« January 2016 | Main | March 2016 »
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
Posted at 03:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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.
Try to go down to parallel with floor. At first, you might have to go down less.
Bar hang. Hang from a pull-up bar as long as you can. Relax. Breath deeply.
Posted at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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?
Posted at 06:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)