Exercises on Land to Improve Your Kayaking
22nd Aug 2024
Table of Contents:
Exercises to Improve Your Kayaking
It takes five minutes in a kayak to realize the physical endeavor you have set yourself on. And while you don’t have to be breaking olympic records while on your weekend relaxation adventure, doing some kayak-focused exercises can greatly improve your experience on the water. Such exercises can improve your kayaking strength and endurance, help prevent injury, and leave you feeling less sore on the days after. These exercises are quick, easy, will improve your kayaking experiences, and prove helpful for other quality of life improvements!
Who Needs to Improve Their Kayaking?
Who doesn’t need to improve their kayaking is the better question. No matter your age flexibility, or strength, you can always take your body to the next level to further improve your kayaking experience. Continue to reach new distances, achieve new speeds, and further explore the water aboard your kayak. Here are some easy kayak-focused exercises you can add to your life right now.
Planks
This classic core exercise is something I’m sure we’re all familiar with to some degree. An improved core will allow you to generate more power on each paddle stroke as you rotate through your body. More core endurance will directly translate to more kayak endurance.
Planks don’t require any special equipment and can be modified as needed.
How to do this Exercise
Start by laying flat on your stomach with your arms along your side and your forearms braced against the ground. With your legs extended back and feet placed hip-width apart on the ground, push up on your forearms and straighten your triceps. Squeeze your quads and glutes while activating your core to hold this upward position for a challenging interval (i.e. 20, 30, or 45 seconds). The goal would be to increase the amount of time you can hold the position.
To modify, instead of bearing load on your feet, drop your knees down to be your back base. Still brace with your forearms and straighten your triceps up front to elevate your body.
Squats
Squats are a classic leg exercise that are easy to incorporate and can be scaled tremendously. Given that your quads are often used for each paddle as you brace your legs inside the kayak, doing squats can greatly improve your paddle strength and endurance.
Squats can be done with just your body weight or with a number of different weights. Go as deep as your body will allow, shorter squats will be easier than deeper ones.
How to do this Exercise
Start with your feet about hip-width apart. Bend at the knees and waist to drop your hips back towards the floor. Keep the weight on the balls of your feet as you drop your hips as far as you can go before pressing through the floor to extend your legs straight back up while keeping your back straight throughout.
Body weight is a great way to do squats, you can add more reps as needed. For a harder challenge, dumballs or a barbell can be introduced to add an ever scaling amount of weight such that your squats are always a challenge.
Book Grab Exercise
The book grab is another easy, but surprisingly effective exercise you can do right now. This exercise targets your forearms, which is something easy to overlook, but absolutely crucial for kayaking and the control of your paddle. Forearms can easily be the first muscle to start getting sore without the proper training.
How to do this Exercise
To do this exercise, all you need is a book. For more of a challenge, grab a thicker, heavier book. Stand with your feet hip-width apart and stand straight. Grab the book in one hand along the spine and hold it with your arm at your side. Hold for 20 seconds before switching sides. If you aren’t feeling it in your forearm, find a thicker book. Repeat for 15 times on each side to help increase that forearm strength and endurance.
High-to-Low Wood Chop
The wood chop is a more fun exercise that can really challenge muscles throughout your core, obliques, back, and shoulders. All these muscles, especially the shoulders and back, are crucial for paddle endurance and strength.
How to do this Exercise
To perform this exercise, you’ll need either a resistance band or access to a cable machine at your local gym. You’ll either attach this resistance band above head height or move the cable box as high as it can go. Stand to the side such that the cable is coming from over one of your shoulders, now you can grab the cable with both hands. Stand in an athletic stance with your feet just outside of hip-width. Activate your core and bring the cable from your shoulder down to your opposite hip across the front of your body then carefully resist the weight as you bring the cable back to your original shoulder. Do 12-15 reps, then switch sides. Do 3 to 4 sets.
This exercise scales in both weight and muscle group. More or less weight is always an option to make it easier or harder. For a more arm-focused exercise, enable your shoulders and arms to make more movement. For a more core-focused exercise, keep your arms straight and focus on the rotation through your abdomen.
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Why the Flip-Kat® Works for All Body Types
While having stronger and more flexible muscles is always the right move, so is having the right kayak The Flip-Kat® is exactly that, no matter what kind of shape you’re in. The streamline design of the Flip-Kat® glides easily over the surface of the water making for resistance-free travel while the stable base of the Flip-Kat® design ensures that you’re never at risk to tip in. With comfort in mind at time of design, you are never too crammed in your Flip-Kat® giving a more comfortable experience while sitting in your kayak. You can, of course, stand on your Flip-Kat® as well giving this kayak the ultimate flexibility.
Conclusion
Whether you’ve been kayaking for decades or are just getting into this fantastic hobby, finding easy, fun exercises for everyday life that can improve your experience on the water are a must-add to every kayaker's journey. They help improve your strength and endurance on the water to bring you to new places and have new experiences! Every kayaker can benefit from these exercises just like how the right kayak can also improve every kayaker’s experience on the water. Get a Flip-Kat® and start doing some squats to get your kayak game to the next level!
