Lose it and Use it!
Some are watching the calendar, while others are nagging me about it being a new week . . . “so where’s this week’s blog?” I guess I have it coming to me, I’ve been known to hassle my favorite bloggers (Derrick and Dick) when they have not posted in a timely fashion, at least by my standard. I like for the paper to be in the door when I make the coffee at 5:00 a.m. Of course once I start the coffee I then go do 30 to 40 minutes of “exercising”, wallowing around on the living room floor, in front of the TV that brings me “all the news”? from overnight.
This “wallowing” starts with my version of a few yoga pieces I feel that I can do to a reasonable level, that I've picked from the video Yoga for Paddlers. Then I do some stretching and work on the balance ball—things that I have picked up from the book Fit to Paddle. All aimed at increasing my flexibility and strengthening my “core” for better torso rotation--and, it does seem to be working! Besides losing 20 plus pounds (ok 23, with another 7 to 10 to go), I physically feel better. I also feel better psychologically.
And, I found out something else—after Saturday’s open water class, I had a pain in the right side of my back, muscular indeed. After taking a nice hot shower, along with some ibuprofen, it was still there, and it was still there Sunday morning when I got up! Ok, now I’m going to go do 11 hours in an ambulance, lifting and moving several heavy people during the course of the day, and I have this pain in my right back area. . .not good! So, I made the coffee, and went in to do my morning routine. The paper was already there—it’s going to be a good day! After my usual routine I got up from the floor and walla--the pain is gone! It’s going to be a GREAT day!!! Gentle stretching did what the ibuprofen and rest didn’t do, it chased the pain away—that must be it! Of course!!!!
Silbs has recently written about the importance of exercise and how important it is, as well as proper paddling technique.
There’s no doubt in my mind that exercising the muscles we use when paddling is a good thing, not only for paddling, but for everyday living (sorry Martha). Case in point: This past spring I had an “episode” where I strained a lower back muscle (my diagnosis). I couldn’t move for a few minutes and for the next three days I could not walk, or get in and out of the car without a great deal of pain. Naturally this happened as we were loading the car for a trip to St. Louis to visit our daughter—seven hours in the car? After 30 minutes, I decided that I was good to go and off we went. Within 15 minutes I decided that I was in too much pain to drive, I couldn’t make the gas to brake movement without a pain shooting into my lower back—so Oz (my wife) took over the driving, for the next 3 days.
Once we arrived in St. Louis, I made use of the hotel’s whirlpool and continued doing my stretches, amazing that they didn’t hurt too much to do—getting down to the floor and back up again was difficult though. By Tuesday I was still a bit sore, but better—certainly not well enough to do the lifting of an EMT though. Bottom-line is that by Thursday I was feeling like I would not be putting myself or anyone else in danger if I made sure I used proper lifting techniques, which we were drilled on in EMT class. I practiced with a barbell, and milk crate filled with weights—no problem.
When I saw my doctor a few weeks later, I mentioned this whole episode to him and he agreed with my conclusions that the stretching program I had been doing probably saved me from a much longer recovery period.
There’s no doubt that while the weight loss has contributed to better paddling technique/form; the stretching and exercising has improved my torso rotation by strengthening the core muscles, which has had a significant impact on my paddling. Hey, last night I even did a “cowboy reentry”!
When I speak of “torso rotation” I’m speaking of rotation that starts in the lower abdomen (at and below the umbilicus/navel) Most "torso rotation" I see is occurring in the upper chest area, resulting in more use of the smaller muscles of the arms and shoulders than if the rotation occurred lower in the abdominal area. This “upper chest rotation” tires the shoulders and arms more quickly and is not nearly as efficient as true torso rotation.
For more on torso rotation I recommend a visit to seakayaking dot net where you will find a series of articles on the subject. Additionally, don’t forget the references I made earlier to “Yoga for Paddlers” and “Fit to Paddle”. Put together a program to work on strengthening your core, start stretching, and practice true (deep abdominal) torso rotation on the water.
"Lose it" -- the extra weight. . ."Use it"--torso rotation. . .you'll be a better paddler for it!
Happy Paddling!
This “wallowing” starts with my version of a few yoga pieces I feel that I can do to a reasonable level, that I've picked from the video Yoga for Paddlers. Then I do some stretching and work on the balance ball—things that I have picked up from the book Fit to Paddle. All aimed at increasing my flexibility and strengthening my “core” for better torso rotation--and, it does seem to be working! Besides losing 20 plus pounds (ok 23, with another 7 to 10 to go), I physically feel better. I also feel better psychologically.
And, I found out something else—after Saturday’s open water class, I had a pain in the right side of my back, muscular indeed. After taking a nice hot shower, along with some ibuprofen, it was still there, and it was still there Sunday morning when I got up! Ok, now I’m going to go do 11 hours in an ambulance, lifting and moving several heavy people during the course of the day, and I have this pain in my right back area. . .not good! So, I made the coffee, and went in to do my morning routine. The paper was already there—it’s going to be a good day! After my usual routine I got up from the floor and walla--the pain is gone! It’s going to be a GREAT day!!! Gentle stretching did what the ibuprofen and rest didn’t do, it chased the pain away—that must be it! Of course!!!!
Silbs has recently written about the importance of exercise and how important it is, as well as proper paddling technique.
There’s no doubt in my mind that exercising the muscles we use when paddling is a good thing, not only for paddling, but for everyday living (sorry Martha). Case in point: This past spring I had an “episode” where I strained a lower back muscle (my diagnosis). I couldn’t move for a few minutes and for the next three days I could not walk, or get in and out of the car without a great deal of pain. Naturally this happened as we were loading the car for a trip to St. Louis to visit our daughter—seven hours in the car? After 30 minutes, I decided that I was good to go and off we went. Within 15 minutes I decided that I was in too much pain to drive, I couldn’t make the gas to brake movement without a pain shooting into my lower back—so Oz (my wife) took over the driving, for the next 3 days.
Once we arrived in St. Louis, I made use of the hotel’s whirlpool and continued doing my stretches, amazing that they didn’t hurt too much to do—getting down to the floor and back up again was difficult though. By Tuesday I was still a bit sore, but better—certainly not well enough to do the lifting of an EMT though. Bottom-line is that by Thursday I was feeling like I would not be putting myself or anyone else in danger if I made sure I used proper lifting techniques, which we were drilled on in EMT class. I practiced with a barbell, and milk crate filled with weights—no problem.
When I saw my doctor a few weeks later, I mentioned this whole episode to him and he agreed with my conclusions that the stretching program I had been doing probably saved me from a much longer recovery period.
There’s no doubt that while the weight loss has contributed to better paddling technique/form; the stretching and exercising has improved my torso rotation by strengthening the core muscles, which has had a significant impact on my paddling. Hey, last night I even did a “cowboy reentry”!
When I speak of “torso rotation” I’m speaking of rotation that starts in the lower abdomen (at and below the umbilicus/navel) Most "torso rotation" I see is occurring in the upper chest area, resulting in more use of the smaller muscles of the arms and shoulders than if the rotation occurred lower in the abdominal area. This “upper chest rotation” tires the shoulders and arms more quickly and is not nearly as efficient as true torso rotation.
For more on torso rotation I recommend a visit to seakayaking dot net where you will find a series of articles on the subject. Additionally, don’t forget the references I made earlier to “Yoga for Paddlers” and “Fit to Paddle”. Put together a program to work on strengthening your core, start stretching, and practice true (deep abdominal) torso rotation on the water.
"Lose it" -- the extra weight. . ."Use it"--torso rotation. . .you'll be a better paddler for it!
Happy Paddling!
posted by JohnB at 10:03
2 Comments:
Good advise, fellow back sufferer. During my last episode, I found an excellent therapist and she intoduced me to basic Pilates. As I know you know, these are great core stabilizing routines and deceptively stable. One of our fellow bloggers just did a serious on some exercises, one which is sitting on the floor and holding something ofweight that you turn and put down near your left hip. You then pick it up and put it on the right. It mimics core rotation and strenghtens.I look forward to more of your stuff.
Thanks Dick. While I've never had the back problems that you've had, the couple that I have had made an impression on me.
They're offering a Yoga class at my office, I'm debating on whether to sign-up or not. I remember another fellow paddler (male) who told me once that he signed up for a class and was the only male there--is that good or bad, I don't know, but it would probably be true here too. I'll have to think about that, I wonder if I can sneak a peek at the registration list. . .hmmmmm
Tue Aug 08, 11:48:00 AM CDT
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