Is the Bench Pull Really Helping You Paddle Faster?

If you’ve ever wondered whether the humble bench pull is actually making you a faster, stronger paddler or whether it’s just a comfortable strength habit, this one’s for you. Let’s break down what the kayak stroke’s pulling phase actually looks like, what the research says, and a few more paddling-specific alternatives you can slot in instead.

What the Research Actually Says

Three studies are worth pulling apart here:

Pressing beats pulling for raw strength. (Kristiansen et al., 2023) found that bench press strength correlated better with paddling performance than bench pull strength did. That tracks paddling is fundamentally a pressing sport, not a pulling one. Every stroke relies on driving that top shoulder down into the catch.

Pull velocity matters more than pull strength. (Romagnoli et al., 2022) found that pulling velocity how fast you can move the pull correlated better with paddling performance than pressing velocity did, when looking at the same variables of velocity and power.

Isometric holds may outperform traditional concentric training. (Lum et al., 2021) showed isometric training had greater potential performance benefits than standard concentric strength work, in both the press and the pull.

Why This Matches the Kayak Stroke

Think about what actually happens at the catch. As you reach around, thumb up, drive-side arm externally rotated, your lat stretches out into a long muscle, The moment the blade grips the water, there’s a huge load on that side of the body. Your lat locks tight, holding the frame, while the blade catches and you start to drive back.

That’s a lot of force at an extended position, held isometrically, before the arm ever bends.

This is exactly why the bench pull does correlate reasonably well with paddling power there’s real force generation happening from an extended position. But the standard version isn’t especially specific to the paddling motion itself, because of the arc (or lack of it) the bar travels through and the fact that the arms are doing most of the bending.

So — Is the Bench Pull a Bad Exercise?

No. The bench pull isn’t inherently bad. It:

• Balances out a bench press if that’s in your programme
• Provides a strong, high-neural-activation pulling exercise
• Is genuinely valuable if maximal strength is a limiting factor for you

The real question isn’t “bench pull: yes or no” — it’s what are your weaknesses, and what does your paddling actually need right now?

• Technically solid but lacking speed off the line, or fading late in a race? Strength is probably your limiter — lean into strength work like the bench pull and lifts that suit heavier loads.
• Strong in the gym but not translating that to the water? (Been there myself.) You’ll likely benefit more from kayak-specific exercises that teach your body to connect that strength to the stroke.
• Close to a big race? Be careful about adding heavy neural loads from big compound exercises. Movements done with with speed and velocity or isometric lifts, minimise muscle fatigue while still getting a training effect. Kayak specific exercises work well here.

More Paddling-Specific Alternatives to the Bench Pull

Here’s where it gets interesting. Watch what your arms actually do in a standard bench pull, then compare it to the kayak stroke.

The Standard Bench Pull (Two Versions)

Version 1 — straight pull: Bar comes straight up, perpendicular to the ground. No arc, minimal lat engagement.

Version 2 — swing pull: You swing back through a bit more of an arc to get more lat involved — but you run out of room at the top as you hit the bench, and gravity isn’t working against the most critical part of the pull. The strength curve is backwards.

Why Neither Fully Matches the Kayak Stroke

Look at the kayak stroke at full rotation: the shoulder sits at more than a 90° flexion angle from the torso, slightly abducted, not overhead. Lat pulldowns and overhead pulling movements train a more hyper-specific end range, similar to swimming, but paddling’s effective strength range is actually out and slightly below the shoulder — right where the blade enters the water.

The Sling/Cable Pull (More Specific)

Set up on a 45° angle using a sling through a carabiner (or a low cable), hands neutral, and pull from an extended position down toward your pockets with mostly straight arms — just a slight elbow bend. Depress and retract the scapulas as you finish. This gives you full leg engagement and mirrors the kayak stroke far more closely than a standard pull.

Variations worth trying:

• Single-arm sling pull — adds the rotational component you get in the real stroke
• Incline bench + cable version — same movement pattern, but with the cable working against you through the entire range with bench support allows for heavier loads

The Takeaway

The bench pull isn’t the enemy — it’s just not automatically the right exercise for every paddler, at every time of year, for every goal. Use it when raw pulling strength is your limiter. Reach for the more kayak-specific sling and cable variations when you need that strength to actually transfer to the water.

That’s the whole point of REAL TRANSFER training: choosing the right tool for where you are in your season and your development, not defaulting to the same lift because its what paddlers have been doing for years.

The sling and cable pull variations in this video are just a taste of what’s inside the Strong Paddler Training Library a growing collection of kayak and surf ski-specific strength exercises, each demonstrated with the same focus on REAL TRANSFER to the water. Whatever your gym setup, you’ll find a version of the pull (and every other key movement pattern) that fits.

If you want that library turned into an actual periodised plan built around your specific weaknesses, phase of training, and event that’s where one-on-one coaching comes in.

References

Bench press vs. bench pull (Kristiansen et al., 2023)
Kristiansen, M., Sydow Krogh Pedersen, A.-M., Sandvej, G., Jørgensen, P., Jakobsen, J. V., de Zee, M., Hansen, E. A., & Klitgaard, K. K. (2023). Enhanced maximal upper-body strength increases performance in sprint kayaking. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 37(4), e305–e312. https://doi.org/10.1519/JSC.0000000000004347

Power-load/velocity-load (Romagnoli et al., 2022)
Romagnoli, C., Gatta, G., Lamouchideli, N., Bianco, A., Loddo, S., Alashram, A. R., Bonaiuto, V., Annino, G., & Padua, E. (2022). Specificity of weightlifting bench exercises in kayaking sprint performance: A perspective for neuromuscular training. Frontiers in Physiology, 13, Article 898468. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2022.898468

Isometric training (Lum et al., 2021)
Lum, D., Barbosa, T. M., & Balasekaran, G. (2021). Sprint kayaking performance enhancement by isometric strength training inclusion: A randomized controlled trial. Sports, 9(2), Article 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9020016