Paddling may be back on your mind, and if it is you may be considering options to get back in shape for the upcoming season. Most important is to protect yourself from injury so you can make it through the entire season.

As many of us know the most common mistake is to go too hard too early which can lead to injury. Start with some easy paddles at a mellow pace and give yourself some rest between paddles. Just get some miles under your belt before you get too serious about the training.

The following list of exercises will hopefully give you some ideas to get started on a training program while keeping your body healthy.

My favorite way to jump-start my paddling is a good surf trip

We can’t always be so lucky, so if you’re locked up at home instead of this barrel some of the following may help.

Rubber Band exercises to get the shoulders warmed up are a great way to get things started. These will strengthen your rotator cuff and deltoid muscles and stabilize your shoulder girdle. Two or three sets of 30 reps will do it.

Swimming is excellent cross training for paddling. Many of the guys who kick your butt swim in addition to paddle. Try starting with a good warm-up, which would include some kicking and a pull drill. The main part of my swim workout is a solid interval set giving me about 30 seconds between swims. The main set could be 1500 to 2000 yards for a 2500 to 3000 yard workout and is easy to complete under an hour. A few sprints are a good bonus for speed work.

Weights are a good way to feel stronger in your paddling. Start light if you are going to do them. I’ve always been a believer in reps over heavy lifting especially for the endurance sports. Also, when in the gym consider doing a series of exercises working different muscle groups to limit rest time. Perform it like a small circuit repeating without any rest. For example, a flys/tris/abs circuit. This will get you in and out quickly and give you some aerobic work too.

Tips while in the Gym

1. Do something to get yourself warmed –up before starting with the weights, hit a bag or ride a bike.

2. Use dumb bells over fixed bar exercises. Example, flys over bench.

3. Use your body weight in exercises like pushups, pull-ups and squats.

4. Avoid dips, military press and shoulder raise exercises that go above shoulder level. These exercises put your shoulder muscles at a disadvantage and can pinch them causing injury (especially the rotator cuff).

5. Remember paddling does use your legs and butt, so don't forget them, or they will forget you at mile twenty.

6. For those singles, get out of there before you meet someone that will distract you for the rest of the season.

Unfortunately nothing is a perfect substitute for the real thing. From my limited experience the more time I paddle the faster I go.

BT