THE KAYAKER’S CORE – Part 7: Is core training on land a waste of time?
Straight off the bat, I’m going to come out and say – yes, I think:
“A great deal of the core training kayakers do on land is a complete waste of time.”
In the earlier parts of this series, we established that a strong, stable core is vitally important for both life and kayaking, so why does it now sound like I’m poo-pooing core training?
If we want to maximise training efficiency (which I believe is essential for athlete wellbeing), then unless a land session is specifically designed to give the athlete a physical and mental break from the monotony of training in a highly repetitious sport like kayaking, sessions should be designed to enhance water performance and paddling efficiency. Unfortunately, I believe that much of the core training done by sprint kayak athletes on land doesn’t transfer to either.
Before we get into all the details as to why that may be, let’s kick off with a quick summary:
- Lack of core integration into general movement patterns
- Lack of core integration into paddling technique
- Focus only on core strength with a poor understanding of the how the other elements of core use affect paddling
- Sub-optimal boat set up
- Core dysfunction and large muscle imbalances leading to poor form (cheating) during core training and strengthened compensation patterns
- Poor selection of core exercises favouring mover strength rather than stabiliser strength
- Lack of individualisation in training programs (prioritising sport-specific over athlete-specific).
The Pandemic of Poor Integration
By the time an athlete reaches an elite level, if they’ve developed an efficient paddling technique that uses an integrated core effectively, they should already have a super strong core from using it to perform thousands of strokes every week. If you then add some extremely heavy lifts on top of that (also executed with good form and an integrated core), they shouldn’t need too much extra specific core training.
Yes, your average gym junkie on Instagram may need to do a ton of specific core work for their killer core – but Joe Bloe and his 60-pack abs are not paddling thousands of KM a year (or probably doing much other sporting activity). So let’s look at another more active sport that also requires a strong, stable core – Gymnastics.
As a group of athletes – artistic gymnasts (both men and women) have arguably the strongest cores on the planet. (For proof, I recommend watching Simone Biles win a $50 bet in a rope climb against NFL player (& hubby) J Owens, but it’s not only the GOAT with crazy core strength, search for any random gymnastics club on social media and you’ll find a bunch of 10 year olds with the kind of core strength that’s enough to reduce any kayak coach to tears).
That’s because in gymnastics integrated core strength is essential for being able to perform complex skills and manage huge forces without breaking something, or killing yourself…
If core strength were truly essential to fast paddling, (or staying alive in the boat), then every paddler would have a crazy strong, stable, and integrated core. But as we established in Part 2 of this series they don’t…
Sprint paddlers are often much more obsessed with the eternal quest to lift more weight in the gym (particularly with the upper body movers), than having a functional core. Because no matter how much we coaches love to preach about technique and efficiency – the reality is, some athletes (with the right body type) can get to the top of the sport with global strength and fitness alone, they don’t need efficient technique or good core strength and integration. However for the vast majority of athletes, this strategy is extremely limiting to performance (and comes with a range of injury risks).
So what to gymnasts do differently when it comes to the core?
Yes, they spend some time specifically training core strength, but as a percentage of total training time, not an excessive amount. There are just too many insanely difficult skills to learn and perfect on multiple apparatuses.
In contrast to many paddlers though, gymnasts then integrate this core strength into every single sport specific movement and skill they perform. Again I repeat – so they don’t kill themselves (and also because people sitting around in suits judge them on technical perfection during competition).
The problem with a lot of paddlers is that even if they do specific core training on land, they don’t use their core in an optimal or integrated way either on the water, or during their standard heavy lifts in the gym. And as mentioned in other parts of this series, highly trained paddlers also often have large muscle imbalances, and poor stabilisation strategies which can make integrating the core into sport specific movements very difficult.
These dysfunctional movement patterns have also led to a widespread phenomenon more commonly associated with the school exam room:
CHEATING...
TKH General definition of cheating: when an athlete performs any exercise using muscles other than the ones the exercise is designed for.
TKH Definition of cheating core exercises: when an athlete uses the movers to stabilise the body during core exercises.
The greater the athlete’s general upper body strength, the easier it will be for them to ‘cheat’ when performing core exercises (especially if the arm are involved). If their deep core stabilisers are relatively weak or inactive, their body will unconsciously solve this problem by taking over the core exercise with whichever movers (mobilisers) are strongest and available at the time, be it the arms, shoulders, upper back, pecs, hip flexors, legs, toes, eyebrows (maybe not the eyebrows, but you get the picture..).
In contrast to straight out poor form – which is relatively easy to spot (and more common with kids and juniors), cheating can be much difficult to detect from the outside, because if the athlete is strong enough, their form (if we talk purely about body shapes) during a core exercise can look quite good even when they cheat.
The main problem with cheating is, if the wrong muscles for the job are being recruited, this survival strategy will likely lead to little or no improvement in core functionality. In fact there is evidence to suggest that this can actually increase overall dysfunction [1]. Because if an athlete ‘cheats’ during core stabilisation exercises, both the stabilisers and movers may experience an improvement in strength from being under load, but there is likely to be little or no change in the relative contribution of each.
What’s primarily being strengthened are the compensation patterns the athlete is using, and the athlete will continue stabilising with the movers. Given that most paddlers predominantly use core training to improve the stability of the core and improve paddling efficiency, cheating core exercises is extremely unhelpful (ie. a waste of time).
Growing stabiliser strength with the athlete
As the athlete matures, the load/intensity of the stabilisation exercises* (for the whole body, not just the core) should increase proportionally to the growth in strength of the movers (from standard heavy lifting).
If this doesn’t happen, the higher the risk that the athlete will take over all stabilisation exercises with the movers. (This is part of the reason why some athletes who didn’t have any trouble with stabilisation as juniors, can suddenly run into issues as seniors if they experience large gains in general strength).
*Note – Just because a stabilisation exercise looks complex or intense (anything resembling a circus trick, or one of the endless number of flashy core exercises from Instagram) doesn’t necessarily mean it is heavier/more intense for the stabilisers than a basic one.
Some more complex core exercises are challenging balance and proprioception rather than core stabiliser strength, and others which offer multiple different challenges to different parts of the body, often just offer more ways in which the experienced athlete can cheat and use to the movers to stabilise.
That’s why it’s important to individualise core training and have a good understanding of any imbalances the athlete may have, because with the wrong exercise, for the wrong athlete – we are again, wasting time…
Remember:
A ‘complex‘ looking core exercise can be relatively easy with good core stabiliser strength, but performing a ‘basic’ one with good form will be brutal without it!
Strength vs. Integration
Sometimes even well performed core exercises (including the stabilisation ones I find essential) don’t transfer to extra power, efficiency, or stability on the water. That’s because strength is only one element in the technical equation.
If an athlete doesn’t have a paddling technique that is supported by an integrated core, (or a boat set up that allows for good core integration), core training on land will just make the athlete better at doing those specific core exercises on land.
In my opinion, these athletes would be better off using this training time learning how to integrate the core well into their paddling technique and general movement patterns.
That doesn’t mean I think we should get rid of all specific core training in the gym!!
It just means that I believe as coaches we should:
- help athletes learn how to engage and strengthen their deep core stabilisers
- help athletes learn how to disengage the movers while performing stabilisation exercises (for all parts of the body)
- choose core exercises that minimise the chance of ‘cheating’ and are intended for the deep stabilisers rather than the Instagram muscles
- be vigilant at looking out for muscle compensation patterns
- help athletes learn to recognise when they are taking over stabilisation with the movers
- program stabiiliser strength exercises as a ‘real’ part of sessions, instead of treating them as ‘prehab/rehab’
- scale the load of stabilisation exercises to match the athlete’s increase in global strength, making sure to load stabilisation exercises heavily enough for strong athletes
- take enough time to educate our athletes on how to use their core in an integrated way during ALL their training (and in life generally)
- help athletes integrate their core into their paddling technique
- spend time addressing large muscle imbalances/dysfunction
- encourage excellent form, body awareness, and efficient movement at all times.
We also need to regularly keep coming back to core basics with high quality execution regardless of the athlete’s level. Because while a strong integrated core isn’t essential to speed on the water, it is essential for efficiency.
Final note
If an athlete has been allowed to develop an upper body dominant technique that doesn’t use and integrated core in their junior phase, it then becomes very difficult and time consuming to (re-)integrate the core (and legs) into paddling by the time the athlete has reached an elite level.
Therefore it’s vital that the foundations for a strong, stable, and integrated core (and frame) are laid from the very beginning of an athlete’s journey. Because no matter what the age and level the athlete, if a coach wants to talk about improving technique, but the athlete doesn’t have the foundational strength, stability, and coordination to be able to support what is being asked for, it’s like trying to build a house from the roof down – a waste of time for everyone.
Yes, it’s generally quicker and easier in the short term (and less frustrating for the coach), to build general upper body strength, than it is to build a strong frame which is supported by an integrated core. And yes, some athlets (particularly juniors) will be faster with arm dominant paddling. However, aside from the increased injury risk that comes with arm/shoulder dominant technique and inefficient paddling, this strategy can be extremely limiting to the long term growth of the athlete.
I’m fully aware that in our medal driven sporting culture, (and with kids whose maximum attention span is a 15” TikTok) it can be quite difficult to convince athletes to spend time working on perfecting basics. This is of course where the Jedi Mind Games a coach has in their tool kit become so important (but that’s for a different post).