In paddling we need to use the big muscle groups, so the reaching arm needs to stay straight, so we can kick in the “lat” muscle. We don't want to paddle with just our arms because arms are weak. We want to reach the elbow out straight and as the paddle head hits the water, we keep the elbow straight and rotate using our “lats”, “oblique” and “quad” muscles to ensure we are using our big muscle groups every stroke.
To give you more stability or more control as you bring the paddle through the water it's important you hold onto the right muscles. We want you to squeeze in the “quad”, “oblique” and “lat” muscles together as the same time maintaining strong posture. The more you squeeze these bigger muscles in the power you will generate and the faster your surf ski will travel forwards.
As we grab onto the water, we squeeze the quadricep muscle and we pull through the quadricep muscle and then through the hip and as we're pulling through the hip we're bringing our abdominals around, we're squeezing our lower abdominals around to help the “lat” muscle. It’s all one big squeeze every stroke.