Coaching on Waypoint
Leah Fowler
Boat speed is built on land too: Level 4 Strength and Conditioning for paddlers
I'm a Level 4 Strength and Conditioning coach and qualified personal trainer, coaching online wherever you are. Here is the thing most club paddlers never get told: boat speed is built on land as well as water. Force per stroke, a trunk that holds form when you tire, shoulders that survive the season. The fastest paddler at your club cannot programme that for you. A Level 4 S&C coach can, and there are not many of us about. My coaching is built around real life, not quick fixes or gimmicks. Whether you're chasing a race season, coming back to sport, or building the base that keeps you paddling for years, we start from where you are now and build from there. I'm also a qualified Children's Strength and Conditioning coach and DBS checked, and I run RISE Youth Coaching for young athletes, so junior paddlers are in safe hands too. Getting started is simple: send me a message below and tell me what you're training for.
Why train with me
Shoulders that last the season
A marathon loads the same small structures thousands of strokes at a time, and every club has paddlers sitting out months with a shoulder or a back. The best protection is strength the sport itself never builds. Programming that is exactly what a Level 4 S&C coach is for.
When more miles stops working
Past a point, extra water time stops making you faster. Force per stroke comes from pull strength, rotation, legs and trunk, and if you have never trained them properly, that is where your next division lives.
A winter that counts, in two hours a week
Most paddlers' gym block is borrowed bodybuilding: sore, busy, and no faster by spring. A real programme is periodised around your race calendar, fits around work and family, and every session tells you exactly what to do and why.
I'm in the boats too
I race marathon myself: same starts, same portages, same tired last three miles. Coaching was never about being the fastest boat on the water. It is about knowing how to build yours, and that is the job I am qualified for.
Work with Leah Fowler
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Join free, then say helloFree resources
Masters paddlers are most of this sport. Here is what changes after 40, what does not, and the twice-a-week strength work that keeps you moving up divisions instead of down.