'Pull yourself to the paddle.' ...Eh?

[Wetstuff]

Is that her at about 1:30..?

[PonoBill]

Yup, but she's just chillin'.  Unfortunately there don't seem to be videos of her new stroke. Remarkable that she took a winning stroke and tossed it in favor of something technically better--very Tiger Woods of her. She used to toss herself on the paddle at the catch. Now she sets the blade, gets a huge torso twist and hip thrust. If the guys weren't switching over to the same thing she'd be kicking their asses. Of course she does anyway, at least in a lot of cases. Candace has changed her stroke too, though not as radically. Fiona Wylde always had it, but she's emphasizing hip movement a little more. Not surprising that women are starting to lead the way in stroke development. They don't have upper body strength to toss away.

Here's Fiona at Turtle Bay when she beat Annabelle in the upwind section. Hips give you power in upwind:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuS55CojlFE&feature=youtu.be&t=129

[mrbig]

 JP Slate 7'6" slug paddle training device. Check. 20 knot NE headwind. Check. HR monitor. CHECK!

All the responses plus reviewing the Larry Cain vids helped enormously. The personal place of confusion for me was bending from the waist and moving my hips forward. Catch 22..

By George I sorta kinda figured it out with all of the help. The new lower hand, bent elbow, bend reach and twist, push from HEELS, and pull that paddle, eh by not using my arms. Needs work but it's a start. Am a kinesthetic learner so once I felt it - mo bettah! HR ave 135 peak 156 no shocks and a happy cardiologist.

The poor woman did not understand peak 178 HR in long period hurricane swells!!

[digger71]

Not to confuse this too much, but my friends who study biomechanics would yell at me otherwise.

While Larry says bend at the waist, he doesn't really mean that, and certainly doesn't do that.  The hinge is at the hips/pelvis.  Bending at the waist is done by flexing the lumbar spine rather than correctly tilting the pelvis.  It's a subtle difference but is all important to the health of your lower back.  Google will get you good examples of good and bad form. 

Gray Cook is a guy worth listening to if you ever have a chance.  He explains well how alternating parts of the body are made for either stability or mobility, and how disfunction in a mobility joint causes us to compensate by flexing an area meant to be stable.  Tight hips, need to bend over, flex the lumbar spine - as an example.

http://graycookmovement.com/?p=118

[mrbig]

Digger71, Great stuff. I studied Hellerwork with Joseph Heller ( a Rolfing variant ) and Structural Analysis so you are absolutely correct regarding where you might choose to bend from.
That history was part of my confusion as what I been taught a very long time ago seemed to be at odds with what some paddlers were espousing!!

[Wetstuff]

Interestingly, I tend to hinge at the pelvis if my knees are somewhat bent vs a Japanese bow if knees locked.  Seems obvious, but this sclerotic brain had to feel it...  Back to shorter paddles. 

Jim

[nalu-sup]

One more perspective that is key for me in all sports involving flexion; for me it always works best if I think of it starting at the ankles, and everything above that flexes in response. When we talk about flexing at the hips in a paddle stroke or any athletic movement, I like to make sure that the ankles flex just as much, so that the angle forward of my tibias and my spine are always roughly equal. When I think about getting the paddle blade deep enough at the start of the stroke, I start the flexing down movement from the ankles, and then the knees and hips flex in response. Flexing primarily from the hips puts us off balance forwards and stresses the back muscles to stabilize. Flexing primarily from the knees puts our hips too far back behind our feet, and can cause knee problems. To use examples from other sports: Focusing on bending the knees is one of the greatest problems for skiers since it puts them in the back seat. The key is to flex the ankles which drives the tibia forward into the front of the boot thereby driving the skis. The knees and hips just flex in response to this in order to maintain centered balance. What confuses people is that when you flex the ankles they see the knees move at the end of the tibia lever arm, so there eye is distracted by the knee movement, instead of seeing where the movement really came from in the ankles. When you flex just the knees, you see the hips drop back and down shifting the weight onto the heels. The same is true of the ready position in all action movement sports like tennis. Weekend warriors tend to stand with their ankles straight and bent over from the hips and waist. Pros stand with deeply flexed ankles and balanced flexion above that, which puts them in a better position to spring off.
Today I really enjoyed playing with the image of bringing the hips forward to meet the paddle during the stroke; thanks for that great tip. Once again, the key for me in this was unloading the flexion in the ankles so that the hips could unload forward.
Just a different perspective that I have found to be key for me in performance and teaching in all my sports.

[LaPerouseBay]

^ Great stuff nalu,  I'll be thinking about that tomorrow morning.

One of my favorite sayings is 'When you get your hips into it, that's when the magic happens.'