A common New Year’s resolution goes something like, “I’ll stay fit this year.” As couch potatoes know, it’s easier said than done. But we kayakers really do keep physically active. Some paddlers kayak daily to stay in shape, which is a good idea if planning to compete in the Olympics or complete a major expedition. When first learning to sea kayak, I went paddling alone in the Santa Barbara surf 4 days a week and played handball in between. Many kayakers opt for a well-rounded exercise regimen; and I do too, partially because I live two hours from the ocean, and it’s a freezing winter here in Oregon. But even when I lived right near the beach in Half Moon Bay, I rotated my physical activities and kayaked about one day a week.
Exercise variety, aka cross training, is healthier than kayaking constantly, for at least three reasons. First, any repetitive motion, such as the forward stroke, practiced every day for years, can wear on joints. Second, kayaking done properly develops the core and the upper body, which is good, but legs don’t get a full workout. Finally, it is more interesting to engage in numerous physical activities than in only one.
Nowadays I kayak on average one day a month, except for two weeklong paddles I do every year. If that were the extent of my exercise, I’d be in big trouble. Luckily, I enjoy a plethora of outdoor activities such as walking and hiking, gardening, and swimming. I like to be outside, so I participate in seasonal activities such as skiing in the winter and backpacking in the summer.
I also do indoor activities such as jujitsu, calisthenics and some yoga. Occasionally, I’ll lift light free weights at home or just stretch. I don’t time myself or measure anything and don’t worry about whether it’s aerobic enough. My main goal is to participate fully in enjoyable physical activity, preferably outdoors, for at least an hour a day. And I don’t panic if I miss a day here and there. Here’s my typical workout schedule:
| Monday—go for a 3-mile hike in the hills behind our house for an hour Tuesday & Thursday—do jujitsu for 3 hours and swim for 1 hour Wednesday—play golf for 2-3 hours (my new sport—and yes, I’m terrible) Friday—climb the hill and do tai chi for 1 hour Saturday—work in the garden for 2 hours and swim for 1 hour Sunday—do yoga for an hour and jujitsu for 2 hours |
Since it’s winter, I’ll go alpine skiing a few times. Next week my wife Nancy and I are going to Lake Tahoe for a week of skiing. Last summer we backpacked for three days in the Steens Mountains in eastern Oregon. Each summer we camp for a week at the upper Sacramento River a few miles south of Mount Shasta and hike and swim every day.
Last Saturday I changed my routine, just for fun. I swam at the local pool for an hour and then danced at home for an hour. It was a special type of dance called Freestyle Aerobic Dancing (FAD), in which you constantly move your body any way you please to a hodgepodge of up-tempo music such as ska, zydeco, bluegrass, disco, hip hop, and hard rock. Variety keeps things interesting. Sometimes, I’ll play hacky sack in lieu of another activity. Why not?
Some aspects of my cross training are particularly appealing. First off, I’m very fortunate to share these activities with my wife Nancy. In fact, she teaches the yoga class I take. Since we are instructors, we get to do jujitsu for free. Hiking is free, and so is gardening. Swimming in creeks and rivers is free, and is low-priced at the pool. Golf should cost a lot, but I use hand-me-down clubs and play at the Bear Creek Golf Course where we live for only $9 for a day. Downhill skiing is expensive, but worth it because it gets me out into nature during the coldest part of the year. And it feels so good to S-turn down the slopes.
For a 57-year-old guy who has had three major aorta operations, I feel good. I’m in decent (not top) shape and can safely engage in just about any physical activity I choose. Cross training has been good for me.
Please share what you do to keep in shape. Do you kayak exclusively, or like me have you developed a medley of physical activities to keep you healthy and ready to paddle?
Eric, I have a different story.
I took up kayaking to stay active during the hottest months of the year (Dec to Mar_ I live Downunder) since mountain biking and backpacking was really hard in the heat and humidity.
All was good for the first year while sea kayaking was not my main focus but once I decided to become more proficient in the water my fitness has gone downhill.
I am not a gym kind of guy; I don’t do well indoors, so during the week I don’t exercise. I am a weekend warrior.
Sea kayaking for me is not strenuous enough to keep me in shape. While I should get off the couch during the week and supplement my water time with maybe a bit of dirt, the reality is I don’t.
I can say that my sea kayaking has progressed nicely while my fitness has suffered.
Ah shucks. I think you are teasing me. Having seen your photos on your website, I know you are a v-e-r-y active weekend warrior.
I’m with you on gyms–they’re a bit stinky and full of machines, which are fun once in awhile but not for me. I’m glad others get a lot out of them. When I was 19 I worked fulltime at a gym, and have not frequented them much since.
Surely you could dream up something physical for a couple of midweek days that would get you outside. Perhaps swimming in the local croc pond? That would also stimulate your adrenals!
Hi Eric, I feel you have hit the nail on the head, as you are aware as well as being Kayakers my wife and I are Martial Arts instructors and believe that a well rounded training regime is important. The various aspects of our art gives us a good all over workout (simplified = standing work for legs, groundwork for core, sword work for upper body), but we also indulge in other forms of recreational activities. We like to balance our kayaking with Mountain Biking, walking (Bush, Dog etc.), snorkeling. We try to paddle twice a week and even this we breaks into two categories, one paddle for endurance and one for skill development.
Why? Here is a personal anecdotes I hope will illustrate the reason for balance and variety.
Between the ages of 11 and 18 my main activity was competition Archery at a State level, I shoot once or twice a week. By the age of 18 I had developed a muscular / skeletal deformity because of it. My left side Trapezius (Trap) muscle had over developed from holding up the bow, and my right side Latisimus Dorsi (Lat) had also over developed from the repetitious drawing of the Bow, this in turn was pulling the Spine out of alignment. If I flex my back muscles now it is still evident, three and a half decades on.
Free diving in the ocean and swimming in the surf are my favorite cross training activities, before and during kayaking. Diving is the most fun because it takes you to another world – the twilight zone – and strengthens breathing and core muscles.
What I like about most water sports is that it is physical, mental and spiritual. I also like to rock climb and play in the trees…and walk, at night…
Eric, I rarely sea kayak, but I’m with you on the value of cross training. I get 1-3 hours of physical activity every day, with a mix of:
tai chi — fast and slow
yoga
walking
hiking
weight lifting
swimming in mountain lakes and streams in summer
You guys are commenting faster than I can keep up, but thanks!
To Wayne Hanley, an accomplished martial artist, I applaud you for all you do to stay in good shape. In the future I will post an essay on the value of martial arts for kayakers. Wayne has given me a lot of insight on this, so it should be worth reading.
Jim, my best friend, yeah, I agree swimming underwater is numero uno. I do it in the pool during winter (today in fact), but it’s not the same as the ocean or a cold creek. I think rock and tree climbing keeps a person in excellent shape, but I’m a lousy rock climber and a fairly good tree climber. Still, I like to climb.
Hey, brother John, we’ll be swimming with you in those mountain creeks this summer on our secret backpacking trip to ….mum’s the word.
The bottom line is it’s fun and easy to stay in shape when you are doing physical activities that you love.
Cool! My favorite subject – fitness paddling. Gnarlydog, have you considered paddling a surfski? I hear they have a few surfski clubs down under. (;-) It’s arguably the best way to stay in shape on the water. You will get out of paddling what you put into it. After 45 minutes to 1 hour on the water on a surfski, I’m feeling great (and ready for a recovery beverage, mate!) It is not “impact training” like running or walking (very important supposedly in warding off osteoporosis), but it’s highly aerobic, builds core strength (before anyone knew what that was), and burns fat off your gut like an Inuit eating blubber. However, for fitness paddling to be effective, you need state of the art equipment, good technique, and a sound training regime. So, here is a novel concept for cross-training for sea kayaking – fitness paddling! If you want to paddle further with less effort on an expedition, get strong to punch through that incoming wave, and build stamina for a quick sprint to the beach to catch that wave (and avoid getting crunched by the big one outside), then consider some simple interval training. This takes some discipline, but it’s never boring on a surfski. The goal is to perform near maximum heart rate for a prescribed periods (start with short intervals), then recover, then do it again. Most surfski paddlers in racing shape can sustain heart rates like those of road bike racers for long periods. For example, when I do the Molokai Challenge (32 miles), my average heart rate is about 145 bpm for nearly 5 hours.
I have taken up SUP boarding (mostly surfing it), and imagine it’s a form of cross-training for my kayak racing. I also enjoy jogging, downhill skiing, and riding a mountain bike. If anyone is seriously interested in fitness paddling, I have access to a lot of good articles on the subject.
Eric I thank you for your kind words, but who said I was “in good shape”. These days I am better at keeping others in good shape than I am myself. Although I enjoy being “outside” and keeping active as often as possible and in as many ways as I can, I have succumb to the stresses of running my own business and associated bad eating practices (these are some other blog topics you can consider) and now I am at least **kg over my preferred weight. Though it still amazes me what I can do that my young Gym junkie, fitness fanatic students can’t.
This blog actually came along just as I was taking a hold of the situation in an attempt to rectify it and has helped by providing extra motivation. Thank you again.
Eric – I love this blog entry. I despise any type of exercise, so I don’t do it. What I do enjoy is the 90 minutes of Vinyasa Flow yoga that I do every morning. I also enjoy the roll practice that I do three times a week, the solo paddle that I do every Saturday when I’m not traveling and the paddle with friends every Sunday morning. When commuting in town, I have a personal rule of no cars unless I’m transporting kayaks, so I bike ride or walk. It’s amazing how many things you miss when you’re driving. I always take stairs instead of elevators, and I climb random trees. Also, every evening I do a one mile hike on one of the trails in the redwood forest behind my house. I stop at my favorite stump and drink a beer (when beer is involved it’s not exercise). Okay, so all of these things keep me in decent physical shape, but I love them, so, more importantly, they keep me in mental shape as well 🙂 Happy paddling.
I agree with Kenny about surfski paddling! (I’ll send Eric a couple of articles about that shortly.) Water-based locomotion is ideal – swimming, rowing, canoeing, paddleboarding, SUP’ing, etc. – because moving yourself through water is such a unique skill set. Activities that challenge your balance are especially useful. But I suspect that the vast majority of paddlers are missing out on speed / power work the most. I heard about a recent study where “couch potatoes” were shown to be more powerful (in a 30 second bicycle ergometer sprint) than highly trained endurance runners! Think about it: when was the last time you did something *as hard as you can?* The good news is that a little bit goes a long way, and a just a couple or short sprints or high-weight lifts per week can really preserve or improve your power. You should ease into this sort of training, though, and proper technique is always the most important thing.
Excellent insights Professor 🙂
I cant speak much about kayaking or water involving sports as I have never really engaged in them, but just to add my $.02.. Pace yourself.
Training for the Big Sur marathon in late 2009 I took on too much too fast from a distance perspective, never having ran more than 3 miles at a time. For 3 months i quickly built up the distance I was taking on, and by the end of the 3rd month had achieved 15 miles at a 10 min/mile pace (not hugely fast, but not that slow either). The day after Christmas 2009 I was in my 8th mile when I felt massive sharp pain on the bottom of my left knee cap. Long story short, after PT, a PRP injection and most recently, knee surgery, i’m still recovering from that injury of over a year ago as well as the Dec 21, 2010 surgery.
My advice – stretch and understand your limits 🙂
Kenny is right when he extols the virtues of paddling with surf skis. I am really looking forward to Don Kiesling’s upcoming essays on this very blog site, starting next week. Thank you Don!
I like Helen’s “despise every type of exercise” attitude. The main thing is she stays physically active by kayaking (not exercise, no), walking around town (where we live a walk into town involves traveling up and down a mountain), and climbing random trees (not redwoods I hope, as climbing one takes half a day, and then you have to climb down). After doing all that, she certainly deserves a beer!
Andrew is right–don’t overtrain. I hurt my hip a couple of days ago by over-stretching (I know it seems impossible), so be careful doing that as well.
Great comments, everyone! As a personal fitness trainer by trade, I am an advocate of whole body training. Most sports, kayaking especially, concentrate on some parts of the body as opposed to the whole. As Wayne’s story illustrates, that can be a bad thing. Also, as Andrew points out, overtraining can really bring you down, and one thing I’ve noticed, especially about men and sports, is that it’s hard to know when to be moderate and when to go all out. One of my favorite quotes from the movies is, “A man’s got to know his own limitations…” (Clint Eastwood). Generally speaking, unless you’re training for something really specific and challenging that requires it, I would avoid going all out, especially as one ages. And then, I’d get guidance from a trained professional in the field. I will attest that the one thing that has kept me going, and proficient if not excelling in all my activities, is cross-training. Yoga, especially, as I’ve gotten older, has kept me active on the jujitsu mat contending with guys twice my size and half my age. Eric, I hope you do a post on flexibility – it’s one thing an athlete simply can’t do without!
Great idea about a post on “flexibility for kayakers.” It shall be done–by you, Nancy. Please send me a draft with photos in 30 days (after we come back from our ski trip, and you finish your yoga immersion, and I return from the Golden Gate Sea Kayak Symposium).
Now I’m going to go soak my hip in the hot spring so I can get it relaxed and flexed enough to do jujitsu tonight.
Hard to argue with your personal trainer, eh Eric! Something peculiar to kayak paddling though – it’s a very “symetrical” form of exercise. Done with proper attention to the biomechanics, there is very little risk to over-developing one side of the body, or over training for that matter; mixing up the training is the key, with some rest days thrown in. Elite kayak racers are doing thousands of miles per year in training with no repetitive motion injuries. For the non-elites, like most of us reading this, cross-training makes a lot of sense. Speaking of cross-training, I’ve come to know a few Australian Ironmen through surfski racing; these are the fittest people on the planet, without doubt: running, swimming, paddling (skis and paddleboads) – all on the beach and in the ocean. Before Don beats me to it, here is a hilarious article about professional ironmen training down under, written by my New York writer friend Joe Glickman (a good paddler, to boot!): http://tinyurl.com/4roztrv
Good point, Kenny. If it’s true that elite kayakers are doing thousands of miles per year with no repetition injuries, then that is indeed smurfy. What I want to know is how many paddlers who started hard workouts at 25 or younger are still going strong in the same sport at 50, with no repetition injuries? The late, great Steve Sinclair played water polo as a teen and pioneered storm sea skiing, then suffered from a wrecked shoulder in his early 40s. Most Olympic-hopeful competition swimmers I know who started as kids are done with serious swimming by 25, many (especially butterfliers) because of shoulder issues. (Dara Torres is a major exception, of course; but she cross trains!)
Very entertaining and informative article by Joe Glickman. Thanks!
Great pictures…wow, Nancy the stud! I ‘m not a sea kayaker (only been on the river with a paddle…almost died but that’s a long story I’d rather forget). My training to stay fit is fast walking, hiking, tennis, and my new fab toy Wii Fitness Plus! In one afternoon I can do Yoga, balance and strength training, ping pong, tennis, golf, step aerobics, and hula hoop—without leaving my living room.
Eric, there is ample evidence that paddling is for life – even at a very competive level. My mentors of paddling – Greg Barton, Oscar Chalupsky, just to name a couple from a long list – were world champions in their youth, and have remained world class into their late 40’s and early 50’s! Some of this has to do with their freakish abilities, and some of it can be attributed to their devotion to fitness and cross-training, year round, year after year. This is a relatively new phenomena in history – the “evergreen” athlete. Another amazing thing we hear from the young South African paddlers: their dads were surfski champs, too! These pepole start young, and keep at it for their whole lives.
About Steve Sinclair’s injury: I have to believe he injured his shoulder in an agressive bracing maneuver while surfing a 20′ wall of whitewater onto a reef during a winter storm in Mendocino, or maybe he bashed it in a sea cave, or pulled it while towing a disabled sailboat 5 miles offshore (or did he do that with his teeth?). Pure paddling doesn’t hurt a shoulder, but some types of agressive strokes will tweak your joints and muscles.
Most olympic athletes have to give up competition while still in their 20’s for one reason or another (often it’s about money, or lack of) – but paddling is one of the exceptions. I race with a Frechman in his 50’s; he competed in 6 summer olympics, and he still a human ball of steel! Like your girlfriend Dana Torres, Josefa Idem is another ageless wonder: she has competed in 7 (seven – count them) olympics in kayaking, and is considering London 2012. In Beijing, at age 43, she won a silver medal in the 500m K1 sprint – loosing to the much younger winner by 4,000th of a second!!!
Paddling is for life – lucky us.
Stephanie–this Wii thing is for real? You get the same bennies as if playing ping pong for real? Wow. This could be fitness-of-the-future.
Kenny–I just knew you’d have a snappy comeback. Thanks for the facts re paddling for life. That is super good news. Full speed ahead!
Well hi Eric. This is the first blog I have ever done, but since I’ve just noticed you’ve put a photo up of me in your last blog, I kinda feel part of your blog site, so this is as good a time as any to have a go!
Yes, I totally agree with a variety of activities for all 3 reasons you mention. I primarily like to sea kayak, and do conservation work in the bush (ie., steep up and down through beautiful natural environments doing something useful); which exercises both upper body, and lower body, and gives me opportunity to appreciate two of our most beautiful environments here in NZ every week. But I have recently re-added yoga because I found I was getting sore around hip joints, and the yoga seems to have done the trick (I think by stretching muscles that get regular contracting work out). I also do the odd cycle trip, and if the weather is too inclement for any of those (outdoor) activities, and I feel the need for exercise, it’s to the swimming pool. But apart from a balanced physical exercise regime, I also like to balance physical, mental and spiritual aspects of my life. Of course these physical activities do contribute to mental and spiritual well-being as well as the physical. But I feel even better when I can also incorporate study and meditation into my weekly activities (mostly at the Auckland Buddhist Centre). It’s rather unfortunate that I still also need to earn a living, which does cramp one’s style rather! So, like my face book page, I will probably spend little time blogging but it’s really nice to catch up with what you are up to, and feel your presence on these pages.
When you come to NZ again, let me know. Always welcome!
Erica, thank you so much for commenting. You are in excellent shape so I listen when you list your cross training activities. I think you make a strong point about balancing the physical with mental and spiritual elements of living.
You mentioned that work gets in the way of exercise and other activities, and I agree (one reason I retired). I had one blog reader who didn’t want to post a comment, so he emailed me that he works up to 60 hours a week in a physical job and just has no energy for cross training. I am truly amazed at people who do physical labor full time. I do hope they have enough energy for leisure and to develop mental and spiritual interests.
Hi Eric,
For me, a big reason to cross train is that I lack the discipline that would be required to train in only one activity. When I look at the training logs of cyclists, distance runners, K1 paddlers etc, I know I could never do it.
For example, when training for a 67km mountain run I only managed one 100km week, while the experts tell me I should have been knocking out 160’s regularly. I didn’t, I finished eight of them, and my knees are still OK.
Same with paddling; How Paul Caffyn sat his ass in a kayak every day for a year and paddled around Australia is beyond me. Two months in I would have traded the Nordkapp for a bike just for a change!
Paddling has not been my emphasis for the last few years, I’ve spent most time on martial arts, but even then I mixed up the training and the arts. Running, weight-training, and calisthenics (body-weight exercises) have always been part of my lifestyle and I try to do two sessions, of some kind, a day. I don’t beat myself up (there’s plenty of others happy to do that) if I don’t manage that goal, but that is the aim.
I will now be putting more time in the boat, and that will also be mixed up. If it’s flat I take out my race boat and work on speed and smooth forward paddling, but when the wind blows it’s time to play in the sea boat. I can even get a good workout without leaving my small bay by working on skills and playing around for an hour or so, rather than simply go for a paddle for the sake of it.
After reading other parts of your blog I may even leave the kayak in the boatshed and do some swimming!
Well, JKA, whatever your exercise routines are, you are in top shape. In a month or so I’ll write a post on martial arts and kayaking, and would love to read your comments.
And yes, swimming is probably the closest sport to kayaking, and it’s so pure. I especially like to swim underwater. At the local pool (which is mineral spring water), I do most of my “laps” underwater. I find underwater swimming to be more natural and graceful. I feel like an otter or dolphin underwater, and love to explode to the surface, take a breath, and dive down very smoothly. I have several underwater tricks and exercises I do. Who knows, someday I may post on that.
Thanks for writing!
Eric, this is a great subject, but I had to eat a big slice of pie and lie down on the couch after reading what some of you lads and lasses are doing. Whew! I’m with Helen on gyms. Goodness knows, I’ve tried them off and on over the years, but just can’t sustain the level of boredom they induce. And I always seemed to get carried away and injure something.
As a barometer of fitness, I recommend developing a “psychic bond” with your sea kayak. If you have more than one sea kayak, just go with your favorite. That’s what I did, and last Spring my kayak appeared to me in a dream. “Moulton, I’m waiting, if you think you can still squeeze your blubbery buttocks into the cockpit….” That sort of thing. I heeded the call and dropped 11 lbs in 3 months – not too bad for a pre-geezer. I’ve never had an exercise-related injury in my sea kayak, but there were times this past summer when I found myself whimpering at 3am and crawling toward the OTC pain meds. Hike for lower body, paddle for upper body, eat pie, replace your precious bodily fluids with good micro-brewskies – dang, next thing you know, you’re buffy tight-buns…
Moulton, you may be on to something with pie eating. Seriously! My wife Nancy and our martial arts professor Hung Le are big pie eating advocates. They like to eat a piece of pie for breakfast before a big five-hour martial arts workout. I would puke if I did that.
Me, I like a slice of homemade Meyer lemon meringue pie in the evening, as a reward, while I’m watching something motivating on the tv–like Hawai 5-0 reruns.
Eric, Nancy and Professor Hung Le are obviously seasoned Pie Black Belts. I’m a Yellow Belt, and it’s Key Lime or Pecan Pie, after paddling, with South Park re-runs for me.
I’m a strong advocate of a fun paddle followed by an egg & bacon roll and a hot cup of coffee. Surely that’s training enough??
Surely. Remember, everyone loves bacon–and don’t call me Shirley!
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Hi there.
Would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re using? I’m looking
to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a tough time choosing between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your design and style seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique.
P.S. Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
We’re on WordPress. I really like it. I don’t know anything about other blog platforms, but I frequent other blog sites and would often like to comment but they have weird ways of asking you to sign in and it’s too freaking hard for me to figure out what I need to do. On this site you can just click and comment. I imagine the hurdles to comments on other sites are means of filtering spam, but it’s not really a problem for this site. I’ve only been spammed successfuly a couple of times and I can just remove the comment. Good luck!