Written in parts by both Amber Maslen and Dan Goddard
Amber
Canoe slalom means a lot of hours on the water. There are so many moves to learn, drills to repeat, environments to become accustomed to; weathers to accept! Maybe because I live in Scotland I appreciate the summer more, but being warm on the water twice a day feels like someone has arranged a surprise party for you. Tomorrow we begin the long drive out to Europe, and I can’t wait. Its going to be roasting, with amazing whitewater, in beautiful cities, for nearly five blissful weeks. Canoeing twice a day on some of the best whitewater Europe has to offer.
Some of the most ‘frequently asked’ questions I get is how often do I go to the gym, running, land based sessions etc. The answer has changed over the last year. Before I would tell you that I gym three times a week, with as many canoeing sessions as possible crammed in either side, on top, and above, with potentially one rest day every two weeks. After being ill at the start of the year, I am definitely starting to appreciate the benefits of preparation, recovery and planning.
Yoga is pretty popular on social media at the moment. You can bend into excruciating poses, find yourself, often taking full advantage of a new bikini (guilty!) and summertime happiness. There are so many places to find new stretches, poses and movements, its like there are hundreds of people online doing it with you. But as well as all the aesthetic advantages of yoga, it has the benefit of actually preparing your body efficiently for hard sessions. Some moves in the boat are dynamic, and force your body into positions it wouldn't naturally adopt. Yoga can approach those moves in a controlled manner, to allow your body to become used to the spine bends, twists and recoils without getting injured.
Gym is important. Even if athletes don’t specifically lift weights. For me, the movements of gym, like yoga, prepare your joints and muscles for dynamic movement. Just with gym it becomes possible to create resistance, put your muscles under more stress in a controlled way. From nearly five years of strength and conditioning, I have learnt that very few sessions allow you to deliver brute explosive power in a progressively harder way. And you can count all the numbers; keep charts, have numerical goals, which is pretty satisfying when on the water a lot of my goals are subjective and to do with ‘feeling’.
Now as far as running and things go, I think its quite personal as to what benefits an athlete the most. My weakest ‘training zone’ is when my heart rate is between 150-160bpm. I find it hardest to maintain steady aerobic exercise at that pace compared to say, threshold loops, or explosive sprints. So for me, running every week is an important session - not just for gaining fitness but also for recovery. Theres probably nothing scientific about it at all, but it just feels as though the lactic has gone from my upper body into my lower body after a nice long run.
Nothing compares to being on the water for canoe slalom, but there are a few sessions that feel as though they optimise my body to get the maximum from those sessions. Its all about preparing your body to be the best it can be.
Dan
Its also interesting when people ask about land based sessions. They always seem to refer to hard physical sessions. I think there is so much more. Recovery being so vital, with things like yoga and foam rolling, Then there is also the mental and technical. We can learn so much out of the boat. Planning in time for video sessions, thinking and planning training, reviewing what has and is working well and what not so well.
To Amber
This there anything else you feel you do that aids canoeing performance? I know you always seem to watch all the world cup live streams.
On the yoga side of things, myself and Amy do the 30 days of yoga series on the youtube channel – yoga with adriene (link this), this we plan to do normally after fulls and halves each week. This is a way of feeling you are adding in training which is going to help you overall, but not impact the quality of your other technical sessions.
I also feel that its not only the positions but the control between the transitions between moves, trying to make them as controlled, smooth and graceful, like you would be if you were surfing a wave with control or gliding around an upstream. The better we can move our body, the better we will be out on the slalom course.
To Amber
What Yoga do you do?
Running was always an interesting one for me, as a Junior I did loads. I could not get on the water as much, and with the thinking the fitter I was, the more paddling I could get done when I could go canoeing! As years progressed I did less. However what I did start doing was playing squash (normally with Colin Radmore, Gaz Wilson, Joe Clarke and Zak Frankin) – This was Fun, was very physical, but more importantly very speedy, Speed and quickness of movement was something I very much needed.
Amber
I like watching the world cup series, mainly to get technical feedback from the best paddlers in the world but also to get a sense of the atmosphere at world cups. I think having a good idea of what environment I will be racing in will set me up better to prepare mentally for those kinds of competition. Understanding the behaviour of other paddlers at races is important to me, because I'm quite sensitive to my emotional environment. Though world cup races seem to have a great sportsmanship atmosphere, and loads of sound paddlers in the same place!
I actually started doing yoga with my mum a few years ago, and we just did 12 different holds. But I really enjoy it so I've just been adding new positions and movements to my routine until it's nearly an hour long! I always go on youtube for new routines if I'm getting bored.
To Dan
Do you think yoga does anything in terms of mental exercises?
Dan
Interesting, I think Yoga promotes calmness and control, both of which are very important in canoe slalom. Im not that fussed with the "spiritual" side of it all, that can get a bit too much for me sometimes and I kind of ignore it. Think this actually puts some people off I think. If they were to view yoga as a means of getting better body movement and having control over your movement then this change of attitude may mean more people see it in a positive light (esp guys)
To Amber
What would you say your gym is like?
What kind of physical athlete are you? - Speedy? Strong? Endurance?
What exercises do you think are good for canoeing?
Have you tried the Barsence app?
Amber
I dont really do many Olympic lifts anymore, so the specialised equipment we use for bodyweight and dynamic exercises is key. The atmosphere is great, and I think this is essential to a good gym environment; when you're surrounded by exceptional athletes, its hard not to try to reach the same level as them.
I'm quite a powerful athlete. Its hard to say in relation to canoeing, because I'm not the strongest or the speediest. But that could be interpreted as technique and the efficiency of my style. Basically, I'd say I have one of the best strength to weight ratios in the gym, but my technique in the boat has a lot more development to go through before I can translate it efficiently to.
I'd say pull ups are a classic canoeist exercise; our whole movement in the boat relies on being strong through primarily our upper back and lower core muscles, then our arms and chest. Pull ups work all of these muscles successively, again in a controlled and measureable manner. In my gym sessions we compare my 'push to pull' ratio to highlight which exercises could use more load.
And nope not tried the barsense app.
Canoe slalom means a lot of hours on the water. There are so many moves to learn, drills to repeat, environments to become accustomed to; weathers to accept! Maybe because I live in Scotland I appreciate the summer more, but being warm on the water twice a day feels like someone has arranged a surprise party for you. Tomorrow we begin the long drive out to Europe, and I can’t wait. Its going to be roasting, with amazing whitewater, in beautiful cities, for nearly five blissful weeks. Canoeing twice a day on some of the best whitewater Europe has to offer.
Some of the most ‘frequently asked’ questions I get is how often do I go to the gym, running, land based sessions etc. The answer has changed over the last year. Before I would tell you that I gym three times a week, with as many canoeing sessions as possible crammed in either side, on top, and above, with potentially one rest day every two weeks. After being ill at the start of the year, I am definitely starting to appreciate the benefits of preparation, recovery and planning.
Yoga is pretty popular on social media at the moment. You can bend into excruciating poses, find yourself, often taking full advantage of a new bikini (guilty!) and summertime happiness. There are so many places to find new stretches, poses and movements, its like there are hundreds of people online doing it with you. But as well as all the aesthetic advantages of yoga, it has the benefit of actually preparing your body efficiently for hard sessions. Some moves in the boat are dynamic, and force your body into positions it wouldn't naturally adopt. Yoga can approach those moves in a controlled manner, to allow your body to become used to the spine bends, twists and recoils without getting injured.
Gym is important. Even if athletes don’t specifically lift weights. For me, the movements of gym, like yoga, prepare your joints and muscles for dynamic movement. Just with gym it becomes possible to create resistance, put your muscles under more stress in a controlled way. From nearly five years of strength and conditioning, I have learnt that very few sessions allow you to deliver brute explosive power in a progressively harder way. And you can count all the numbers; keep charts, have numerical goals, which is pretty satisfying when on the water a lot of my goals are subjective and to do with ‘feeling’.
Now as far as running and things go, I think its quite personal as to what benefits an athlete the most. My weakest ‘training zone’ is when my heart rate is between 150-160bpm. I find it hardest to maintain steady aerobic exercise at that pace compared to say, threshold loops, or explosive sprints. So for me, running every week is an important session - not just for gaining fitness but also for recovery. Theres probably nothing scientific about it at all, but it just feels as though the lactic has gone from my upper body into my lower body after a nice long run.
Nothing compares to being on the water for canoe slalom, but there are a few sessions that feel as though they optimise my body to get the maximum from those sessions. Its all about preparing your body to be the best it can be.
Dan
Its also interesting when people ask about land based sessions. They always seem to refer to hard physical sessions. I think there is so much more. Recovery being so vital, with things like yoga and foam rolling, Then there is also the mental and technical. We can learn so much out of the boat. Planning in time for video sessions, thinking and planning training, reviewing what has and is working well and what not so well.
To Amber
This there anything else you feel you do that aids canoeing performance? I know you always seem to watch all the world cup live streams.
On the yoga side of things, myself and Amy do the 30 days of yoga series on the youtube channel – yoga with adriene (link this), this we plan to do normally after fulls and halves each week. This is a way of feeling you are adding in training which is going to help you overall, but not impact the quality of your other technical sessions.
I also feel that its not only the positions but the control between the transitions between moves, trying to make them as controlled, smooth and graceful, like you would be if you were surfing a wave with control or gliding around an upstream. The better we can move our body, the better we will be out on the slalom course.
To Amber
What Yoga do you do?
Running was always an interesting one for me, as a Junior I did loads. I could not get on the water as much, and with the thinking the fitter I was, the more paddling I could get done when I could go canoeing! As years progressed I did less. However what I did start doing was playing squash (normally with Colin Radmore, Gaz Wilson, Joe Clarke and Zak Frankin) – This was Fun, was very physical, but more importantly very speedy, Speed and quickness of movement was something I very much needed.
Amber
I like watching the world cup series, mainly to get technical feedback from the best paddlers in the world but also to get a sense of the atmosphere at world cups. I think having a good idea of what environment I will be racing in will set me up better to prepare mentally for those kinds of competition. Understanding the behaviour of other paddlers at races is important to me, because I'm quite sensitive to my emotional environment. Though world cup races seem to have a great sportsmanship atmosphere, and loads of sound paddlers in the same place!
I actually started doing yoga with my mum a few years ago, and we just did 12 different holds. But I really enjoy it so I've just been adding new positions and movements to my routine until it's nearly an hour long! I always go on youtube for new routines if I'm getting bored.
To Dan
Do you think yoga does anything in terms of mental exercises?
Dan
Interesting, I think Yoga promotes calmness and control, both of which are very important in canoe slalom. Im not that fussed with the "spiritual" side of it all, that can get a bit too much for me sometimes and I kind of ignore it. Think this actually puts some people off I think. If they were to view yoga as a means of getting better body movement and having control over your movement then this change of attitude may mean more people see it in a positive light (esp guys)
To Amber
What would you say your gym is like?
What kind of physical athlete are you? - Speedy? Strong? Endurance?
What exercises do you think are good for canoeing?
Have you tried the Barsence app?
Amber
I dont really do many Olympic lifts anymore, so the specialised equipment we use for bodyweight and dynamic exercises is key. The atmosphere is great, and I think this is essential to a good gym environment; when you're surrounded by exceptional athletes, its hard not to try to reach the same level as them.
I'm quite a powerful athlete. Its hard to say in relation to canoeing, because I'm not the strongest or the speediest. But that could be interpreted as technique and the efficiency of my style. Basically, I'd say I have one of the best strength to weight ratios in the gym, but my technique in the boat has a lot more development to go through before I can translate it efficiently to.
I'd say pull ups are a classic canoeist exercise; our whole movement in the boat relies on being strong through primarily our upper back and lower core muscles, then our arms and chest. Pull ups work all of these muscles successively, again in a controlled and measureable manner. In my gym sessions we compare my 'push to pull' ratio to highlight which exercises could use more load.
And nope not tried the barsense app.