In final month’s situation we checked out the commonest method errors and fixes related to the catch, the a part of the stroke the place the blade enters, gathers water and begins to tug. On this situation we’re going to check out probably the most widespread errors folks make when paddling SUP – holding their physique weight contained in the board and failing to get it on the paddle. It limits the power of the paddler to get the board “on high of the water” the place it has much less resistance to ahead motion in addition to limits their skill to go with the work being performed by paddling muscle mass with physique weight and the drive of gravity appearing upon it.
We’ll take a look at this situation intimately utilizing the identical format we used final month and can use in coming situation when discussing method errors and fixes, particularly:
- What’s the situation?
- How do you establish this downside in your stroke?
- How do you establish this downside in others or on video?
- How one can right the problem.
Staying “inside” the board
What it’s: Staying “inside” the rails of the board can greatest be described because the failure to get physique weight onto the paddle in the course of the stroke, as a substitute holding it absolutely on the board as a substitute. The paddler doesn’t lean outdoors the rails of the board in any respect the place physique weight have to be supported by the paddle, and as a substitute cautiously retains his/her weight centered squarely over the ft.
This negatively impacts quite a lot of issues together with:
- one’s skill to trace their board straight
- stability
- the power to get the board sitting excessive within the water
- the quantity of energy that’s generated within the stroke
Once we keep “inside” the rails of the board with our physique weight (consider all of your higher physique weight being over your ft) our high hand is often located contained in the board as nicely, positioned roughly over the middle line or lengthy axis of the board. On account of this the paddle blade, reasonably than being tucked proper up near the rail is farther from the facet of the board than it must be. You’ll see a noticeable hole between the rail of the board and the place the paddle enters the water. This will increase the turning impact of every stroke, making it tougher to trace straight.
As a result of physique weight centered over our ft is contained in the rails of the board reasonably than being loaded onto the paddle blade, the board is for all intents and functions floating nearly all of our physique weight on a regular basis by the stroke. Which means that the board sits deeper within the water than it will if we have been capable of get a few of our weight off the board and supported by our paddle when it’s buried.
In fact, a board that sits deeper within the water has extra wetted floor and subsequently extra resistance to ahead motion. In impact, it’s plowing by the water reasonably than skittering throughout the floor as it will be if we might get it sitting greater within the water. This makes the board slower and makes it tougher to maintain pace. It makes the stroke tougher and fatiguing to tug. It additionally makes us much less secure as a board that sits deeper within the water will get pushed round by waves greater than a board sitting greater within the water, which is extra more likely to “skip throughout the highest of the waves” as a substitute of being pushed round by them.
Staying contained in the board impacts stability in one other means. If you may get weight off of your board and onto your paddle it offers you one thing to “lean on”, as it might probably assist a sizeable share of your physique weight. We’re all conversant in a brace as a approach to preserve stability once we lose our stability. By slapping our paddle blade flat on high of the water at our facet, we will lean on it lengthy sufficient to save lots of our stability and regain stability. What many paddlers don’t understand is that the catch is so much like a brace. If our blade is supporting our physique weight as we collect water on it on the catch then it’s serving the identical perform as a brace does with respect to stability. If we don’t get weight on our paddle on the catch and our weight stays fully contained in the rails of the board, we grow to be so much just like the mast on a sailboat. When the board wobbles, we are inclined to wobble with it. It turns into a lot more durable to let the board transfer beneath you with out you transferring with it. So, when the board rolls in a single path we’re more likely to both roll with it in the identical path or overcompensate by shifting weight in the other way, risking dropping stability to the other facet and falling off the board in that path.
Lastly, we have to keep in mind that gravity is a drive that acts on mass. If we will get a few of our physique mass outdoors the rails of our board, nearly to a degree the place we really feel like we’re going to fall in if the paddle doesn’t take our physique weight, gravity will act on that mass and successfully add to the forces our muscle mass are exerting towards the water loaded on the paddle. We are able to use this impact to both make our stroke extra highly effective, extra sustainable or some mixture of the 2.
Clearly, there’s a lot that’s misplaced if we fail to get our physique weight off the board and onto our paddle by staying contained in the rails of our board. Now that we perceive the problem, let’s take a look at how one can establish it.
Figuring out this downside in your stroke: There are just a few telltale clues that you simply could be staying contained in the board if you’re paddling. If any of those describe the way in which you are feeling if you’re paddling it’s price getting some video taken to see whether or not in truth staying contained in the board is an issue.
If you happen to really feel unstable if you enterprise the load of your higher physique wherever apart from centered immediately over your ft and so are reluctant to attempt to apply physique weight to your stroke, you’ll very seemingly be staying contained in the board if you’re paddling. If all your weight stays over your ft to take care of stability you’re by definition staying contained in the board. Mockingly, the very factor that you simply try and do to really feel extra secure (holding your weight centered cautiously over your ft) results in you truly being extra unstable as a result of the easiest way to realize stability is by getting weight off your ft and onto your paddle in order that it might probably assist you. Additionally, in case you’re getting extra physique weight onto the paddle in the course of the stroke you’ll be going sooner, and pace helps with stability as nicely. If you happen to discover you are feeling actually unstable in even the tiniest ripples on the water, you’re not getting sufficient weight in your blade are seemingly staying contained in the board. What you need to truly be doing is getting a great portion of your weight above the waist off of your ft and on high of your paddle.
If you happen to’re reluctant to maneuver round in your board, there’s a good probability that you simply’ll be holding all your weight over your ft if you’re paddling as nicely.
If you happen to’re having a troublesome time monitoring your board straight and discover you possibly can solely take just a few strokes earlier than needing to vary sides to steer, it’s also extremely seemingly that you’re staying contained in the board. What is probably going occurring on this case is that your paddle is coming into the water too removed from the facet of the board as a result of your high hand is just too far contained in the board, growing the turning impact of every stroke.
If, if you paddle beside another person, you are feeling their board surges ahead way more each stroke than yours, there’s a chance that you simply’re staying inside your board greater than they’re. Additionally, in case you don’t see noticeable adjustments in your nostril wave from the catch to the pull to the exit, then by the restoration to the subsequent catch, there’s a good probability you’re staying inside your board (see “Visible and Auditory Cues to Good Paddling” on this situation for extra on what the nostril wave can let you know about your paddling).
In all of those instances, look to see how removed from the rail your paddle blade is when it enters the water. Whether it is something apart from tucked proper up towards the rail on a constant foundation then there’s a great probability you may have an issue that wants some consideration. Now, look to see the place your high hand is if you’re catching. In case your paddle blade is away from the rail, it’s nearly a certainty that your high hand is not going to be over the rail (or higher but over the water) however as a substitute over the within of the board. Relatively than seeing their high hand prolonged in entrance of their face, most individuals with this situation will see it prolonged extra to the within of the board and even perhaps over the middle line of their board. These are all telltale indicators of staying contained in the board. If you happen to see any of those indicators in your self whilst you’re paddling it’s a good suggestion to take some video and get a greater look.
Figuring out this downside in others or in your self when video: If any of the eventualities talked about above appear to use to you and also you’ve regarded to see in case your high hand is contained in the board if you’re catching, it’s price asking somebody to take some video of you so you may get a greater look. This situation is so much simpler to establish from outdoors by video than it’s whereas paddling your self.
As described above, look to see the place the blade is relative to the facet of the board when it enters the water. If you happen to can see a spot between the blade and the facet of the board when catching it’s a downside. Look to see the place the highest hand is on the catch. You’ll be capable to assess this greatest in video taken from straight in entrance or behind. If the highest hand is over the board reasonably than over the rail or over the water it’s an issue that requires consideration.
Most paddlers are capable of get off the board and onto their paddle in the course of the pulling part. If you happen to take a look at the video and give attention to the center of the pull, you might even see that the highest hand is over the rail/water. On this case the paddler has managed to get their weight off of their ft and onto the paddle for this a part of the stroke. Nevertheless, this doesn’t imply that they’re doing the identical factor on the catch. The concept is to get weight off of the board and onto the blade as quickly as potential, proper from the catch. This may elevate the board out of the water sooner and supply extra acceleration earlier within the stroke. Then the load that goes on the paddle in the course of the center of the pull will simply construct on what was began on the catch, offering a way more highly effective stroke that sees the board persevering with to rise within the water because it continues to speed up.
Determine 1 exhibits a paddler with their high hand contained in the board and the paddle blade nicely away from the board on the arrange simply earlier than the catch. Word the place of their high hand and corresponding place of the place their paddle blade enters the water in determine 2. If you happen to’re on this place you’ll be contained in the board as you collect water on the blade and start to tug.
If you happen to see that the highest hand is contained in the board on the catch it’s an issue. Along with not offering the elevate and acceleration described above, the blade shall be farther from the rail (and subsequently farther from the middle line of the board) which means that instantly upon catching there’s a better than desired turning impact to the stroke making monitoring straight way more troublesome.
One other factor to notice is the place of the higher physique in relation to the hips and ft. If you happen to see that the paddler is standing up straight, with hips stacked above the ft and higher physique and head above the hips, there’s an issue. On this case, all of the paddler’s physique weight is stacked over the ft, which means none is outdoors the board and on the paddle. Word how in determine 3 the paddler has all of his physique weight primarily stacked on high of his ft reasonably than a few of it outdoors that base of assist and leaning over or towards the water.
If you happen to discover any of these items within the video you’re analyzing then there are steps that must be taken to repair a reasonably main downside.
Correcting the problem: Probably the most crucial factor in correcting “staying contained in the board” is getting weight off of your ft and onto the paddle. We are able to think about this from two views:
1. As seen from the facet (or alongside the size of the board)
2. As seen from the entrance or again (or throughout the width of the board)
The corrections that must be made alongside the size of the board are the identical as these described within the dialogue on “taking too lengthy to bury the blade” within the submit “SUP Method Errors and Fixes half 1 – The Catch” within the August situation. Please check with that dialogue. You’ll be attempting to get weight off your ft by transferring it ahead, in order that your heart of mass is barely in entrance of your physique. This may put you in a barely unstable place as you prolong ahead to catch that can require that your paddle assist your physique weight because it enters the water as a way to maintain you feeling secure in your board.
Corrections that have to made throughout the width of your board are described under:
- Take into consideration crunching your paddling facet rib cage and hips collectively: To get higher physique weight off of your ft and over the water you’re going to should lean from waist over the water. The best means to try this is to consider crunching your paddling facet rib cage and hips collectively in an nearly equivalent vogue to the way in which you’d do it when doing facet crunches to your exterior obliques within the fitness center. Determine 4 is from Seychelle’s Instagram, exhibiting how a lot enchancment may be gained by utilizing this repair.
This alone will get a great quantity of your higher physique weight off of your ft and edge it near the water on the paddling facet, however will seemingly gained’t be sufficient to fully deal with this situation. You will get simply get much more weight off the board and onto the paddle with the subsequent correction.
- Use your hips to counter stability weight the goes over the paddling facet: You’ll recall once we mentioned “Sitting within the chair” in “SUP Method Errors and Fixes Half 1 – The Catch”, that utilizing the hips to counter stability ahead motion of higher physique weight as we attain leads to much less weight occurring the paddle. That is true once we think about physique weight switch alongside the size of the board. Nevertheless, once we think about using our hips to counter stability throughout the width of the board it seems that it doesn’t have the identical detrimental impact. It truly facilitates positioning of the higher physique in such a means that it permits our complete paddling facet together with backside shoulder, head and even high shoulder, to recover from the water the place the load of all that physique mass may be loaded onto the paddle.
The important thing to getting on this place is holding weight evenly distributed between each ft in order that the board doesn’t lean (except you need it to for a steering correction). You’ll must be conscious of this weight distribution as you experiment with utilizing your hips on this vogue.
A great way to visualise what you need to together with your hips is to contemplate what you do when you may have your arms full and need to shut the automobile door. You place your self in such a means that your hips are beside the door after which form of hip verify the door shut. Doing this identical movement after which sustaining it whilst you prolong ahead to catch ought to assist you to get your physique into the best place.
You’re mainly attempting to get right into a place the place your shoulders are not in the identical horizontal airplane beside one another however as a substitute are “stacked” with the within or high shoulder nearly over the underside shoulder within the vertical airplane as you’re about to catch. Your head must be immediately over your paddling facet shoulder such that you’re wanting straight down your paddling facet arm in direction of your backside hand.
Determine 5 exhibits me on this place as I’m is setting as much as catch the water. Word how my paddling facet is “hanging over the water”, my shoulders are “stacked” and my head is over my paddling facet shoulder.
Determine 6 and seven present me in the identical place as I catch and as soon as the blade is totally buried. Determine 8, from Danny Ching’s Instagram, exhibits him on this place with the blade fully buried as he’s starting to tug after finishing the catch. These are the positions you’re attempting to attain and must be seeing if you take a look at your self on video.
- Take into consideration “reaching to catch” and catching the water with your entire paddling facet of your higher physique: As you prolong your paddling facet hand ahead to the catch (reaching to catch), it should assist you to add in hip and shoulder rotation such that your complete paddling facet is prolonged. Then, in case you’ve used your hips to counter stability as described above you’ll be capable to get right into a place the place it looks like your complete paddling facet is stretched out and hanging over the water. Once you catch on this place it’s nearly like your complete paddling facet turns into concerned within the catch with all of its weight in place to load onto the paddle. Determine 6 actually demonstrates this nicely.
There are two issues I take into consideration that I discover useful in reaching this place. The primary is to attempt to open the angle between my paddling facet arm and my torso (determine 9).
The better this angle turns into the extra I’m exposing my paddling facet, from my hips to my paddling facet hand to the water and the extra weight will get on the blade. The second factor is actually only a visualization that helps open that angle. I attempt to visualize catching with my paddling facet armpit, or if you wish to take a look at it one other means, the very high of my paddling facet lat. After I catch nicely I can truly really feel the muscle mass beneath my arm on the very high of my lat soak up a number of the load as water gathers on my blade.
- When you’ve accomplished the catch, proceed to pile weight on the blade: If you happen to’ve been capable of execute the corrections described above on the catch, you’re doing nice however you aren’t completed but. It’s essential to proceed to load weight onto the blade by the pull till your blade angle is passing by vertical, at which level it’s time to begin unloading weight from the blade (we’ll discuss this in future points). If you happen to’ve bought weight on the blade on the catch, persevering with to pile weight onto the blade ought to really feel very pure. It’s merely a matter of going with the circulation that has been established. Determine 7 illustrates this very nicely. On this determine I’ve accomplished my catch and am into my pull and the picture clearly exhibits my physique in place to proceed to load weight on to the blade by the pull.
- Don’t try to unravel the issue by simply transferring your high hand throughout your physique in order that it’s over the water: Merely transferring your high hand throughout your physique in order that it’s extra over the water is not going to do something to vary the quantity of physique weight you’re getting on the blade. Whereas it should make the paddle seem extra vertical as seen from in entrance or behind and produce the blade in nearer to the rail, this can solely masks an issue that also exists. You’ll be getting no extra weight in your paddle and shall be placing your high shoulder in a compromising place. Making an attempt to exert any stress down the paddle shaft together with your high arm on this place is extraordinarily onerous in your shoulder and dangers a rotator cuff damage.
Determine 10 exhibits determine 1 with the corrected physique positioning outlined above layered over high of it in inexperienced. Word that the paddle, seen in yellow, is totally vertical on this determine.
Once you make these corrections, you need to see an instantaneous distinction within the traits of your board’s nostril wave. Since you’re getting extra weight in your paddle when it has most constructive blade angle there’s a better lifting part to your catch. There must also be way more acceleration which additionally will get the board to sit down greater within the water. These two issues will mix to see the board climb greater within the water way more shortly and to a better diploma, ensuing within the following adjustments to your nostril wave:
- Nostril wave will change shade, changing into “whiter” reasonably than the colour of the encompassing water
- Nostril wave will transfer additional again from the nostril of the board
- Nostril wave will grow to be louder
The adjustments to the nostril wave are all constructive indicators that you simply’re catching higher, with extra physique weight on the blade and that your board is accelerating extra and going sooner.
If you happen to use a GPS mounted in your board the place you possibly can see it, you need to see that your board is transferring sooner. If you happen to’re paddling with an everyday coaching associate, you need to get a sign of this improved acceleration and pace by how your board strikes relative to theirs.
Lastly, if you’re paddling in tough water, in case you are aggressive you need to really feel extra secure as your paddle shall be taking extra of your physique weight offering you with extra to “lean on” (see “SUP Stability Ideas for each New and Skilled Paddlers”)
Have enjoyable enjoying with this extraordinarily essential a part of the stroke and keep tuned for extra ideas in coming problems with The Catch!
Larry
