Looking for tips on my stroke... video

[headmount]

Nothing exciting here except a beautiful morning in Kahului and then a few stroke laps where I was hoping for some stroke critic from Zoners willing to watch .

 Pono Bill and I had intended to do a stroke vid of both of us to study and improve but the harbor was looking to get very busy with off loading so we slipped out of the entrance and did a 10 mile workout in mirror glass with the whales.  No vid of that.  When we returned he sprained his shoulder getting off his board but did shoot me doing a few short laps in front of the camera for study. 

With the KeNalu doing my quicker cadence and short stroke, it was 1.3 strokes/sec. with more reach it slowed to 1 stroke/sec. .   During our workout I could get my Bullet up to just over 7mph (according to GPS) on sprints but for only around a half a minute.  4- 5 mph is a comfortable, long distance flat water pace for me.  Jumping to even 6 requires a significant jump in effort.  A cool morning gave way to a very hot workout.  I sweated a ton of water.

Training harbor

[PonoBill]

Who's the fat old guy? I don't recognize him. On the bright side, if anyone runs me over in that wifebeater rashie with those color combinations it will clearly be murder. "I didn't see him, officer".

We're going to have to do that again with a lot more passes and a floating measuring stick. The few passes you did were too artificial, you didn't really get into a comfortable stroke.

Shoulder's feeling a little better. I'm glad you didn't get a video of that face plant.

[Mitchell]

Hey.

My name is Mitchell i am a Junior who paddles outrigger, dragonboat, and stand up paddling.

From what i see, and this is just my opinion, is that your bottom arm bends a significant amount at the begining of your stroke which in turn puts a lot more stress on your arm muscles and doesnt let your back, lats, and shoulder do work. A little bend is fine finishing up a stroke but i like to keep a generally straight or slightly bent arm.

Your paddle is not fully buried at the catch, It tends to be fully buried a few inches in front of your toes. Try to drop the outside shoulder and rotate at the hips a bit more.

With a bit more reach you seemed to be getting a better catch and burying a lot better than with the initial fast stroke.

The hipps and leggs seem very engaged and that is a very good thing.

Try to use a bit more rotation and engage the body as most people must do, and always think of being aggressive on the catch but make sure that blade is fully buried or else you are not using the paddle to its full potential at the positive angle.

Again just my opinion and i am young and am very very bias towards strong hip and shoulder rotation. 

[greatdane]

I can almost hear Kalama yelling from here; "reach, dammit, reach!"  You get reach in several ways; arm extension, shoulder rotation, hip rotation for starters.  You got the first one down, with arm extension, but you could get another 12" at least of reach with some shoulder/trunk rotation.  On the video, when you are going from right to left, and paddling on the left side of the board, we should be seeing a lot more of your back as your left shoulder rotates forward for the reach and catch.  More reach equals blade catch farther forward which equals a longer power phase of your stroke.  Right now you are short-changing yourself by limiting the reach. 

Of course, all my opinion and I hope it is helpful to you.

I gotta assume Pono is telling you some similar info...

Great way to learn for sure... I had Dave K. analyze a video of myself last year, and it helped me greatly. And then I took his clinic and he helped me even more.  Paddling OC6 has also allowed me to really focus on stroke too. Cheers.

[balance_fit]

Hi guys !

I looked at your video a while ago when you originally posted it and today again. Mitchell's review is spot on, from a paddler's point of view.
From another point of view, as physiotherapist this time, i feel there is a limited amount of core involvement (rotation and flexion) during the power stroke. Seems that your power comes more from the slight hip rotation visible on the video and a considerable contribution from the arms via shoulder extension.
It may help to find out which muscle groups feel the tighter after a hard, or race pace workout.
Possibly, a well designed flexibility program might help you reach your goals. We got to free the core !
 
Also, it would be interesting to compare your different cadences against GPS speed for a set distance.
Besides all that, i was mesmerized by the natural background in the video....sorry guys !

Be well

[hbsteve]

For just a few minutes, try moving your board foreword using just rotation.  Don't even reach far.  It isn't fast efficient.  But you will get a feel for how it can help.  Like gears on a bike, you have to adjust to conditions.

[headmount]

Wow thanks guys... especially Mitchell who wrote very clear.  I wrote down your comments to use as a mantra.  My shoulder is feeling better than ever and I have a great new blade thanks to our resident secret agent so I'm ready to refine....

Yeah I know the background was nice that day!

[Mitchell]

Glad everything is working out well

[robcasey]

we were there in december - high winds daily! nice to see it glassy.  great video. 

a what Beau W or 'greatdane' stated above, i agree - you need more reach. a lot more.  take out at your toes for the shorter cadence.  one of kalama's tips is to put a piece of tape on your nose beyond where you normally reach as a new goal.  then extend it when that becomes comfortable.  speed comes from the front of your board, take advantage of it. 

can't tell from the video.. are you feathering your blade on the return to the catch?  that helps with speed even on calm days, as you're making your own wind per se. 

also use loose grip on the shaft with both hands which helps focus your energy elsewhere. 

[paddlesurfpastor]

I have a lot to learn.

[pdxmike]

I'm no great paddler but have been thinking about the stroke a lot--hoping to make up for reduced training by increased thinking.

My biggest thought lately is that you can do everything right according to the best advice, and still not paddle correctly.  This is all based on personal experience.  I'd bend, rotate, extend, reach, etc.  If you took a photo of me at the point where the paddle is entering the water, I wouldn't look that far off of how a good paddler looks.  But I had no power.  

I've been watching videos from last year's Hood River race.  What the fast people are doing that I don't do is hit the water and pull in one agressive motion.  So I set aside the standard advice and started thinking of something Laird Hamilton said in passing at a talk with Dave Kalama in Seattle that I saw.  He was saying there's something appealing about paddling because it's the same motion a caveman would make to stab a sabre-tooth tiger with a spear.  He made the motion of holding a spear and jabbing down over and over.  So I've been trying that.

The difference between that and what I was doing is that I stay more upright when I get the paddle in position, then to get it in the water I try that same stabbing motion while bending and keeping my arms almost locked.   If you are already bent forward before that point, you have no power.  But if you stab the water and pull back all in one motion, then you have more power.  

So now I think of standing upright, getting the spear into position, and then stabbing down hard.  If you think of it that way, you'll automatically do the shoulder extension, torso rotation, etc. along the way.  But you'll have way more momentum and power.  I'm going through almost exactly the same motions as before, but with a change in thinking and momentum.  My pause is at the top of the stroke (when upright) while before it was later, after I was already bent forward, which killed my momentum.

It's like in swimming fly--if you pause at the front of the stroke, with arms extended, them sweep back and out, your momentum carries your arms through and back to the front.  You think of the stroke starting at the front and ending at the front.  It makes fly easy and rhythmical.  I can swim a mile of fly easily now.  Most people do it the opposite way-- pulling back as hard as they can, then the stroke ends at the back with your arms at the sides.  Then you start the next stroke by lifting your arms forward and pulling back again.  But if you do that, you'll exhaust yourself and lose all momentum and power and rhythm.  

[Tom]

That's a god explanation pdxmike, similar to what a 6 man outrigger canoe raced told me.

 Got a general question, which arm do you pull the most with; top, bottom, or both equally?

[pdxmike]

That's a god explanation pdxmike, similar to what a 6 man outrigger canoe raced told me.

 Got a general question, which arm do you pull the most with; top, bottom, or both equally?

I used to do more of a push with my upper arm and pull with my lower.  Then I asked some different fast people and every one of them said they pushed down with their upper hand.  Now when I look at fast paddlers, it looks like they're really leaning onto the paddle, putting their whole weight onto the top of the paddle and bearing down.  The lower arm isn't really moving much relative to the body.  The paddle is going back because of the leaning forward of the body and lower shoulder, and because the upper hand is moving the top of the shaft forward a bit as it gets pushed down.

So that's what I think about now--putting my weight into pushing down on the top of the paddle.

[natas585]

It reminds me of what a pole vaulter is doing when they plant the pole.

[SUPpaddler]

I'm a cave man too.  While pdxmike mike is the hunter stabbing sabre-toothed tigers, I am the gatherer/grower.  I take a long sharpened stick and sratch out a furrow in the hard earth.  So I reach out and stab the dirt in front of me, then drag the sharpened stick back in a straight line alongside me, keeping downward pressure on it all the while, until it gets past my feet.  Then I straighten up while lifting the stick, and start over to deepen the furrow.