Performance training and therapy in paddle sports: What we can learn from canoe and kayak

Stepping into my first season in sprint canoe and kayak—after years in track & field, basketball, and football—was a wake-up call. These sports are not just “power on water.” They are an entirely different strength and therapy ecosystem. The asymmetry, the instability, the shoulder-trunk-hip demand—everything about them forces you to rethink how you build athletes and how you keep them healthy. Strength work, monitoring, mobility, and recovery can’t sit in separate boxes. They have to operate as one unified system. In this article, I break down what that system looks like—and why getting i...