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Quite a bit of twisting and lifting though. I probably do the boat all wrong to I bet. I just lean over and grab the thing.

I bet the majority of people do the same thing, whatever they learned ( right or wrong) and until you get a nagging injury or worse don't give it a second thought.

I know I did until I tweaked my back and found that "man- up" doesn't always translate to " wising-up" ;)

Over the long haul, technique will always beat brute strength. Sadly most active people wish they had learned that before they developed those nagging injuries or serious ones that keep them from doing what they love.

The proper canoe lifting link is a good example. If your just muscling your canoe up, your asking for lower back problems. All the stretching/ exercises in the world can't make up for bad technique. You may get away with it for awhile but when it catches up to you it won't be pretty :'(

Add in the weight of a heavy pack and sooner or later you'll pay the price. I'd be willing to bet that if you took a few minutes to compare the difference between the proper technique and just grabbing and going, a reasonable person would have to conclude they were working waaay harder  and un-safer than need be ;)