A typical training session lasts from one to a couple of hours, including warm-up drills on land before getting into the boat. Expect to get up before the crack of dawn, as this is when most teams set their practice schedules to accommodate students and yuppies. Just think of it as a reversal of after-school or work activities, where fun comes before work.
Once you’re in the water, you’ll be taught a precise set of movements, from the proper way to hold your paddle to the actual motion of paddling in the water. Paddling techniques might differ from team to team, but here’s a hint: the power of your stroke (the term for paddling action) usually shouldn’t come from your arms, but from your core.
Precision is actually a key word in dragon boat paddling, since synchronicity, or pagsasabay, is the first thing all paddlers should master. The glide and speed of your boat largely depend on how synchronized the entire boat’s movements are. A single out-of-sync paddler can compromise an entire race. Besides synchronicity, training programs are usually focused on developing either power (for example, members might take turns paddling individually in a full boat, with the goal of covering as much distance as they can by themselves) or endurance (e.g., continuous paddling for several minutes).
Most teams supplement boat training with the usual methods, like jogging and weights. The important thing is to commit to the training program your coach has set for you.