Snappy Exit

As an canoe athlete in Canada I was always looking for ways to beat the winter cold and get a jump on my competitors,  and I often turned to the ergometer.  Now, in many sports people have found ways to make realistic training machines that do a rather good job at simulating the sport.  Rowing and Cycling being the two most obvious.  At the very least they allow you to train the right muscles and keep some semblance of the technique that you require in your sport.  I have yet to find a canoe ergometer that came very close to allowing me to feel like I was in an actual boat.

I used several machines over the years and found that the best ones were the ones with a moving platform.  They allowed the hips to move in a way that was very close to a real canoe, not just while you were pulling, but more importantly, on the exit.  They also helped to get the feel for keeping the boat gliding on the recovery as all of your body motions translated into movements on the platform so it was very easy to see the effects of throwing your weight forward (the platform would shoot back).

The major issue I had with paddling ergs was that my right hip (I paddle on the left) would always tighten up within minutes of me getting on the machine.  This was not something that I ever experienced in a real boat and it was enough to limit any erg workout so that there were no pieces longer than 3 minutes.

I attribute it to the following problems:

 Problem 1 - The platform is too stable.

Obviously the platform is usually a piece of plywood bolted to a sliding apparatus.  It does not rock side to side, it does not bounce up and down.  This is a problem because it does not allow you to feel the actual movements of a boat, and the rigid platform does not give way as your body moves forward, putting your front leg in a different position than where it would be in a real boat.

To solve this, I rasied my paltform onto some very springy springs.  They had to be quite rigid so that my body weight did not fully compress them.  The effect was good - the boat bounced and rocked - but I had to be extra careful because falling off an erg is both embarrassing and painful.

Problem 2 - All of the pull is front to back.

Even after creating some give on te platform of the erg, I was still having leg/hip problems.  So it I tried to make the stroke even more like an actual stroke.

We all know that a big part of the canoe stroke is the downward force you apply to the water by dropping your weight on the paddle.  I have yet to see an ergometer with any effective way to apply downward pressure.   Most ergometers create resistance using a pulley of some description - a good idea to create the front to back resistance.  This same resistance can be translated into vertical force by raising the pulley.  The higher the pulley, the more downward force you can apply; however, by raising the pulley you also raise the point of contact for the stroke resistance, effectively changing the stroke.  I was thinking that this problem is what caused my hip pain, since I was constantly trying to hold myself up instead of allowing my weight to fall on the paddle.

My solution to this was somewhat less elegant than the spring solution (and somewhat less effective).   Since I was in my own basement, I attached a stiff bungy cord (the black rubber kind) between the bottom of my erg paddle and the ceiling, just above the place where I start my catch.  It worked well on the catch, but interfered a bit with my top arm during the pull and felt really odd on the exit as the paddle was yanked out of the “water”.  But it was better than nothing and helped with my hip issues.

Of course, the first time the bungy broke I was cought completely off guard and went down to the floor fairly hard.  After that I checked the bungy regularly for wear and tear.

Overall my ergometer experience was less than satisfactory.  Has anyone out there had a positive experience using an erg on a regular basis for physical training?

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 12:25 am and is filed under Physical Preparation, Basic Technique. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.