Do you have to be flexible to canoe?

Do you have to be strong to canoe? Do you have to have good technique to canoe? Do you have to be in good shape to canoe? The same answer applies to all these questions, the more the better. Flexibility is just another factor that can help you to succeed, and it is one that is often overlooked by most people. However, if you look at the best canoers in the world, you will see that stretching is a very important part of their training. We have witnessed the splits by Olympic and World Champions such as Andreas Dittmer, Martin Doktor, and Attila Vajda, all wearing their finest party clothes. Maxim Opalev’s pre race warm up includes at least 20 minutes of intense stretching that would make the most limber of ballerinas jealous.