The Globe and Mail: Making land-based training a friend to water-based athletes
Mastering a sport – the formation of athletic flow – requires practice. The brain needs to adapt to specific motions, environments and skills inherent to the activity.
Water sports, unlike land-based sports, such as running or basketball, are relatively inaccessible. Practising is a challenge; most of us don’t have lakes in our backyards. Thus, a tailored gym routine becomes that much more important. While no workout can completely replace participation time, there is no point wasting your gym workouts; mitigate the inaccessibility by adapting your training regimen to match the demands of the sport.
Base your gym routine around the answers to these key questions.
What is the dominant reflex profile required?
All sports require a combination of two primary reflex categories: righting and equilibrium. Righting reflexes are used to balance on fixed surfaces. Equilibrium reactions are used primarily on moving surfaces.
To decipher your sport’s “reflex profile,” parse out what proportion of these reflex categories are required, how quickly you have to react and in which position.
Most water sports require a dominance of equilibrium reflexes, but standing while reacting almost instantaneously to varying stimuli (e.g. surfing) requires a different reflex profile than the repetitive motion inherent to canoeing or kayaking. Choose exercises that match the balance, reactionary and positional demands of the sport.
If your sport requires standing on an unstable surface (e.g. stand-up paddleboarding), try squats on a balance board.
If your sport involves seated repetitive work on a moderately stable surface (e.g. kayaking or canoeing), try a balance V hold on a Bosu. Sit on the flat side of the Bosu. Lean back slightly, core engaged and shoulders back. Rotate your torso side to side.
For sports that require balancing on an unstable surface and transitioning from kneeling to standing (e.g. surfing), practise getting down and up off the floor and having to react to something. Try up/up/down/down: Start kneeling. Place your right and then left foot on the floor to end in a squat position. As you stand, a partner tosses you a medicine ball. Throw the ball back as you retrace your steps to kneel again. To progress the exercise, attempt it on the dome side of a Bosu.
Remember that balance exercises don’t replace traditional strength exercises. All athletes need a strong overall base. Do multijoint functional exercise such as squats and lunges, and include sport-specific balance exercises.
