Fun in the Bedroom

Hallo. Vould you like to have a roll in ze hay?
It’s fun.
Roll, roll, roll in ze hay….
- young frankenstein
Yesterday said I had some fun exercises for you! (Well, I many not have used the word, “fun” wink, wink, ….) You do know of course that we roll every day, or every night at least. In bed. And I don’t mean a “roll in the hay” (Although I certainly am all for a good roll in the hay as well!). But what I’m talking about here is simply the act of rolling over. Lying on your stomach, then rolling over on your back, or conversely (Yes I do love that word!), lying on your back and rolling over on your stomach. Have you ever taken the time to figure out how you do it? Continue reading
What Low Impact Means

WarChild dance the days, and dance the nights away.
Open your windows and I’ll walk through your doors.
Let me live in your country — let me sleep by your shores.
Tull
Low impact does not mean dainty, wimpy or weak. Low impact kayak rolling is not about modifying a powerful roll to make it easy on the old bones. If you think low impact means, low power you’re missing the point completely. What we’re really talking about is efficiency. Continue reading
No Sweep, No Plunk

Today I want to offer up a few video clips to demonstrate mind over matter.. Or I should say, “body over paddle”. Let’s start with a couple vertical sculling rolls. These come from Greenland Style rolling and simply won’t allow you to push, pull or otherwise wank on your paddle blade. In the first clip I’m using a Greenland Paddle and it’s shot underwater. You can see that I do get a little purchase with the paddle, but the thing to watch here is the boat.
The Greenland Test

You got me where you want me
I ain’t nothing but your fool
You treated me mean oh you treated me cruel
– Aretha Franklin
If your roll sucks I’ll know. It’s easy. Just put away that big blade and have a go with my Greenland paddle. Go ahead. C2C, Sweep, Modified Sweep.. whatever. Ok, I’ll even give you a warm up.. If you don’t roll after 2.. Um well… there it is then.
There’s a point where most every kayak roll becomes the same. It’s right at that moment when the paddler is who upside down, decides to roll up. At that moment the first thing you do, regardless of paddle, rolling style or technique, is roll the boat up. That seems obvious. Well, I’m not referring to the whole process of rolling the boat up, but only that millisecond right after the mind decides to engage the body in the process of rolling. At that moment, it’s all about the boat. It’s also the point where most of our energy is expended IF we’re doing it right. Continue reading

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