If you have big plans for this SUP season and might even want to take part in competitions, you should slowly start preparing yourself optimally. In addition to training on the water, strength training is an important factor in improving performance and preventing injuries.
What looks simple at first glance turns out to be a complex sport with a varied requirement profile. To adopt all the technically correct body and body part positions on the SUP and carry out the underlying movements, the stand-up paddler must fulfill these requirements sufficiently. If you're aiming for top performance on the water, it's not enough just to hone your technique and stamina.
A lack of strength in particular can also have a negative impact on coordination and the efficiency and effectiveness of paddle strokes. However, strength deficits not only lead to reduced paddling performance and premature fatigue but also to gradual overloading and sometimes even injury.
That's why it makes sense for stand-up paddlers with a high paddle volume and intensive paddling sessions (competitions, long day trips) to prepare their muscles sufficiently in winter. If you invest a little time in your muscles twice a week and train them properly, you can reap enormous benefits from this dry training.
Stand-up paddlers should not only concentrate on the muscle groups and movement patterns that are predominantly adressed when paddling, but also train muscles and movements that are hardly used on the SUP. Such balancing exercises play a crucial role in preventing injury due to one-sided overloading. They even increase paddling performance, because only a balanced musculoskeletal system is also a powerful musculoskeletal system. For this reason, in addition to rowing movements and planks, squats, push-ups and pull-ups should also be included in a SUP training program.
Set training blocks
If you still have enough time before you take your first paddle strokes, you can divide your strength training into three blocks, each lasting several weeks. Ideally, you should start as early as winter with, for example, four to six weeks of strength-endurance training. All strength exercises should then be performed with at least 20 repetitions; for certain exercises, you can certainly aim for 30–40 repetitions. This helps stand-up paddlers increase blood flow to the muscles being trained and improve their strength endurance.
Ideally, the strength endurance block should be concluded with a week without strength training to give the body time to fully recover. With renewed strength, you then move on to the so-called hypertrophy block. For a further four to six weeks, you increase the weights so that you can now only do eight to twelve repetitions. The training is now more intense and will lead to more muscle development and maximum strength. Thanks to the previous strength endurance block, you are now in a better position to cope with this more intensive training load.
At the end, there is another week of recovery, which may be followed by three or four weeks of maximum strength training. The weight loads are increased again so that only a few repetitions per exercise can be completed. It should be a maximum of four to five repetitions, although you could always do one or two more (reps in reserve). But you don't, so you recover quickly after each set and avoid overloading yourself.
The results after these strength training blocks are impressive: more maximum strength, more speed, and more endurance in the 'paddle muscles'. In addition, all joints are better stabilized by the more powerful muscles, which again protects against injuries and overloading. Moreover, you'll have a better body composition.
Performance-defining exercises and movement patterns
In stand-up paddling, performance is primarily determined by the back of the body. This requires rowing or pulling motions with the arms, as well as extending the hips using the glutes and the back of the thighs. Not to be overlooked are the deep abdominal muscles and the deep muscles surrounding the shoulder joint — the so-called rotator cuff. All of these movements and muscles can be trained through various exercises.
Various rowing and pulling exercises are suitable for improving the power of the paddle strokes, whereby it doesn't matter whether you use barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, or stationary training equipment. In the medium term, however, I would always give preference to free weights over stationary training equipment, as they place a much more natural and functional load on the body.
Suitable exercises include bent-over rowing in a standing position or rowing from an inclined position using a suspension trainer (sling trainer). If you train in the gym, you can also perform cable lat pullovers.
Powerful and high-frequency paddling requires the upper body to straighten up quickly after each paddle stroke. An explosive hip extension requires strong hamstrings, strong glutes, and a strong back. The exercise of choice should be the deadlift in all its variations. This movement is similar to the transition between the recovery and catch phase of a paddle stroke or the movement when you lift something (heavy) from the floor. Deadlifts require technically precise execution because only with the correct technique will all muscles be well-trained and the back protected, even with heavy weights.
An alternative to the deadlift is the Good Mornings exercise. You place a barbell that is heavy enough for the repetition target on your shoulder blades and bend your straight upper body forwards before slowly getting it up again. The hyperextension exercise, in which the upper body is lowered and raised again on an incline bench in a prone position, has a similar effect but is a little safer to perform. Significantly less weight is used than for good mornings and deadlifts, and this exercise can be varied well.
The rotator cuff stabilizes and moves the shoulder joint and is primarily trained through exercises with fairly light resistance. Internal and external shoulder rotations and face pulls can be performed on the cable pulley or with an elastic training band. Windmills can be performed with dumbbells or kettlebells. You can also train flying movements (reverse flies) from a prone position or standing bent forward to stabilize the shoulder.
Planks are ideal for stabilizing the spine via the deep abdominal muscles and promoting the transfer of strength between the extremities. As this is relevant for all training exercises anyway, it makes sense to perform planks right at the start of training. This prepares the nervous system, the back and the abdomen well for the higher loads that follow. However, please only perform planks briefly and with maximum intensity, as these muscles only need to develop maximum strength for a short time. Three times ten seconds at maximum body tension is enough to benefit from this exercise.
Balancing exercises and movement patterns
Only a balanced athlete is a healthy, injury-free and high-performing athlete. Stand-up paddlers are therefore well advised to take care of muscles and movement patterns rarely used on the SUP. We now know that muscular imbalances carry an enormous risk of injury and also reduce performance.
That's why exercises for the legs should also be part of SUP strength training. They not only strengthen the muscles but also keep the ankle, knee, and hip joints flexible. In addition, the squat in all its variations is one of the best exercises for keeping your spine and back healthy. And that is precisely our greatest asset as paddlers. If your back doesn't play along, you can't produce powerful and long paddling performances.
In addition to squats, lunges are also very good. You can do these in the strength endurance block using only your own body weight. Later on, you can add dumbbells, for example, which you can then hold in your hands for a greater challenge. Intelligent training also means doing lunges in all directions, which in turn contributes to flexible and strong hips. And these in turn create a quick and powerful recovery phase to effectively initiate the next paddle stroke.
Push-ups can also be trained in a variety of ways and help to strengthen the front of the shoulders. Strong pulling movements and pulling muscles require strong pushing movements as a balancing element and correspondingly strong muscles on the front of the upper body. This contributes to shoulder health and can even optimize the reach and catch phase.
Overhead arm movements are just as important for the health and performance of the shoulder girdle. When stand-up paddleboarding, the shoulders are primarily pulled horizontally from front to back. Since there are no vertical movements, these should be trained separately to balance out the workout. Pull-ups and overhead presses are ideal for this. Whether using a kettlebell, a dumbbell, or a barbell — all can be pressed overhead with one or both arms, thereby complementing any SUP workout in the weight room.
As already mentioned, you don't have to invest an enormous amount of time in SUP-specific strength training. If you do three to five exercises of around three sets twice a week, you will invest a maximum of one and a half hours per week. The training days should be well spread out over the week to ensure adequate recovery.
If you start working out now, you'll get more out of your SUP ambitions this year.
Tips for optimal training
- each training session consists of performance-defining and balancing exercises
– two 30–45-minute workouts per week are sufficient
- this already includes the warm-up and cool-down
- three to five exercises per workout, two to four rounds (sets) per exercise
- plan recovery weeks after training blocks
- always warm up sufficiently before training
- strength endurance and hypertrophy are a must; maximum strength training is optional
- exercise the back at least twice as much or as intensely as the front of the body
- if you have never done strength training before, it is best to train under supervision at first
- only perform exercises that can be done without risk of injury
- adapt exercises and exercise variations to your personal anatomy or discard them
- start your routine moderately, as the load capacity is still low