Upper Body Exercises for Kayaking and Rowing

Julie: Alright we’re back here in the Sweat studios and as promised we got Dr. Mike Takes to help us out with some exercises for our kayak ability. Mike: Absolutely, we got key on two main areas. One key on back for strength, okay and power. We want a key on a core, the trunk area for like strengthening and conditioning of the lumbar spine, for the movements that you have in a kayak. Julie: Right. So the core strength is really important, I’ve heard you said that before. Mike: Extremely important. Julie: Okay and the arms I imagine because we’re talking about kayaking. Mike: Absolutely, we want to get some grip strength as well which is going to come from holding the weights but right now we’re going to start with some dumbbell row. Julie: Put me to work. Mike: Uni-lateral exercise so we can concentrate on individual rowing. Okay so you want to bring the weights from the fore up into your arm pits and try to move your elbow right by the side of your body. Julie: Okay. Mike: Want to concentrate on shoulder blade movement because we want to get the lat and the rumboids involved perfect. Julie: And how many reps would a person do this? Mike: It’s all you want to try about 10 to 12 reps with a moderate weight. Julie: Okay, how many sets? Mike: Try to do about three. We notice here we got a nice flat back, we got a nice box formation with the thigh, back and arm. Ok we got a good posture right here, excellent. Excellent technique. Julie: So we got arms, now what about this core strength that you’re always going on about? Mike: You got your ball? Julie: I got the ball. Mike: Perfect. Julie: Right here. Mike: Okay, so we want to do some crunches ok and let me do some crunches with the twist because that’s the motion of the paddle of the twist. Julie: Of course with the kayaking. Mike: Exactly. Julie: Alright. Mike: Okay, so I want you to do are just lay back. Perfect, we want to concentrate on holding your self steady so we’re not bouncing. We want to bring the rib cage to the pelvis so let’s come up. Perfect, okay. Julie: Oh I’m shaking already. Now if I’m shaking along doing these crunches, does it mean I’m not strong? Mike: It means that you got some toning to do, okay. You have some stability issues which are not. Julie: Stability issues, yes Mike I know but this is not a counseling show this is a sport show. Mike: No, but you’re doing just fine. Now what we want to do is just add a twist to this. You want to bring the elbow to the opposite knee, excellent. Okay, now come over to the left side, very nice, okay we can we’re just closing the rib cage here. You’re not doing too much hip flexing, excellent. Julie: Okay, so we’ve got the core strength, we’ve got the arm strength and what about some cross training for kayaking, what would a person need to do in terms of getting shape in general? Mike: You want to try to do some exercises for your legs. Julie: Yup. Mike: Okay you want to do running or cycling. Julie: Wait a minute, kayaking is all about the upper body, no? Mike: Absolutely but what about getting to the water if you want to hit those light waters you got an often height to trails to get there. So you want to have a good energy left when you actually hit the water. Julie: Right and you just want to be shape in general, I imagine cardiovascularly, to be able to hit the white water. Mike: Absolutely. Julie: And all that kind of stuff. Alright thanks Dr. Mike. Mike: Okay, no problem.