Ron Lugbill Whitewater Slalom Racing Blog

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.

 

great workout without weights- 5 p workout

Great Workout Without Weights- 5 P Workout

Here are the 5 Ps- plyometrics, push-ups, pull-ups, planks and prehab.  Combine some of each of these 5 ps to make a variety of great workouts without any weights- just bodyweight.  Bodyweight exercises are excellent- they are functional, they involve the core, they help avoid injury.  And you can do them in your home, on the road, etc. without the need for any equipment.

After a dynamic movement warm-up (no slow stretching prior to workout!), start out with the power moves- plyometrics.  Plyos build power,  quick strength through the whole range of motion.  So, they should be done fast.  I put the plyos at the beginning so you are fresh and not tired, so the movements are fast.  Do not overdo the reps on plyos.  max. 10 reps so you don't slow down, but you can do several sets.  Here are some good choices:

clap push-ups- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=865

squat jumps- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=103

pull-up drop- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=164

chest drop plyo push-up- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=1434

medicine ball pass- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=207

chest drop kneeling push-up- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=1426

After the plyos, do some push-ups.  Push-ups are great exercises.  The body is in a plank position, so it develops core stability and strength in addition to developing the chest, arms and back.  Do the various push-up variations, such as:

eccentric push-ups- go down slowly for 6 seconds, then come back up fast.

isometric push-ups- stop at the bottom of the push-up and hold for 6 seconds, then come back up fast.

triangle push-ups- put your hands together in to form a triangle and do push-ups

fingertip push-ups- do a push-up with just your fingertips on the floor, not your palms.

archer push-ups- do a push-up towards the right hand, back up, then down towards the left hand.

push-ups with one hand further forward and one hand further back.  then switch hands.

one arm push-ups- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbYQM1Ss2zY

medicine ball push-ups- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=206

push-up with twist- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=770

Next, do some pull-ups.  Pull-ups are an excellent exercise also.   You don't have to have a pull-up bar.  You can use a strong paddle, closet rod, shovel handle, etc. and put it across 2 tables or kitchen counters to do horizontal pull-ups.  Or have 2 guys hold up a paddle or rod at waist level and do horizontal pull-ups.  Horizontal pull-ups are excellent functional exercises, which help develop the core and balance the shoulder muscles as well as developing the arms, back and shoulders.  Here are some variations:

eccentric pull-ups- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3518

isometric pull-ups- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3519

one arm pull-ups- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfXEra2Pxe4

archer pull-ups- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9IgTnFeKbI

horizontal pull-ups- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmpBroOPbZg 

pull-ups with hands together

chin-ups

Planks are next in the workout.  They develop the core.  But don't just stay in the standard plank position.  Do the variations and other core exercises to further develop your core strength in various ways.  You need to develop the various muscles, so changing exercises and doing variations is helpful.  And do other types of core work besides planks.  Here are some suggestions for various core exercises:

modified side plank with leg raise- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3600

plank walking on hands and toes- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3583

single leg plank- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3610

bird dog- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3674

alternating v-up- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=386

superman- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=77

prone ab twist- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=434

inch worm- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=197

bicycle crunch- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=355

reverse plank- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3622

Finally, comes prehab, which is aimed at preventing injury.  Actually, most of the other exercises listed above have an injury prevention component to them.  For example, any type of push-up or horizontal pull-up are in the plank position and help develop the core.  This helps prevent injury.  Shoulders are a vulnerable bodypart for paddlers, and the balance of push-ups with horizontal pull-ups helps balance the shoulder muscles to help prevent shoulder injury. 

Strength training generally helps prevent injury, particularly if its functional, involves multiple muscles, is balanced and exercises opposing muscles and uses bodyweight.  The core exercises you just did also help prevent injury by strengthening the muscles of the core to resist any movement that might do harm to your body.  Stronger muscles can help keep your body from getting twisted and injured.

Here are some good prehab exercises to help prevent injury:

shoulder prehab exercises- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCQVr4WJoCs

arm circles overhead- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=1666

cuban press- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=341

lateral arm raise- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=229

shoulder external rotation- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3631

shoulder wall slides- http://xlathlete.com/view_exercise2.jsp?exercise_id=3632

shoulder prehab exercises- http://www.xlathlete.com/xl/export/drill_sheet_Shoulder%20Prehab%20Circuits%20For%20Sport_1401468223725.pdf

back prehab exercises- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZioRAEBg01Y

hanging from a bar- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GUjXH6Le9s

Finish the workout with a warm-down and some easy stretching.  Now you can do your slow stretching or yoga exercises.

Choose a couple of exercises from each of the 5 ps to make up your workout.  You can make up several different workouts by picking different exercises of each of the 5 ps and then rotate through several different workouts.  This is more effective than just sticking with one workout all the time.  You will make more progress by rotating through several different workouts than just doing the same workout all the time.  Write down a couple different workouts using different exercises from each of the 5 ps.

And you can vary the number of sets and reps from workout to workout.  For example, 3 sets of 10 is a common workout.  Or 5 sets of 5 reps.  Or, you can just do one set.  And you can vary the amount of rest, for example 1 minute or 2 minutes or 3 minutes between exercises.  And you can vary the order of the exercises or do a circuit. 

Without using any weights or going to the gym, you can do lots of different workouts.  Sorry, there are no more excuses.  Anyone can workout anywhere without equipment.  Some of the above exercises may call for a bar or a ball or light weights, but you can either avoid those exercises or adapt them by using full water bottles for weights, or a paddle as a bar, or a backpack full of books as an extra weight on your back.

These bodyweight exercises are not a poor excuse for lifting weights.  In many ways, they are superior to lifting weights because they are functional and develop the core and help prevent injury.  The only challenge is that just doing push-ups all the time, you will plateau or stop making progress.  So, switch it up and do variations and keep changing the workouts so you continue to make progress.

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?

cross-sweep stroke

Cross-Sweep Stroke

The standard sweep stroke involves torso rotation as the paddle starts at the bow, pushes out to the side, goes several feet away from the boat, then pulls in towards the stern.  The paddle is more horizontal than vertical in order to get the blade far away from the boat in the middle portion of the stroke.

In c-1, there is a stroke that is very important.  The cross-sweep stroke.  It involves even more torso rotation than the standard sweep stroke.  It's similar to the standard cross-stroke, but the blade goes out away from the boat, rather than next to the boat. 

The top hand is criss-crossed in front of you.  You can choke up on the paddle shaft if you need to.  And the angle of the paddle is more horizontal than vertical.

This stroke is very useful in c-1.  C-1s often get turned away from the paddle side.  You can correct with a pry stroke.  However, often you will want to use a cross-sweep stroke to get the boat back on course.

The cross-sweep stroke is not normally used to initiate a turn.  It's usually better to initiate a turn with a bow draw.  However, we sometimes use a cross-sweep stroke when the boat is veering towards the off-side and you need to get it back on line.  In this situation, a strong cross-stroke won't work- you will continue veering if you just use a strong cross forward stroke.  You need to use either a pry or a cross-forward stroke.

And we often do not start the stroke near the bow, but start the stroke further back and away from the boat (see my post about stroke away from the boat).  If you start a stroke near the bow, you weight the bow because you are leaning forward.  And if you want to get the boat out of an off-side spin, you need to keep the bow up, not down.  So, you can either use a pry, which gets the weight off the bow, or you can use a cross-sweep stroke that is away from the boat, not up towards the bow.  

You may even have to finish off this stroke with a cross-stern draw to keep the boat on line.  To end the stroke, you normally slice the paddle towards the bow, rather than lifting it awkwardly towards the stern.  Slice it forward by turning your top thumb away from you and slicing the paddle forward and out of the water.

Practice this stroke on flatwater by doing zig-zags so that you are used to it when you need it on whitewater.  Get maximum turning effect out of it, instead of just doing a standard cross-stroke by keeping the paddle out to the side, rather than next to the boat. 

developing the race plan

Developing the Race Plan

 

When a new race course is set, you have to learn it, study it, analyze it, plan it, visualize it and then refine your plan when you have new information.   When you first see the course, you draw on your prior experience to make determinations about how to do the course.  You have seen many other race and practice courses and you have probably seen similar moves before.  You use the principles you have learned in practice and in racing and apply it to your course analysis.

You first learn where the gates are.  One down, two up left, three down, etc.  Then, you come up with a "rough draft" of where you want to be throughout the course, not just on the gates themselves, but in between the gates.  Boat placement is everything.  And how you want your boat to be angled at every point on the course.

After learning the basics of where the gates are and applying your prior experience in analyzing the course, you gather more information.  Usually, you can watch the forerunners actually running the course and learn from their runs.  This helps you refine your plans.  I suggest that you videotape the foreruns so you can replay them to get even more information.  And walk the course with a coach or a fellow athlete and learn as much as you can from them about the course.

Then, you use the information you have gathered to refine your plan and to develop a precise idea of exactly how to do every gate.  In my humble opinion, it has to be the athlete's plan at this point.  The athlete takes in as much information as he can from the coach, but ultimately, it has to be the athlete's plan because he is the one in the boat. 

So, at this point, I normally walk the course with an athlete asking questions to get the athlete to articulate his plan.  I have already given my input at the information-gathering stage, and now it is the final planning stage, which is the athlete's plan.  At each gate, I ask about the athlete's plan.

That certainly does not mean that the plan is set in stone.  It just means that there is a precise plan that then can be varied from as new information becomes available.  Often, an athlete will vary from Plan A because something went differently and then, you go with Plan B.  Or Plan C. 

And, often after coming up with a precise final plan, an athlete will get new information in the form of video or watching someone else on the course, or looking at split times, or getting more coaching advice.  The plan can get refined and changed as new information becomes available.

Next, there is the visualization stage.  The athlete should visualize the course before his run to help implant the plan in his mind.  In your mind's eye, go through every move on the course to learn it even better.  Close your eyes and imagine yourself going from start to finish.  Some people like to time it and see if the visualization time is close to the actual race time.

When you are at a race, you need to study every move on the race course.  Look at the current and which way it is going.  Study the pole heights.  Plan your boat position.  Failing to plan is planning to fail.  You can't just "wing it".  You need to spend as much time as possible studying the course.

And remember that your race is against the race course, not against the other boaters.  Watch the other boaters only as a means of improving your run by learning from them.  Don't watch them to figure out where you are going to be on the scoreboard.  You can learn form others, both the ones who do great moves and those who make mistakes.  Learns from the successes and failure of others.  

Run your own race- don't be overly influenced or pressured to do something a certain way just because someone else is.  Watch the top boaters, but remember that sometimes, what looks fast for them is not the best plan for you. 

Somewhat paradoxically, it may be better for younger athletes to watch the k-1ws, rather than the fastest men boaters because the women often use the water to their advantage, rather than trying to out-muscle it as some of the top male racers do.  Younger athletes often have less strength and are unable to pull off some of the moves they see older, stronger boaters doing.  They are often better served at this point by watching someone who is working with the water, rather than against it. 

After the learning stage, the information-gathering stage, the planning stage, the visualization stage and the final planning stage, it's time to execute the plan.  Don't be so set on the plan that you forget to look at the water and the gates for more clues as to how you do the course.  Have a plan, but it's often necessary to deviate from that plan.  You also have a lot of muscle memory and prior experience that will help you execute your plan.  Use all of your resources available to make your run the best you can.

athlete-centered coaching

Athlete-Centered Coaching

Here is an excellent article from New Zealand about athlete-centered coaching:

http://www.gymsportsnz.com/files/education/coach/senior_coach/effective_coaching.pdf

The article compares an athlete-centered approach with a more traditional coach-centered approach.  In an athlete-centered approach, the coach asks more open-ended questions, and gives fewer directions.  Rather than imposing a system on the athletes, the coach helps facilitate learning and encourages questioning and curiosity in the athletes.

The goals are set by the athlete, rather than by the coach.  The athlete then becomes fully engaged in his own progress in the sport because he takes full ownership of the process.

It's a more holistic approach to coaching that goes beyond mere expertise in the sport and helps the athlete develop on different levels.  It's more about helping facilitate a learning environment than providing answers to every question.

Not everyone will be comfortable with this approach.  Some people will expect the coach to be more directive and more of a leader than a consensus-builder.  Many people will just want to know the answers to their questions than having to figure it out for themselves.  And it is less expedient- if time is of the essence, a leader making a decision is faster than having everyone discuss it and try to come to a decision together.

You want the athlete to learn to own his own run though in a race situation.  You don't want the athlete to be going down the race course thinking about what his coach said.  It has to come from within.

I have applied this approach in several different ways.  For example, when studying a race course with an athlete, I often use a completely question-based approach, rather than a directive approach. 

I don't want the athlete to have the cognitive dissonance of thinking of doing the move one way while his coach is telling him to do it a different way.  This usually leads to confusion and indecision.  The athlete needs to have a clear idea of what to do, not a variety of approaches swirly in his head as he approaches a move on the course.

In a training situation, I am usually more directive and we can try new approaches that the athlete might not think of for himself. 

And, as we get closer to a race, I start to use a more athlete-centered approach more in training, rather than using a directive approach.  We might work on a different technique in the off-season, but when it's time for a big race, it's not time to start improving your forward stroke. 

Over-coaching is a big danger at this time, especially if you rarely get to work with the athlete except when you get together before big events.  You see errors and want to correct them, but it's not always best to be nitpicking the athlete right before a big race.  Better to guide the athlete in figuring it out for himself, and making notes of things to work on after the race.

I have also led a discussion with experienced athletes about how to deal with certain things in races.  If I had used a more directive approach and tried to control where the discussion led, we all would have missed an interesting, counter-intuitive idea that works for many people. 

As an example, when we were discussing how to deal with anxiety before a race, different people spoke about how to lower their anxiety levels, relaxation techniques, etc.  But one world champion had a completely different take on it.  His perspective was that anxiety wasn't a bad thing.  It is a good thing and worrying about it is the only problem.  He said that he welcomed the anxiety because it gave him the energy, the fuel to go down the course. 

If the discussion atmosphere and our culture had been one where new, novel ideas were not welcome, he never would have felt comfortable sharing his different idea that was contrary to the assumptions of everyone else.  But because a comfortable atmosphere was created where new ideas were welcome, he felt that he didn't have to keep his ideas to himself and could share them with others.

Anyway, take a look at this article.  It is well worth reading:

http://www.gymsportsnz.com/files/education/coach/senior_coach/effective_coaching.pdf 

getting stronger

Getting Stronger

There are several different basic approaches that athletes use to get stronger.  Here is an article about two of the most common approaches- Olympic lifts and powerlifting:

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/a-debate-between-powerlifting-and-olympic-lifting-as-the-main-athletic-training-method/

In general, the Olympic lifts, the snatch and clean and jerk develop power while the powerlifting moves- bench press, squat and deadlift increase strength.   Olympic lifting requires some time and coaching to develop proper technique.  Powerlifting moves require less skill and therefore can be taught more easily and quickly.

There are other popular approaches.  Some athletes use bodybuilding techniques, which isolate specific muscles more and work on size development more than strength, speed or power. 

Another popular method is a functional approach, which looks at basic human movements and develops those movements, not particular muscles.  Bodyweight exercises such as lunges, push-ups, planks, and pull-ups are often used by practitioners of this method.  This approach also often uses exercises on Swiss balls.

Some strength and conditioning coaches put a priority on injury-prevention and mainly use prehab exercises.  They will often evaluate a particular athlete's weaknesses, looking for muscle imbalances for potential problems that could lead to injury.  Rather than focusing on lifting heavy weights or doing Olympic lifts, these coaches emphasize quality of movement, overall fitness, range of motion, and function.

Readers of this blog know that I like the more performance-oriented approach of triphasic training.  Rather than drawing on what are essentially different sports (Olympic lifting, bodybuilding or powerlifting), triphasic training starts with the demands of the sport and develops those abilities. 

The concept of triphasic training is to develop power by first working on 3 types of strength- eccentric, isometric and concentric, then work on power, and finally on transferring the gains in these areas to the sport via speed training with light loads at high speed.  It uses fewer Olympic lifts and fewer functional exercises and few Swiss boall exercises.   They tend to favor more advanced sports training techniques such as plyometrics, french contrasts, post-activation potentiation, and timed sets.  You can learn more about triphasic training at xlathlete.com.

Readers of this blog also know that I do not favor the bodybuilding approach for athletic training.  While many of the people you see at the gym are using these techniques, they are not designed for athletes in other sports.  Their goal is to look better and increase size, not improve athletic performance.  While they do develop some strength as a by-product, that is not their goal.  And they rarely develop power or speed.  The exercises isolate particular muscles rather than train useful body movements.

And I believe that many people have decided that weight training doesn't work based upon their experience with bodybuilding techniques.  There are some top athletes who don't train with weights and just train in the boat.  They feel that weight training slows them down and isn't specific enough.  And there is a lot of truth to that.

Slow weight training does slow you down, at least in the short run.   Your body can get used to the slower movements you do while weight training and move slowly in the race also.   If you don't do faster movements and work on power to help transfer the strength gains to the sport, you might not improve.

So, choose carefully which type of training you use so that it does improve your racing.  Here is the link to the article about 2 main approaches- powerlifting and Olympic lifting:

http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/a-debate-between-powerlifting-and-olympic-lifting-as-the-main-athletic-training-method/  

don't take anti-inflammatories for injuries.

Don't Take Anti-Inflammatories for Injuries

Lots of paddlers have nagging injuries- shoulders or elbows or backs.  Many people reach for anti-inflammatory medications to reduce the pain and swelling from these injuries.

However, more recent research shows that this is counter-productive for athletes.  It negates any gains from training.  The anti-inflammatories interfere with the body's normal process for adaptation to stress. 

The body heals itself partly by inflammation.  The body wants to send more blood to the damaged area and to increase healing in that area.  Anti-inflammatories interfere with the body's natural means of healing the injury and repairing the damage.

Here is a link to an article about why you shouldn't use anti-inflammatories:

http://runnersconnect.net/running-injury-prevention/ibuprofen-and-running/

There are also some dangers from anti-inflammatories, such as dehydration and kidney damage.

So, what do you do if you are injured?  Well, the standard advice for injury has been RICE, which stands form rest, ice, compression and elevation.  But more recent research puts the effectiveness of ice in question.

Rest is still beneficial though.  And I believe that ice can be helpful if used in the following way.  Ice the injured area and then do easy movements without weight to bring more blood and healing to the area. 

Movement in water, such as swimming or taking a hot bath and then moving around can also be helpful.  Many active-rest strategies can be beneficial, such as foam rollers, or easy walking.

Exercises to address muscle imbalance problems such as rotator cuff exercises are what you need to restore the area to balance and avoid future problems.  Hanging from a bar helps to create room in the spine and the shoulders and help the body heal from injury.

And you can see a professional, such as a doctor, sports medicine specialist, physical therapist, chiropractor, accupuncturist or massage therapist. 

In any case, the priority should be on healing the injury, rather than continuing training.  Many athletes are so addicted to training that they don't take a break, even when injured.  That's probably why they got injured in the first place- overuse injury from overtraining.

Instead, take some time off until your injury heals and instead of doing workouts, do some active recovery and some exercises and see a professional to get your body back in shape before you return to trainining.  Taking a couple of days off from training won't hurt your performance.  But, having a nagging, ongoing injury will hinder your performance.  Switch your priority from training to healing and work as hard at healing as you do at your training and you will recover.

Here is the link re: anti-inflammatories:

http://runnersconnect.net/running-injury-prevention/ibuprofen-and-running/