Who is the better athlete, the Kayaker or the Rower? Another way to frame the question is: Which sport gets you in better shape, Kayaking or Rowing?
While the debate hasn’t exactly been raging in society, it is still important to a small sub-set of rabid kayakers and rowers that both believe they are the better athlete.
To determine whether kayakers or rowers are the better athletes, an experiment was performed*. A group of male paddlers was tested in five of the six recognized components of skill-related fitness, including: Agility, Balance, Co-ordination, Power and Speed. Observations were taken, data was gathered, statistics were generated and conclusions were made.
Table of Contents
Why did this experiment even happen?
Kayaking and rowing are categorized as a speed sports and are considered to be among the most physically demanding of the endurance sports.
Typically, my paddling articles discuss issues related to the recreational kayaker. In this case, I am discussing experimental findings related to higher-performance paddlers.
Why? Sometimes there are things we can learn from high-level athletes that can help us average folk perform a little bit better.
Paddlers and rowers are recognized for their fitness
High performance water sports put significant demands on the upper body and trunk muscular-skeleton. They also require highly developed technical skills that include motor co-ordination, physical fitness, anaerobic fitness and cardiovascular endurance.
Studies in the mid-1990s identified flat-water kayakers as having higher maximal aerobic and anaerobic capacities as well as superior upper-body muscle strength.
Anecdotally, about 100 years ago I went to high school with a pair of paddling brothers. They came from an Olympic family, trained daily and enjoyed success representing Canada at the Sydney and Athens Olympics.
When we played shirts and skins basketball in gym class, it was abundantly clear that these brothers were way more fit than the rest of us in pretty much every possible way. Kayakers and rowers are serious athletes!
How do you compare kayakers and rowers?
Kayakers propel their boat with a double-blade paddle. They do this while sitting on their bottom in the cockpit of their vessel.
Competitive rowers operate with a single-blade paddle while also sitting on their bottoms. However, the rowing motion requires more use of legs than does the kayaking form.
While the goal of flying across the top of the water is the same for kayakers and rowers alike, their methods of doing so are quite different.
Because the propulsion methods of the kayaker and rower are so different, the researchers seeking to understand who the best athletes are adopted a skill-related methodology.
What is skill-related fitness?
Skill-related fitness consists of specific components of fitness that are necessary to perform at a high level.
We identify these specific skills as:
1. Balance. This is your ability to maintain equilibrium while you are still as well as while you are moving.
2. Co-ordination. This represents your ability to control the movements of your muscles as they move in patterns.
3. Power. This is your ability to apply maximum strength in the least amount of time.
4. Agility. Your ability to change the direction of your movements quickly and accurately.
5. Speed. This is your ability to move your body through space as fast as possible.
6. Reaction time. The amount of time it takes your body to recognize and respond to external stimuli.
This list of six general skills is not exclusive to paddling sports. Rather it is a list that pertains to most, if not all other sports as well.
Athletes that improve in these six components generally improve their ability to perform their chosen sports at a higher level.
As it relates to kayaking and rowing, the researchers chose to operate with the thesis that the superior athletes are the ones that perform five of the six skill-related components best.
How was the experiment to test athleticism constructed?
A group of 18 male, college-level athletes, aged 18-25 years, were selected to participate.
I note that this represents a small sample size. Normally, one would require at least 30 participants and ideally several hundred more.
Nevertheless, constraints exist everywhere, including in amateur athletic research departments.
This group of 18 males was further divided into two groups: 18 of which were kayakers 18 of which were rowers.
Of note, the average age and height of Group A was 23.55 years and 170.55cm.
The average age and heigh of Group B was 22.77 years and 176.66cm.
So, the ages were similar but the rowing group had a little bit of extra height.
How were the skill-related fitness components tested?
The following table states how each skill-related fitness component was tested.
In the descriptions below, I only make use of the personal pronoun ‘he’ simply because this is consistent with the participants of the experiment that was undertaken.
Agility: Illinois Agility Test
Agility was tested using the Illinois Agility Test.
The purpose of this test is to measure running agility using various turns and movements.
A specific course of 10 metres in length and 5 metres in width is laid out.
Eight pylons are placed at strategic locations inside the course.
Subjects are required to lie on their front with their head at the start line and hands by their shoulders.
When commanded to ‘GO’, the athlete gets up and runs around the course marked out by the pylons as quickly as possible.
Typically, several trials are completed with the best score being recorded.
Of note, an average male aged 16-19 years old can complete this test in between 16.2 and 18.1 seconds. A speedy male can do it in less than 15.2 seconds.
Balance: Stork Stand Test
The stork balance stand test assesses the ability of the athlete to balance their whole body.
The athlete removes his shoes, places hands on the hips and positions his non-supporting foot against the inside of the knee of the supporting leg.
The heel is then raised off the floor requiring the subject to balance on the ball of his foot.
The stopwatch is started.
It is then stopped if: the hands come off the hips, the supporting foot swivels or moves, the non-supporting foot loses contact with the knee, or the heel of the supporting foot touches the floor.
An average male can hold the pose for between 25-39 seconds. A well-balanced male can do so for over 50 seconds.
Co-Ordination: Eye/Hand Co-ordination Test
There is no single standardized eye/hand co-ordination test. Furthermore, the research report didn’t specify which test it used.
While co-ordination is important in athletics, it is a complex skill that can often be sport-specific and difficult to test.
As an example, some researchers use the Alternate-Hand Wall-Toss Test.
This test requires that the participant use an underhand motion to throw a ball against a wall, and then catch it with the opposite hand.
Power: Standing Broad Jump
The standing broad jump is a test of pure leg power.
The athlete stands behind a line with feet together.
He bends his knees, swings his arms back, then propels himself forward, landing on both feet without falling backwards.
An average male can jump between 221-230cm (7’3’’ – 7’6’’). A male of excellent fitness can jump more than 250cm (>8’2’’).
Speed: 50 metre dash
This test involves running a single sprint at maximum speed over 50m. It’s likely that most of us did this test once or twice in our youth.
The average male can complete the 50m dash between 7.8 and 8.4 seconds. A fast male can do it in under 7.57 seconds.
What were the results of the skill-related tests?
The following table gives the results of the tests to find out whether kayakers or rowers are the better athletes.
The results are provided as mean and standard deviation descriptive statistics. The p-value is set at p<0.05.
For those who are years removed from their last statistics course, this means that a p-value below 0.05 lets us reject the null hypothesis (more stat-speak) and conclude that a significant difference does exist.
Also, please note that the table below is reproduced from the data made available by the research team. I did not perform the experiment, collect the data, or generate the statistics.
What comments can we make about the experiment results?
The participants weren’t necessarily elite athletes
The test results for both kayakers and rowers generally fell into what we would consider the ‘average-to-slightly-above-average’ range of results.
In fairness, the participants weren’t Olympic athletes, they were members of their college kayaking and rowing teams. They were athletic, but they weren’t elite athletes.
There is little difference in fitness between kayakers and rowers – except for one particular skill
As we compare the relative results of the skill components, it is clear that there is little difference between the skills of the kayaker and those of the rowers. In fact, according to the data, there is little difference between the skills of these water-based athletes and other athletes, in general, that have been similarly tested.
There is, however, one important difference. This group of rowers tested very high in Speed versus the kayakers as well as in comparison with other tested athletes. The difference was statistically significant (p<0.05).
Why? Consider the movement of the kayak stroke compared to the rowing stroke.
Legs are used to support and brace in the kayak stroke. Most of the power is generated by upper-trunk muscles.
However, in the rowing stroke, legs are used to generate power. Big difference.
The researchers argue that Rowers:
‘utilize both upper and lower extremity muscle groups resulting in more power liberation and consequently faster mobilization’.
In my view, that’s a really ivory-tower way of saying that rowers’ legs are stronger and faster.
Are kayakers or rowers the better athletes – Parting Thoughts
Disappointingly, this experiment is inconclusive. Most skill results between the kayakers and rowers were very similar.
However, the rowers were decidedly faster in the Speed test. This shouldn’t be surprising given the difference in the two types of paddle strokes.
So, we can’t decisively claim that one paddler is a better athlete than the other – at least according to this data.
We can claim that there is compelling evidence suggesting rowers might be speedier athletes than kayakers, due of the inherent nature of the rowing stroke.
We need a larger study with many more participants to build a stronger case.
Who cares anyway? Let’s go paddling!
*This article references: ‘A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF SKILL-RELATED PHYSICAL FITNESS COMPONENTS OF KAYAKING AND ROWING PLAYERS’. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science. (Bal and Singh, 2017)