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| Health—April
2007 Swiss Ball Exercises and the Kayak Roll Text and photos by John Amtmann |
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| Learning to roll a kayak requires
a bit of practice. For a few paddlers, it may take only 15 minutes
of in-water experience and drilling before they successfully roll
up on their own. More often it takes weeks, sometimes months, of
steady practice to do those first rolls without assistance. For many
paddling enthusiasts, learning to roll would be a lot easier if there
was a way to avoid hanging upside down underwater. I have developed
some exercises using the Swiss (or stability) ball that will improve
range of motion and strengthen the muscle groups involved in the
kayak roll. The Swiss ball has recently become a popular tool for health and fitness enthusiasts to improve overall musculoskeletal fitness. If you don’t have one, they’re easy enough to find in sports and fitness stores and are very affordable. The exercises here are not intended to take the place of a good instructor and logical progression of on-water drills, but should be considered as introductory exercises for rolling. Also, it’s best to combine these exercises with a safe fitness program. (The following exercises are recommended for healthy individuals. If you have any orthopedic injuries or other problems, consult your physician before starting this or any other exercise program.) In the kinesiology class I teach at Montana Tech, I conduct a three-part kayak-rolling lesson that consists of viewing a rolling video, dry-land exercises using the Swiss ball, and a pool session. I offer the following “kayak challenge” to the students: If they can successfully complete an on-the-water roll on their first attempt (meaning no preliminary in-boat exercises) after studying the biomechanics of the roll and practicing with the Swiss ball, they receive an A for the final exam. If it takes two attempts, they get a B; three attempts, a C; four attempts, a D; and five attempts or beyond, they receive an F for the final. Last year, only two students accepted the challenge. Both rolled up the very first time in the kayak, much to the awe and envy of the other students. They continued to roll about 50 more times on both sides throughout a two-hour pool session. The students who didn’t accept the challenge all eventually succeeded in rolling, which suggests that the Swiss ball exercises create a useful step in learning to roll a kayak. |
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