Before discussing what your arms should be doing during a paddle stroke, I’d like to share a quote by Ivan Lawler (5 world championship golds) “Canoeing (kayaking) is not an arm sport” What Ivan means is that you should not be using your arms to apply force to your paddle. All the power comes from your legs and torso. It is the rotation of your body that moves the paddle, not the movement of your arms.

Of course your arms do have a role to play but it’s about the correct positioning of the paddle and resisting forces countering your paddle stroke. So let’s focus on the top arm (hands to shoulder) to start. Unlike a rowing boat, which has a rowlock or gate (see below), kayakers don’t have a fixed pivot point for the paddle. Instead we use our top hand as the pivot point. For this pivot point to work effectively, it shouldn’t move much during the paddle stroke in relation to the rest of our bodies. Can you imagine what would happen if a rowlock in a rowing boat was not fixed and was free to move around? The paddle stroke would be very ineffective.

So during the stroke, we need to keep our top arm fixed in position. An effective and strong position is to have your upper arm at about 90 degrees to your torso and your forearm at about 90 degrees to your upper arm and tilted forwards at about 45 degrees from the vertical. Your hand should be at about eye level. The image below shows a good top arm position which should be maintained throughout the stroke.

Try to resist pushing with the top arm during the power phase of the stroke. This is a very common mistake, perhaps because people were often told to punch with the top arm in the past. Unfortunately some coaches still teach this so if you do get told to do this, politely ignore them! The problem with pushing/punching with the top arm is that it prematurely pushes the paddle past vertical causing you to lift water. Another very common mistake is to let the top arm drop right down during the stroke which has a similar effect of letting the paddle go past vertical resulting in a significant loss of power. Equally common is pushing the top hand upwards or outwards during the stroke which results in a loss of power.

The top arm should only be straightened once the paddle is taken out of the water in preparation for the next stroke.

So in summary, the top arm is fixed in position and does not push – the paddle is moved by the rotation of your core, not movement of your arms.

This all applies to all paddlers, not just people racing. If you apply these principles, you will find paddling more efficient and less tiring. The main message is to use your whole body to paddle, not your arms!