How do you make your canoeing training as effective as possible when you can't go out on the water?

It's a question that's occupied a lot of minds in Europe this winter as the continent was repeatedly lashed by floods, high winds and freezing temperatures.

In Scandinavian countries, however, it's 'situation normal'. Their lakes freeze in winter and for several months of the year their top paddlers have to pursue different options.

For sprint kayaker Petter Menning, the first  Swede to win a World and European title in the same year, this means using a kayaking ergometer as much as ten times a week.

"I use it all year round, mostly when it's too cold or windy to paddle outside but also for standardised tests."

Technique is key on the ergometer. Menning, a specialist in 200m where margins are minuscule, knows this better than most.

"I focus on every stroke to be like paddling outside. Some of the feeling you get when you're paddling on the water, like getting the balance from wind and waves right, is obviously not possible on an ergo because you're inside. But in all other respects it's an excellent tool."

Some paddlers find gym work tedious and repetitive but for Menning sessions on an ergometer are much appreciated and building a training regime around one during the cold winter months is a core part of his training.

"It is common practice among Swedes, Norwegians and the Danes - and all these countries have had top-level kayakers for a long time. I have been doing it for all my winter training years for several months at a time and I became a world champion so apparently it is clearly realistic."

Menning's top tips for ergometers are to think about technique constantly.

"To have mirrors to see your technique can be a good idea. I focus on stretching my arms as much as possible and try to work with my legs as much as I can. Pretty much the same focus as outside, I try not to be "sloppy" in my paddling on longer sessions and still make the best of every stroke.

"I vary the resistance, the higher the speed, the higher the resistance. I also tense the lines when I am doing speed work. The paddle length can not be the same as outside because the mechanics of movement is not the same but I hold the paddle as far between my hands as I do on my outside paddle.

"My advice is just try to paddle like you would do outside and you will be fine! It is easy to let the machine do the work instead of working the machine, for example, the paddle will go closer to the ergo than what is optimal for outside paddling if you don't try to push it out.

Menning also dispels the myth that sprinters only do very short interval training all the time.

"I think for speed work it is sessions with 10-20 seconds on and about a minute off for a period of time, so that you get really tired in the muscles. For endurance sessions I prefer shorter intervals like 3 or 4 minutes and repeating them for about an hour. But I think everything works, if you're going for longer intervals just bring some music and drinking water! I try to focus on keeping the speed at a certain level when I do longer sessions, for example you may want to be under 2.30 per 500 meters or something like that. It¥s a good motivation to go faster and to have something to focus on when you go for one hour sessions or more."

Menning's preferred ergometer is the KayakPro Speedstroke.

"I have tried a few others but none of them gave me the instant grip that the Kayakpro does as soon as I begin the stroke. I also appreciate the fact that I can adjust the footrest exactly how I want to, something that I can't do on the other ergos I tried. For me as a sprint kayaker, it is also very good to be able to train with higher resistance, which I can do on the speedstroke. The ability for me to paddle at a race speed stroke rate of frequency is so very important"