It can be a mystery to the common dragon boater how squats can actually help in the performance of a dragon boater at all. Knowing that squats play a very big part of building the muscles in the quad area namely the rectus femoris, vastus medialis and vastus lateralis. Well it might sound absurd someone who has been paddling for years to be told that you need to squat to be a better paddler. If you have ever been to the gym looking like a gorilla with toothpicks for legs, here's 3 very good reasons why you should squat to improve your performance as a paddler:1) Grow Bigger and Stronger - Squatting is one of the best if not the BEST exercise you can perform if you want a stronger overall posture and musculature for your entire body. Deep squatting with heavy weights release anabolic, growth hormones and testosterone in your body to make it a more functional machine that is able to withstand intense training for muscular endurance in a typical periodized training programme. In layman's terms, squatting will prepare you for highly intense endurance training that many high level athletes encounter.
2) Correct your Posture - Many believe that squatting will lead to stunted growth and less flexibility in their quads due to the increase in size of the muscle. That is far from the truth. Athletes who perform the front squats have scientifically shown to improve and correct thoracic extension (i.e.upper back posture) and their posture in their lumbar spine (the natural curvature of the spine) which inevitably will improve an athlete's height as a result of stronger abdominal wall and lower back muscles due to squatting.
3) Improved flexibility - One very good example of the version of the squat that improves flexibility is the overhead squat. Although it was excruciatingly painful to perform for the first time, the overhead squat is now an integral part of my strength training for the fact that it improved the mobility of my upper back as I became stronger in my upper back region namely the rhomboid. My shoulder stabilisers started becoming stronger and my upper back was less stiff than before. Improved flexibility and mobility in your anterior, posterior and medial deltoids reduces the chance of injury from typical overuse of the muscle in paddling sports.
Conclusion
Those are my 3 quick reasons on why squats form a big part of my current strength training regime. It was an irony that I realised that my biggest mistake was that I did NOT do squats as part of my training programme when I was paddling in my varsity days. Well, the future is a choice and it does help that my current knowledge of how squats can help an athlete prevent injury and makes him or her stronger. I hope this article helped you in a way.
Till the next post!
