Engaging Your Legs for Best Performance
I’m excited to dive into an important topic today: using your legs effectively while paddling. Whether you’re a beginner or looking to perfect your technique, understanding how to engage your legs can significantly enhance your paddling experience.
The Importance of Leg Engagement
One of the five fundamentals of stand-up paddling is primarily utilizing larger muscle groups over smaller ones. Many paddlers struggle with activating their primary muscle groups while on the water. The largest muscle in our body—our glutes—plays a pivotal role in our performance, yet they often remain inactive or weak for many paddlers.
Overview of Paddling Technique
Before we dive into specific drills and exercises, I want you to remember that our stroke can be broken down into two primary parts: the set and the drive. (often called the “catch” and the “pull” by other coaches) During both phases of the stroke, it’s essential to focus on using the legs.
One challenge many paddlers face is the tendency to rely heavily on their upper body, but it doesn’t have to be this way. By shifting the focus to your lower body, you can improve body mechanics, prevent injuries, and maximize strength and efficiency.
Key Steps to Activate Your Legs
Let’s explore how to better engage your legs while paddling:
- Foot Positioning: Your feet should ideally be pointing forward, not outward. You can also try staggering your feet so that the paddling side foot is slightly (about a foot length) back from the other. Using regular video analysis, check to ensure your knees are tracking over your feet and not collapsing inward as you paddle.
- Isometric Activation: Stand up and try this with me! Without moving your feet, create resistance by imagining you’re spreading the ground apart—this helps activate your glutes and the muscles in the backs of your legs. Another technique is to practice isometrically (without actually moving them) externally rotating your feet and pressing them apart. You can do this on your board while paddling and it’s a trick I recommend often to help the the glutes to engage.
- Body Mechanics: One key to effective paddling is having a bend in the knees. Bending the knees allows for better movement in your hips as you load into the legs. A bend in the knees assures the entire body is being lowered and not just the upper body on to the paddle.
- Hip Hinge: When paddling, remember to emphasize a proper hinge at the hips. Instead of folding or “bending” over using your upper body, focus on keeping your spine neutral. Initiate the movement from your hips, using the glutes, with a bend in the the knees. As the hips draw back, the upper body lowers while the spine remains neutral and the core stable. Reverse this moment, call a hip extension, as you drive yourself to and past the paddle, using your legs.
Drills to Enhance Leg Engagement
Here are a few drills you can implement to engage your legs effectively:
- Balance and Foot Movement: Practice standing on your board, shifting your weight forward and backward while keeping your feet planted. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart to maintain stability.
- Spread the Board Drill: Stand with your feet hip-width apart on your board. Without moving your feet, imagining you are spreading them apart. Feel the glutes and the muscles in the back of your legs activate. Paddle with this engagement held at 25% effort.
- Hip Hinge Drill: Hold your paddle behind your back with three points of contact between your body and the paddle. The back of the head, the middle of the shoulder blades, and the tailbone. Lower down like you are taking a stroke without losing any of the three points of contact on the paddle and then come back up. Focus on the hips hinging back and the knees bending. If you lose any of the points of contact, you are losing spinal neutrality.
- Video Analysis: Take video of yourself paddling regularly for analysis and feedback, . Observing your technique with a coach will help you identify areas needing improvement regarding leg engagement.
- You can find ALL of my SUP Stroke Technique Drills on the Seychelle SUP app by clicking HERE.
Final Thoughts
Activating your legs while paddling is crucial for performance, power, and injury prevention.
For a more detailed explanation and video demonstration, download and join the Seychelle SUP app on your phone today. All of these drills and more can be found in the learn section of the app.
Thank you for reading the blog post! I hope this information is helpful.
If you have questions about this topic or have other aspects of paddling you’d like me to cover, feel free to comment or reach out on Instagram or Facebook at @seychelle.sup.
Stoked and Grateful,
Seychelle