This shoulder and chest stretch has become one of my favorites, especially after a long paddle session.  Over time, this exercise will help increase shoulder flexibility and may help alleviate shoulder pain.

1.     First, take a wide and loose overhand grip on the shaft of your paddle.  Let the paddle rest against the front of your legs.

2.     Next, inhale and raise the paddle up and over your head while maintaining completely straight arms.  The key to this exercise is to keep your arms straight.

3.     Bring the paddle all the way down behind your back again maintaining the straight-arm position.  Your chest will be facing outward and shoulders pulled back.

4.     Last, exhale and lift the paddle back over your head and down in front of your body to the starting position.  This counts as one repetition.

**If you find it challenging to execute this movement then try loosening your grip on the paddle’s shaft and widen your grip spacing between hands.  Remember to keep your arms straight.

**Perform two sets of 10-12 repetitions, slowly working up to sets of 25-30.  Over time, after you have gained enough shoulder flexibility and are able to move your grip closer on the paddle, you can perform up to 50 repetitions at time.

**Perform this exercise in a slow tempo and in a controlled manner.  Please be careful with this one and only do what is comfortable.

As a fitness trainer I have worked with many different types of athletes in order to make them stronger for their sport and to help minimize injury and muscle imbalance.  I find that athletes will often place more of their focus on training areas of strength, which is fine, but I want them to also strengthen their areas of weakness to give their bodies more overall balance, power, and resistance to injury.   I sometimes find that stand up paddlers lack the leg and lower core strength in comparison to their upper bodies.  Therefore, this article is dedicated to all you stand up paddlers who need to throw a few leg strengthening exercises into the mix.

As an example of the above mentioned upper/lower body strength imbalance, I have chosen to single out Hawaii’s Morgan Hoesterey, an accomplished stand up paddler, swimmer, freediver and all around waterwoman.  Morgan is the first woman to ever complete the Molokai race, solo, on a stand up board and she is about to embark on another amazing journey in early April.  Morgan and her friend, Jenny Kalmbach, are attempting an almost 300 mile paddle across all of the Hawaiian Island channels to raise money and awareness to the huge problem of marine plastics debris. (http://destination3.com/the-cause/ ) Their project is named Destination 3 degrees (www.destination3.com ) and the only other two people to ever complete this challenging series of crossings were Laird Hamilton and Dave Kalama.

 
It may be a small joint, but it can cause some serious discomfort and fatigue after a long paddle if you’re not aware of proper wrist angles.  In this article, I will briefly discuss the structure and function of the wrist, proper paddling technique, and how to strengthen your wrists to protect them from injury.
 
Structure and Function:
 
The wrist joint is extremely complex, but is basically the joint where the ulnar and radius bones of the forearm meet up with the carpal bones of the hand.  The wrist is designed to be very mobile to give our hands a full range of motion with fifteen bones that connect the hand to the forearm.  Take into account that there are also many ligaments, tendons, muscles, nerves, and blood vessels that make up the structure of the wrist.   All these components work together to allow us to flex and extend the hand, straighten our fingers, and make a fist.
 
Unfortunately, the wrist is not meant to support bodyweight.  Too much weight coupled with too many repetitions (such as high repetition push ups with your palms on the ground) is tough on your wrist joints and can cause tendonitis.  That’s why paying attention to your wrist angles while stand up paddling is so important.