Train like an Athlete

The eternal question each outrigger canoe paddler asks is: how do I get faster on the water? To answer this question, we spoke to ex-RHYKC Outrigger performance coach and professional paddler Anna Mathisen to gain her insights on the subject. Her number one tip? Train like an athlete. Read on to find out more.

What and Who is an athlete?

Being an athlete is a choice, a lifestyle.

It’s about understanding how to work with your physiology to get stronger and improve cardiovascular performance, and health by default. It’s about applying principles of training that are appropriate for you and the time you spend being active.

It’s not about your ability and it’s certainly not about winning or getting on the podium (very few people do). You don’t even need to race to get the benefits of training like an athlete. It is not limited to certain people.

It’s about the relationship between hard training and easy training. It’s about listening to your body, fueling it well, and hearing the messages of not enough or too much. It’s about a simple formula: stress + rest = growth.

The Difference Between Exercising and Training

Exercise is what people do to stay in shape. Exercise is what people do when they want to keep their weight down, stay healthy, or increase their daily step count. People who exercise do the same routine every week for most of the year. When they miss a day, they feel bad.

People who exercise are not interested in progression, or growth in their sport. There is nothing wrong with exercise and paddling is a great form of exercise, you absolutely can do that! Exercise is good for you. But it’s not likely to lead to adaptation, growth, or gains in your strength or conditioning. I’m saying that if you have paddling goals and you intentionally paddle regularly, then you get to train like an athlete and use physiology to your advantage to see progress, not plateaus.

What Stops People from Training like an Athlete

The fitness industry wants to sell us exercise trends and products. They aren’t focused on women’s physiology or what is needed for your sport. Our society has a very narrow view of what healthy looks like. Women have been told to focus on ‘cardio’. We have been told to do low-weight, high-rep training so we can lean out. We are afraid of ‘getting big’ and avoid strength training. We have not been educated enough that muscle is healthy for us, especially as we get older.

We have been conditioned to think we are lazy if every workout doesn’t fit the ‘no pain no gain’ mentality. Either that, or we think because we are aging, we are supposed to slow down and go easy all the time.

We skimp on food because we have been sold a calories-in, calories-out mentality instead of an understanding that we cannot perform without enough food.

None of these are helpful approaches and it isn’t how our physiology works.

Human bodies are designed to make adaptations, and our bodies are good at repairing and rebuilding given the right circumstances. Even more so as we age, women need to do high-intensity and sprint interval training, polarized with steady-state and easy sessions. We need to lift heavy weights to maintain muscle mass and bone integrity. We need to fuel for activity and recovery.

My Life as an Athlete

I have a progressive strength training program that prepares me for heavy weightlifting. The number of reps, sets, and exercises vary throughout the year and complement paddling.

The amount of time I spend biking, running, or swimming increases during the paddling off-season and decreases during the paddling season. My paddle training has variety. I do specific training sessions to work on my technique, endurance, strength, speed, and power. My hard sessions are exhausting, and the easy ones are not tiring. The ratio of hard to easy varies throughout the year. I eat before, during, and after my training sessions. I no longer have negative moods from a lack of food and my body recovers faster. How long, how hard, and how often I train shifts throughout the year. In my off-season, I’m training less frequently, and the sessions are shorter. It feels very different than being in season. I warm up and cool down and I plan recovery days, restoration weeks, and off-season months. I’m still spending a similar amount of time on training, but the change has created a rhythm that allows me to build up to a higher peak of performance at certain times of the year instead of doing the same thing and plateauing year-round.

Training like an athlete has allowed me to recover from injuries, come back from burnout, and push hard at certain times of the year so that I can continue to have fun paddling after nearly 20 years.

You Are an Athlete.

Training like an athlete is not exclusive to those who race — the benefits from it are available to everyone. You don’t need to be racing to shift to training, either. If you are racing, you don’t need to be winning to justify having a training plan and adopting an athlete’s mindset.

If you already exercise, then being an athlete is a shift towards a more efficient approach that makes every moment you dedicate to training productive. It’s a shift from feeling like you are never doing enough or that you need to work hard in every session, to doing what leads to progress.

When your training includes a mixture of the appropriate amount of hard and easy conditioning, technique, strength, and recovery as well as a year-round seasonal approach you will find that you will get better results, more enjoyment, and longevity from paddling.

Here are the key components to consider:

Technique. Have a system for working on your paddling technique. This is the foundation for lifelong health and improvement in our sport.

Speed and Power. Do sprint intervals that are hard for you and are appropriate for your goals.

Endurance. Steady-state sessions for building the endurance you need as it relates to your goals.

Strength. Lift weights that are heavy for you. This will help to maintain or build muscle and keep you healthy and strong.

Recovery. Easy short sessions and days off to allow your body to get stronger from the hard training.

Fuel. Eat to fuel your activity and for recovery. We need enough energy available for training, and to facilitate recovery. We do well when we eat enough and fall apart when we don’t.

Start Training.

Training like an athlete does not have to be overwhelming or take up more time than you currently spend exercising. The main thing is to focus on polarizing your training between hard, heavy, and easy, with one clear focus for every training session. Getting this balance right is where people need the most coaching, as it is the biggest shift people need to make to move away from exercising and into training like athletes.