In the last Tip of the Week we looked at standing exercises performed on one foot to enhance balance and core stability/strength while training the muscles each exercise targets. This week I'd like to continue this theme and look at ways to really enhance core stability/strength while doing pressing exercises.
In the first Tip of the Week I looked at the bench pull and explained how many national teams in canoe-kayak use it and bench press as an indicator of performance potential. Simply put, athletes that aren't strong enough in these two fundamental upper body exercises won't be successful in the sport. Like bench pull, bench press is an important exercise for paddling, helping an athlete be strong at stabilizing their paddle in the water and maintaining pressure on the blade during the pulling phase.
I strongly recommend mixing up your pressing exercises for both variety and training effect. I also strongly encourage doing pressing with dumbbells, as the extra degree of freedom of motion they provide compared to a barbell provides the opportunity to develop more functional strength. Basically the extra freedom of movement in dumbbell presses more closely replicates the tremendous freedom of movement in application of strength seen in the paddling motion.
So if every serious paddler should be doing dumbbell presses in their program they should also, at least some of the time, be doing one arm dumbbell presses. Just like doing standing exercises on one foot introduces a lot of engagement of core muscles in the exercise, so too does one arm pressing.
Let's consider a one arm dumbbell press on a flat bench like you see in the video. Grab your weight in both hands and lie back on the bench holding the weight on your chest. When you're lying on the bench with your feet flat on the ground, shift the dumbbell entirely into one hand and begin to do your presses. You can keep your free hand free like you see in the video or you can grab the bench with it to help stabilize. At heavy weight I almost always grab the bench. Perform your reps just as you do when doing regular dumbbell presses with both arms. You'll notice that with one arm you engage a ton of core muscles to keep yourself stable on the bench. This is especially true the deeper you go in the eccentric phase. When you're finished your reps on one side reach up with your free hand to help bring the weight down to your chest, switch hands and then do your reps on the other side.
I would recommend using light weight at first until you are acquainted with the motion and confident with it. Then I would gradually add weight. In time you'll find you can use as much one-armed as you'd use in each hand for a two-armed dumbbell press.
In addition to flat dumbbell press, one arm pressing works great with incline and decline dumbbell presses as well. I also do sitting overhead dumbbell presses (pick a bench which supports your back) and standing overhead dumbbell presses with one arm. If you want to get really creative you can combine one arm pressing with standing on one foot for your standing overhead dumbbell presses. Just remember to always be conservative with the weight you use while learning each exercise and careful when increasing weight. If you are lifting really heavy or explosively it's probably better, unless you are a very advanced weight trainer, to do your pressing with both hands. Also, if you're new to lifting or lifting really heavy or to failure, it's probably a good idea to have a spotter.
I have seen some people do pressing on stability balls rather than benches in the belief that being on an unstable platform increases core engagement while they are lifting. While doing presses on the stability ball undeniably increases core engagement, I will never do my presses on one. I know someone who had a ball burst underneath him while pressing with a fairly heavy weight and he was badly injured. I just don't believe those balls are made to support such weight despite what the manufacturers may say. To me safety is paramount and I believe it is far safer to do presses on a solid bench. In my opinion performing presses with one arm adds far more stimulus to core muscles than doing two-armed presses on a stability ball does anyway.
One arm lifting is a fantastic way to increase core stability and strength while developing your upper body strength. I highly recommend it for anyone who is serious about their paddling or wishes to develop higher level core strength. Give it a try by introducing it into your strength training program.
