Cross-training Philosophy

I'm no physiotherapist, nor an expert on anatomy. However, personal observations and experience have lead me to form some opinions on the matter of cross-training.

I've clocked a few hours climbing, and another few observing other climbers, and have noticed two things:

1. The perception that climbing is a hands/arm activity is false
2. Our bodies operate best when balanced, and some sports don't provide that balance by themselves

Here's what I mean:

Climbing appears to be all about your hands and arms. Beginners always make the mistake of "overgripping" a hold when they first start. As you progress, you discover that your skeleton can do much more of the work for you than you thought. Then you become aware of how much your foot positioning counts for taking weight off of your arms and helps lift you. You come away with sore legs, not just sore arms after a good effort. Not to mention a sore back.

Which leads to my next observation. While climbing really is a full-body effort, most climbers suffer from lop-sided development in one crucial way. Our bodies are designed to be balanced. For every "pull" muscle, there is an opposing "push" muscle. Climbers do LOTS of pulling with their lats, but not nearly as much pushing with their pecs. The result is a hunched-but-muscular build on men and women. Some try to counter is with yoga, other with just doing lots of push-ups. Others just shrug. This imbalance, though, can lead to becoming injury-prone, joint pain, posture problems that cause issues when older, and even forced early retirement from a beloved activity.

So let's examine paddling. Lots of pulling? Check! Repetitive motions? Check! Appearance of being an upper-body-only workout? Check! Looks like I'll need to incorporate cross-training into my plans and consult some expert paddlers to understand how my whole body can support my paddling efforts.