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
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