What Muscle Groups Are Used In Dragonboat?
Hi Liquid! With the dragon boat season coming up, I wanted to give some workout tips to give you that extra edge when paddling on the water.
In this informative article, I will be going over what muscle groups are important to train in order to have a stronger and more explosive pull.
Ultimately, dragon boat is a sport that involves your entire body, however, I will explain 1 important exercise to include in each of your muscle-specific workouts.
In your leg workout, the back squat is the most effective exercise to build strength in your legs. This exercise targets the glutes and quads and this is important in dragon boating because you need to use your leg muscles to activate your leg drive. When you paddle, the majority of the power you generate in your rotation comes from your legs.
In your pull workout (Pull workout targets your back and biceps), an important exercise to include in your routine is pull-ups. Pull-ups are an exercise that targets the upper back muscles and lats, and this is important to develop a strong pull. On top of this, practicing pull-ups will help you become comfortable lifting your own body weight, helping you to be a stronger athlete overall. A great alternative to pull-ups is a negative which involves starting with the bar above your chin and slowly resisting and letting yourself down.
Finally, something that you should include at the end of every workout is core training. Working out your abs is crucial to your longevity as an athlete because having a strong core prevents lower back pain and improves your endurance. Liquid Assets stresses the importance of having a strong core because dragon boat regattas vary from 500m to 2000m, meaning that core strength is necessary to complete the races.
References
Davis, N. (2020, March 30). Is there a difference between the front squat and back squat? Healthline. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/front-squat-vs-back-squat#muscles-worked
Moysey, B. (2020, September 8). Paddles up! dragon boat stretches. Flxme. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://www.flxme.ca/blog/2020/9/8/paddles-up-dragon-boat-stretches#:~:text=Dragon%20boating%20is%20a%20popular,firing%20up%20your%20entire%20body.
Pestano, A. B. (2021, July 11). Can dragon boating cause muscular imbalance? Tangram Wellness. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://tangramwellness.com/blog/2013/8/7/can-dragon-boating-cause-muscular-imbalance
Wilson, M. (2020, April 24). What muscles does dragon boating work? Restaurantnorman.com. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://www.restaurantnorman.com/what-muscles-does-dragon-boating-work/#What_muscles_does_dragon_boating_work