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| The Swiss ball exercises,
like the C-to-C roll they are aimed at, can be broken down into three
phases: the set-up, the sweep and the hip snap. The three-dimensional
nature of the exercises allows each of these phases to be mimicked.
Your body position will not be exactly as it is in the boat and may
feel a little awkward as a result. An in-water roll will cause the
boat to roll upright underneath you with your pelvic girdle rotating
underneath your relatively stationary torso. In contrast, this land-based
exercise results in your torso moving to the upright position over
the more stationary pelvic girdle, so visualizing where the surface
of the water is during the Swiss ball exercise can be difficult.
The surface doesn’t remain stationary—it moves as you
move through the hip snap. At the beginning, you’ll find it
easier to focus just on the body mechanics and the curving of the
spine, first one way, then the other. The Set-Up As shown in photo 1, sit on the Swiss ball facing the wall with the balls of your feet pressed into the angle between the floor and the wall. You can use a length of dowel to simulate a paddle shaft, or just hold your hands in front of you as if you were holding a paddle. Rotate 90 degrees to the wall and imagine yourself sitting in a kayak oriented parallel to the wall. This position, shown in photo 2, approximates the position you’d be in while seated upright in a kayak (even though your legs are twisted sideways toward the wall). It also approximates the relaxed position upside down after a capsize. The paddler in the photo is shown turning to the left, but you should practice the exercise turning to the right as well. Imagine yourself capsized and setting up for the roll. Move the paddle parallel to the side of your imaginary kayak. Stabilize yourself with your feet where the wall and floor meet, and let the Swiss ball roll under you and support you as you twist. Your shoulders should be turned down toward the floor. (See photos 3 and 3a.) |
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| Push the dowel toward the
floor, imagining you’re pushing the paddle skyward through
the surface of the water. The working blade of the paddle—the
blade you’d roll up with—would be pointing forward, toward
the bow of your imaginary kayak. This position can be used as a stretching exercise to help kayakers who lack flexibility to achieve the optimal position prior to starting the sweep. It will also help maintain flexibility of some of the muscles of the hip, the obliques and the low back and make them less prone to injury. The Sweep During the sweep phase, the paddle swings to a 90-degree angle to the kayak, or nearly so, and the hand on the “working” side of the paddle moves away from the wall. (See -photos 4 and 4a.) One forearm is positioned near the forehead while the other pushes up and across the hull of the kayak. Keep the top of your head pointing toward the floor while rotating so that your chest and face now face forward toward the bow of the imaginary kayak. Feel free to hang out in this position, using it to stretch the abdominals, the erector spinae (the large muscles that run along the spine) and the hips. |
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