short to long" training program.  It has been used effectively for whitewater slalom racers also who have won World Championships.

It is probably not the best approach for people who have never trained before or who are very out of shape.  However, for experienced athletes, it could be an effective method.  Read the article here:

http://iceskatingresources.org/EnduranceTrainingPlan.pdf 

stroke mobility

Stroke Mobility

 

When you watch most paddlers in whitewater, their range of motion is very restricted.  You teach them all the strokes and how to get good extension on flatwater, but then when they get on whitewater, then end up with about 2 strokes and no variety in their strokes.

I'm not talking about just beginners, but even solid racers.  They never get the paddle far from the boat for maximum turning effect and then neve have the paddle very vertical.  These moves may feel safe on flatwater but when they tense up on the rapids, they forget they every learned such strokes. 

Everyone needs to keep going back and practicing the strokes on flatwater so your body gets more and more used to them.  And keep trying to use them on whitewater.

I sometimes have the paddlers practice 2 extremes of stroke mobility.  The stroke under the boat and the stroke away from the boat.

For the stroke under the boat, I grab their bow and push their boat away from shore and have the paddler paddle back at me with just one blade.  To do this, you need to rotate the shoulders and place the blade underneath the boat so the paddle is past vertical.  Don't reach far forward or angle your paddle- just reach under the boat with the blade.  Then, finish the stroke with a rudder at the stern, not a back stroke that slows the boat, but a rudder stroke that is parallel with the direction of the boat.  Unless you are a good c-1 paddler, you probably won't do this well at first.

The stroke away from the boat is the middle portion of the sweep stroke.  You reach out to the side and do a stroke about 3 feet away from the boat.  The paddle is more horizontal for this stroke and you reach out to the side as far as you can.  This stroke is very useful for course corrections whenever the boat veers off to one side, or to prevent it veering off to one side, as when you do a downstream gate in an eddy and you do the stroke away from the boat as you first enter the eddy to keep the boat from spinnning out.  The stroke away from the boat is better than a traditional sweep in this situation because it does not weight the bow as much as a sweep stroke does.

So, practice these 2 strokes when warming up and remember to have a variety of strokes you use when you move to whitewater.  Keep practing them so that your body gets more and more comfortable doing these strokes.

When you watch most paddlers in whitewater, their range of motion is very restricted.  You teach them all the strokes and how to get good extension on flatwater, but then when they get on whitewater, then end up with about 2 strokes and no variety in their strokes.

I'm not talking about just beginners, but even solid racers.  They never get the paddle far from the boat for maximum turning effect and then neve have the paddle very vertical.  These moves may feel safe on flatwater but when they tense up on the rapids, they forget they every learned such strokes. 

Everyone needs to keep going back and practicing the strokes on flatwater so your body gets more and more used to them.  And keep trying to use them on whitewater.

I sometimes have the paddlers practice 2 extremes of stroke mobility.  The stroke under the boat and the stroke away from the boat.

For the stroke under the boat, I grab their bow and push their boat away from shore and have the paddler paddle back at me with just one blade.  To do this, you need to rotate the shoulders and place the blade underneath the boat so the paddle is past vertical.  Don't reach far forward or angle your paddle- just reach under the boat with the blade.  Then, finish the stroke with a rudder at the stern, not a back stroke that slows the boat, but a rudder stroke that is parallel with the direction of the boat.  Unless you are a good c-1 paddler, you probably won't do this well at first.

The stroke away from the boat is the middle portion of the sweep stroke.  You reach out to the side and do a stroke about 3 feet away from the boat.  The paddle is more horizontal for this stroke and you reach out to the side as far as you can.  This stroke is very useful for course corrections whenever the boat veers off to one side, or to prevent it veering off to one side, as when you do a downstream gate in an eddy and you do the stroke away from the boat as you first enter the eddy to keep the boat from spinnning out.  The stroke away from the boat is better than a traditional sweep in this situation because it does not weight the bow as much as a sweep stroke does.

So, practice these 2 strokes when warming up and remember to have a variety of strokes you use when you move to whitewater.  Keep practing them so that your body gets more and more comfortable doing these strokes.

take complete responsibility for your results

Take Complete Responsibility for Your Results

 

Bill Endicott was both my coach and the coach of a lot of great whitewater racers during the late 70s- early 90s.  He coached many world champions. 

In 2007 he was invited to go to China to talk to them about whitewater training centers where athletes can train together.  In his talk, he told the Chinese audience that the real key is to empower the athletes to make decisions for themselves and to learn all they can about the sport.  Here is a link to his talk:

http://sportperformancecentres.org/sites/default/files/3_USA_B_Endicot_Final_Dinner.pdf

Endicott feels that it is important to first of all take complete responsibility for your own success or failure.  It's not up to someone else to give you the information- you need to discover it yourself.  You need to become curious about the sport and discover all you can about it and apply that to your racing.

You become your own coach, in Endicott's words.  The top performers are the ones who don't wait for others to tell them things but they search and discover it for themselves.  They go way beyond the others in their pursuit of knowledge of the details of their sport due to their insatiable curiosity.

This is the key to success in any endeavor, according to Endicott.  He talks about his son's success as a rock musician and how he learned all he could about music and the music business and excelled at it. 

He talks about a first-hand experience with former President Bill Clinton, who is such a political junkie that he likes to discuss foreign political campaigns that he wasn't even involved in.  Bill Endicott has also worked in politics and has written a book about how to get political jobs in Washington D.C.   He has seen lots of successful people in many different areas and speaks from first-hand personal experience about how to achieve success.

Because on one level, this blog is about how to achieve success in whitewater slalom racing.  However, the methods of achieving success in one area are not much different from achieving success in other areas.  These are life lessons, not just paddling lessons.

So, take complete and total responsibility for your results.  Blame no one.  If you don't succeed at first, figure out how you could have done something different to achieve success.  Figure out every aspect of the sport on your own.  Listen to others, but use your own judgement.  Be your own coach.

Read this.  It could change your life:

http://sportperformancecentres.org/sites/default/files/3_USA_B_Endicot_Final_Dinner.pdf

Bill Endicott was both my coach and the coach of a lot of great whitewater racers during the late 70s- early 90s.  He coached many world champions. 

In 2007 he was invited to go to China to talk to them about whitewater training centers where athletes can train together.  In his talk, he told the Chinese audience that the real key is to empower the athletes to make decisions for themselves and to learn all they can about the sport.  Here is a link to his talk:

http://sportperformancecentres.org/sites/default/files/3_USA_B_Endicot_Final_Dinner.pdf

Endicott feels that it is important to first of all take complete responsibility for your own success or failure.  It's not up to someone else to give you the information- you need to discover it yourself.  You need to become curious about the sport and discover all you can about it and apply that to your racing.

You become your own coach, in Endicott's words.  The top performers are the ones who don't wait for others to tell them things but they search and discover it for themselves.  They go way beyond the others in their pursuit of knowledge of the details of their sport due to their insatiable curiosity.

This is the key to success in any endeavor, according to Endicott.  He talks about his son's success as a rock musician and how he learned all he could about music and the music business and excelled at it. 

He talks about a first-hand experience with former President Bill Clinton, who is such a political junkie that he likes to discuss foreign political campaigns that he wasn't even involved in.  Bill Endicott has also worked in politics and has written a book about how to get political jobs in Washington D.C.   He has seen lots of successful people in many different areas and speaks from first-hand personal experience about how to achieve success.

Because on one level, this blog is about how to achieve success in whitewater slalom racing.  However, the methods of achieving success in one area are not much different from achieving success in other areas.  These are life lessons, not just paddling lessons.

So, take complete and total responsibility for your results.  Blame no one.  If you don't succeed at first, figure out how you could have done something different to achieve success.  Figure out every aspect of the sport on your own.  Listen to others, but use your own judgement.  Be your own coach.

Read this.  It could change your life:

http://sportperformancecentres.org/sites/default/files/3_USA_B_Endicot_Final_Dinner.pdf

quality, not quantity in training

Quality, Not Quantity in Training

 

Rather than focusing on the quantity of your training, you should try to improve the quality of your training.  Don't just grind out the time in the boat- make each workout important.  Every workout is a technique workout.  Every stroke is deliberate and important.  Pretend that the success of each run is just as important as the second run at the team selection race.  

Make your training more race-like.   Do some race simulations on full-length whitewater courses to improve the quality of your training.  The more race-like you can make it, the better.  For example, rather than timing yourself and counting your own penalties, have someone else do it.  Rather than just starting when you want to, have set start times and have someone give you a countdown.  Instead of designing the course yourself, have someone else design it.  Instead of practicing on the course ahead of time and doing a bunch of runs, just take 2 runs on the course.

Anther way to improve the quality of your training is to have feedback at every session.  Use varied forms of feedback, including coaching, video, someone else counting times and penalties, and watching other boaters performing the same courses.  On one day, you might get coached, then the next have someone video the session, and then on a third day, have someone count penalties and tell you your times after every run.  Get together and train with other paddlers when you can and see what you can learn by watching and talking to them.

And make your training specific to improve the quality.  Paddle at race pace or faster in your training and do whitewater gates as much as you can.  Paddling slow by yourself is low-quality training and should be avoided.  The exception is if you are doing it as a recovery session on flatwater by just paddling straight ahead for a short period of time (not going too long or hard, so it isn't really training).

Doing loops for more than 3 minutes or so, is a low-quality workout.  It's not specific enough to be a quality workout because the speed is slower than race pace. 

Paddling with swinging gates is another form of low-quality workout.  Don't start until the gates stop swinging from the previous boater.  Or, if you are doing full-lenths, don't follow right behind another boater because then, the poles may be swinging all over the place and it will lower the focus.  Wait 2 minutes after the last boater (preferably more) to ensure that the poles won't be swinging when you go down the course.

Taking a run without adequate course study is also low-quality training.  Study the course like you would before a race run before you take your first run.  Don't just go out and do the course without enough planning ahead of time.

Take your practice like a race to improve the quality of your training.  Bring the same kind of attention to your training runs as you would for your runs at the team selection races.  That will raise the quality of your training, making you a better boater. 

Rather than focusing on the quantity of your training, you should try to improve the quality of your training.  Don't just grind out the time in the boat- make each workout important.  Every workout is a technique workout.  Every stroke is deliberate and important.  Pretend that the success of each run is just as important as the second run at the team selection race.  

Make your training more race-like.   Do some race simulations on full-length whitewater courses to improve the quality of your training.  The more race-like you can make it, the better.  For example, rather than timing yourself and counting your own penalties, have someone else do it.  Rather than just starting when you want to, have set start times and have someone give you a countdown.  Instead of designing the course yourself, have someone else design it.  Instead of practicing on the course ahead of time and doing a bunch of runs, just take 2 runs on the course.

Anther way to improve the quality of your training is to have feedback at every session.  Use varied forms of feedback, including coaching, video, someone else counting times and penalties, and watching other boaters performing the same courses.  On one day, you might get coached, then the next have someone video the session, and then on a third day, have someone count penalties and tell you your times after every run.  Get together and train with other paddlers when you can and see what you can learn by watching and talking to them.

And make your training specific to improve the quality.  Paddle at race pace or faster in your training and do whitewater gates as much as you can.  Paddling slow by yourself is low-quality training and should be avoided.  The exception is if you are doing it as a recovery session on flatwater by just paddling straight ahead for a short period of time (not going too long or hard, so it isn't really training).

Doing loops for more than 3 minutes or so, is a low-quality workout.  It's not specific enough to be a quality workout because the speed is slower than race pace. 

Paddling with swinging gates is another form of low-quality workout.  Don't start until the gates stop swinging from the previous boater.  Or, if you are doing full-lenths, don't follow right behind another boater because then, the poles may be swinging all over the place and it will lower the focus.  Wait 2 minutes after the last boater (preferably more) to ensure that the poles won't be swinging when you go down the course.

Taking a run without adequate course study is also low-quality training.  Study the course like you would before a race run before you take your first run.  Don't just go out and do the course without enough planning ahead of time.

Take your practice like a race to improve the quality of your training.  Bring the same kind of attention to your training runs as you would for your runs at the team selection races.  That will raise the quality of your training, making you a better boater. 

power training for speed

Power Training for Speed

When you are doing training, there are many different variables.  The number of repetitions, the number of sets, the weight, the type of exercise, and the rest period are all variables.  There is one more variable that is important for sport, but you may have forgotten.  The speed of the movement.

Most sports movements (including slalom racing) are much faster than people normally lift weights.  While strength is important, if you are often training at slow speeds, your muscle movements will be slow.  You are training your body to work at these slow speeds.  This can actually make you slower in your sport.

So, most of your training should be at higher speeds so it's more specific to our sport.  How do you do this?  One way is to do plyometrics, which emphasizes quick power.  Another is Olympic lifting, if you have a qualified coach to coach you in proper form.  Another is to use ballistics, such as medicine balls.  And another is to do weight exercises with lighter weights and higher speeds.  Or, alternatively, do bodyweight exercises at higher speeds.

One potential problem with higher speed weight training is that you have to slow down the weight and reverse it's motion, so you may not be fully developing the muscle throughout the entire range of motion.  So, you may want to complement these exercises with plyometrics or ballistic exercises.

I recommend 2 basic types of power workouts- (1) either 5 sets of 3 reps at 75% of your max. with complete rest.  Or (2), timed sets.  Time yourself for 20 seconds and see how many reps you can do with 25% of your max. - complete rest.

And this may be counter-intuitive.  Since speed is a variable, you can make progress without increasing the workload at each workout.  Keep the workload the same from workout to workout.  Same number of sets.  Same weight.  Same reps.  Same rest.  Only increase the speed of the movement. 

Experienced weight lifters might not understand this concept.  They are used to increasing the weight or increasing the reps as you get stronger.  Instead, increase the speed.  And/or increase the number of sets.  But do not go to failure.  The last slow reps can slow you down.  Stop if you can't go fast.  Going slow is a bad habit.

With higher reps, the speed slows down.  So, for weights over 50% of max. only do 3 reps max. for power training.  If you do more, the bar speed will slow down.  You could be training to go slow instead of training to go fast.

Here is a link to an article about power training and sport:

http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/power-training.html