Has anyone tried towing a Clorox bottle (full of water) for strength trainning?
not real crazy about clorox…
the idea of willingly tossing a bottle that at one time contained a chemical such as bleach bothers me. Plus, I can’t really see how it would give you much resistance for training… If I was looking for something to add drag for conditioning/training, I would look into some form of a drift sock. Basically a small parachute you throw into the water–anglers use them to pull their boats with the current. Anything on the market for fishing will likely be too big, so I would look into making your own. Maybe someone else here can offer some insights also.
training
Just us a small (or larger) piece of wood. Or consider paddling faster over longer distances. I thought about the dragging thing a while back but blew the idea off in favor of faster / further. I’ve been happy with the results.
Jed
Simple
Why not just paddle against the wind on a windy day. It would probably give you some rough water boat handling skills practice at the same time.
Watch out for stress on your shoulders though.
get a different boat
I went from a nice 12 foot boat to a 9 1/2…now I am stronger and have better form. or why don’t you weigh down your boat a little to change the water lines to add drag? or a tire, just hang a tire off the back. really I think if you attach anythign to the boat you will need to afix it at the cockpit as to not drag down an end of the boat, but any added presure would be as if you got fatter (in the boat’s eyes).
do you have a weight bench at home or belong to a gym? I practice in the winter with a cheap weight set’s old barbell. It is like 7 pounds or so. slow reps with it as my paddle. you can feel those the next day some times…in that “wheewoowo” way.
liveoutside
post subject
Try paddling up stream.
Use a heavy large blade paddle…
Resistance
Loop a bungee under your hull for added resistance (flatwater racer training technique). If you’re feeling froggy, poke holes in some old tennis balls and thread them through the bungee. One ball=hard. Two balls=harder. Three balls and you’ve achieved gold medal testosterone production status (Reread that in a different light…). *Bungees are also helpful for attaching to faster friends.
For real resistance training, try towing my daughter in her Umiak with a tow belt when she begins to whine that she can’t possibly paddle back from the halfway point. 
Word of caution
Resistance training is very hard on the joints.
Personally used bungy type training 15 years ago when sprint racing. it is a great tool if your very fit and strong. Another less stressful tool is to fill two large soda bottles with water and put in your boat. I only did this for part of my work out. then returned to normal for the finish to return the feel of stroke and glide.
Just be carefull doing. Alittle at time will help then slowly build up
Cheers Dan
Kid’s ball
Or similar. Saw a swimmer towing one of them doing laps on a local pond last summer. Not tons of drag, just enough to make it a little harder once you try going faster.
Seriously though, seems like it’d be good to add a little free weight work to make sure the tendons around the joints get strong along with the big muscles if you are going to do the towing thing. Otherwise your big muscles will try and do all the work of handling the resistance, without the supporting joints around tendons getting the equivalent workout. Lots of shoulder and elbow risks in that.
Thanks Dan!
Back in the 80’s I pulled a washcloth behind my Javelin & it seemed to take the glide down to about my XR-5. I didn’t think about joints (55). I’ve had to drop my paddle length a lot (218-213) over the past two yrs. due to elbows.
What They Said
I’d echo the ‘go easy’ part until you acclimate to those levels of increased resistance. Thinking about how everything aches initially in the late winter/early spring when I start back in the boat swinging the wing, despite weight work, Concept erg training, etc. Sport specific overuse injuries are commonplace, particularly if it’s something new that taxes the body in a different way. Had to lay off everything this past week from, believe it or not, repeated dismounts/remounts on the surf ski in a pool session. Seemed like a good idea to become proficient at this in the protected confines of the Y, 40-50 remounts later, now I can leap back on with the grace of a Flying Wollenda. That evening though, things began to stiffen, and the next morning and 2-3 days to follow weren’t pretty-reinjured my bad shoulders in the initial ‘launches’ out of the water.
Go easy-good advice.
Your welcome
Look at what your goals are. if you need to reacelerate yout boat a lot during races this will help. But go slowly just doing a little each session. the wash cloth probably would work again for you.
Cheers
Dan