I am an up and coming sponsored SUP racer from Miami, Florida.I will be competing in my first BOP this year, as well as my second year at the Chattajack 31 mile distance race. I want to make sure I’m in top shape for these two races since they are the biggest races of the year for me.

With my dad being an exercise physiologist I am currently getting the all around training I need, but the only problem is we don’t know if we are doing to much or to little. My dad has encouraged me to read Riding Bumps since he has already finished the book and believes that it is VERY important I understand how training to be top athlete is like.

I wanted to ask you questions about the training programs you all have created…

1.        Does the program include Cross training? (such as weightlifting, cardio, etc.)

2.        Would these programs be the “right” programs for me (A 15 year old) to use?

Answer: Well,  you just opened a can of worms with this one. Get ready for everyone and their brother to chime in and tell you  either A) you should not be doing endurance sports as a young teenager. You should be playing team sports or kissing boys or something other than going fast in a straight line or B) you should ignore what everyone says and just go for it because it is “old school” to think that kids can’t train like adults. The latter group is going to cite the fact that very young athletes in other countries routinely go to the Olympics (for example Chinese and Russian gymnasts.) The problem for us is that we do not know what happens to those athletes bodies when they are 35 or 55.

For us, therefore,  our recommendation lies somewhere between these two opposing points of view. For the most part,  our feeling is that teenagers shold hold off on the super long ultra-distance stuff. We have seen so many up and coming endurance athletes destroy themselves by going long before their bodies were ready to handle the training. All of that said, every young athlete is different because you guys mature at different ages. You are going to have to work with your doctor or a coach who knows you better than we do to know exactly what you should or should not be doing. Here are our general recommendations:

1. Focus on shorter and faster races than the ultradistance stuff. I know we touched on this arlready but we are bearish on having you out there doing super long paddles. There is some research (for example here and here ) that shows that young athletes gain more benefit from shorter and more intense training which is  the type of training you would do for shorter races. Our experience training young athletes over the years supports this view. In our experience, young athletes who try to go for the ultra-distance stuff are prone to injury and burnout. Our general recommendation is to focus on getting fast and pick up the long stuff in a few years. Although we cannot tell you the physiologic basis for this and we don’t have great studies we can point to support our theory but our experience dictates that you can better handle the short intense training than us old geezers while at the same time the long slow training is less well tolerated in younger athletes.

2. Be careful with weight training: Focus on whole body, body weight based motions (e.g. TRX types of movements, planks, etc.) rather than lifting heavy weights. Also  keep the intensity in the weight room low to moderate. Save the intense stuff for the water.

3. Focus on cross training. Paddling in a straight line for hours on end can create imbalances and overuse injuries. We would rather see you become something of an all around athlete rather than a one trick pony. This means you should be out running, biking, swimming, prone paddling, surfing, etc. in addition to your SUP workouts. The cross training will help your paddle fitness. It is not wasted time.

As far as our programs go – some of them would work for you better than others. Check out the Jenny Kalmbach short distance program. It has a lot of good intensity in the SUP workouts and a lot of cross training. You can even check out the gym program she uses at http://jennykalmbach.com/ ridingbumps . ‘

The bottom line on all of this is that we would like to see you stick with the short stuff for a few more years. Getting burned out or getting a shoulder injury is not worth it.

Remember: always check with your doctor before starting any training program. In your case,  you should also check with your dad as he seems to have a good handle on things as well.

Roch