Paddling is a full-body sport. The catch loads your lats, shoulders, and core. The drive transfers force through your hips and legs. The recovery demands mobility and control. But most paddlers spend the majority of their training time on the water, leaving the strength work that could unlock real gains on the table.
Coaches across kayak, dragon boat, outrigger, and SUP consistently recommend the same foundational exercises.
Here are the five that come up most.
1. Bent-Over Rows
The bent-over row is the closest thing to a paddling motion you can do in a gym. You're hinging at the hips, bracing your core, and pulling a load toward your body, exactly what happens during the drive phase of your stroke.
It targets the lats, rhomboids, and rear deltoids, the muscles responsible for pulling your blade through the water and maintaining posture through a long race or training session. Weak pulling muscles are one of the most common contributors to stroke breakdown in the final stages of a race.
Use a barbell for two-handed rows, or dumbbells for one-handed row. Keep your back flat, brace your core before each rep, and focus on driving your elbows back rather than curling your wrists up. Two to three sets of eight to twelve reps, twice a week, is a solid starting point.
2. Pallof Press
If you've never done a Pallof press, it looks deceptively simple. You stand side-on to a cable machine or resistance band, hold the handle at chest height, and press it straight out in front of you. The band or cable pulls you toward it. Your job is to resist that pull.
That resistance is the point. The Pallof press trains anti-rotation, the ability to create force through your core without letting your torso twist. For paddlers, this is critical. A strong, stable core is what connects your leg drive and hip rotation to your upper body pull. Without it, power leaks out of the stroke.
It's also one of the safest core exercises you can do, with no spinal compression and no need for heavy loads. Start light, keep your hips square, and don't rush the press.
3. Romanian Deadlift
The Romanian deadlift, or RDL, is a hip hinge movement that targets the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back. It's one of the best exercises for building the posterior chain strength that powers rotation and protects the lower back through high-volume training.
Paddlers who neglect the posterior chain tend to rely too heavily on their arms and shoulders, which fatigues faster and is more prone to injury. A strong posterior chain means more of the force in your stroke comes from your largest muscle groups, not your smallest ones.
Stand with a barbell or dumbbells in front of you, hinge at the hips while keeping your back flat, lower the weight until you feel a stretch through your hamstrings, then drive your hips forward to return to standing. Control the descent. Two to three sets of eight to ten reps is a good starting point.
4. Single-Leg Exercises
Paddling is bilateral, but power rarely comes equally from both sides. Single-leg exercises like split squats (lunges), step-ups, and single-leg Romanian deadlifts address the imbalances that develop over years of sport-specific training and help build the stability that keeps your stroke consistent from side to side.
They also train the stabilizing muscles around the hip, knee, and ankle, which matter more than most paddlers realize. Better stability means better force transfer from your footboard into your stroke, and less energy lost to compensatory movements.
Start with bodyweight split squats if you're new to single-leg work. Progress to a rear-foot elevated split squat, also known as a Bulgarian split squat, as you get stronger. Two to three sets of eight to twelve reps per side.
5. Cable Rotations
Rotation is the engine of the paddle stroke. It's where most of your power should come from if your technique is solid, and it's the first thing that breaks down when you're fatigued or undertrained.
Cable rotations, done standing and moving through the full range of motion your stroke demands, train the obliques, deep core, and hip rotators to work together under load. Unlike crunches or sit-ups, they train rotation the way your body actually uses it on the water.
Stand side-on to a cable machine, hold the handle with both hands at shoulder height, and rotate away from the machine while keeping your arms relatively straight and your core engaged. Control the return. Focus on initiating the movement from your hips, not your arms. Two to three sets of twelve to fifteen reps per side.
How to Fit This Into Your Week
You don't need to do all five in every session, use strength and conditioning exercises as accessory work. A twice-weekly strength block of three to four exercises, spread across upper body pulling, core stability, and leg and hip work, covers the key systems without compromising your on-water training.
According to coaches, consistency matters more than volume. Two solid sessions a week, every week, will outperform sporadic heavy lifting every time.
