Looking for a new activity to improve your health? With gyms closed across the world and team sports banned in some countries, your options are limited during the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, one sport that you can enjoy, should you live close to a lake or ocean, is stand up paddleboarding. It’s the perfect activity as it not only has physical health benefits, but it can relieve stress and improve your mental health too. It’s also easy to learn, so no need for unnecessary contact with others as you take beginner lessons.
Let’s take a look at the health benefits of stand up paddleboarding, and what this sport can do for you.
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A fantastic workout
The first and most obvious benefit of stand up paddleboarding is that it is an excellent full body workout. Most of all, it benefits the core. After a few weeks or month of paddleboarding, you’ll notice that your abs are become stronger and hopefully showing more tone. In fact, SUP is recommended to those who want to develop a six pack!
It’s not just the core that gets a workout though. SUP works on muscles throughout your body. Your legs and back are working hard to keep you stable and upright. Your arms and shoulders are required to use your paddle.
There are few sports which can so easily engage your entire body. No muscle will be left to rest – however, it’s more likely that you’ll feel invigorated than exhausted afterwards. More on that later.
You can lose weight
Paddleboarding isn’t just a way to tone your muscles. The workout will help you to lose weight too, a key motivation for starting a new exercise routine. Combining SUP with a healthy diet will mean that you should see results in no time at all.
On average, stand up paddleboarding burns twice as many calories an hour as walking – around 300 – 450. And that’s just with regular paddling. Do more strenuous exercise such as racing, touring, or surfing, and you’ll burn a whole lot more. Sometimes more than 1,000 calories an hour!
Depending on how hard you paddle, SUP can be just as beneficial for weight loss as a session of CrossFit. It’s one of the most gentle and tranquil ways of losing weight!
Good cardio
Workout and weight loss still haven’t convinced you to paddle? How about heart health. We said earlier, that no muscle was left unused during a SUP workout, and that applies to the most important one of all. Because muscles throughout your body are working, your heart is pumping blood and oxygen to all of them – speeding up your circulation.
The short term gain from this is that you’ll feel great. Long term, it’s even more of a bonus. Unpleasant health complications such as strokes, diabetes, and heart attacks are reduced from good cardio exercise – again, paired with a healthy diet.
To improve your circulation and cardio even more, try SUP yoga. Yogic breathing opens up your circulation even more than regular SUP.
Low impact
So, doing sports that work every muscle in your body might make you want to curl up on the sofa or in bed afterwards, stiff and unable to move. SUP won’t make you feel like that. Sure, there’ll be a bit of a burn, but in a good way.
SUP is low impact, and perfect for giving muscles, joints, and ligaments a stretch, without the risk of doing any damage. In fact, it can speed up the recovery process if you’re on the way back from an injury.
Paddleboarding is a good alternative to swimming as a low impact exercise.
It’s a stress reliever
While SUP has a lot of clear and obvious physical health benefits, the boost to your mental health should not be overlooked. SUP is a mental and physical challenge that the body reacts to positively.
Most, if not all, paddleboarding is done out in nature. Whether it’s at your local beach, on the glassy waters of a lake, or over river rapids, natural surroundings combined with water’s therapeutic effects have been proven to reduce stress levels overall. This helps to make your thinking calmer and clearer, which is a real plus in our busy lives.
SUP’s versatility can also help with stress – one day you could be doing yoga on your board, before paddling out with your dog the next!
It’s good fun
What’s the point of doing sport or a workout if it’s not fun? Thankfully, that’s not something you ever need to think about with SUP. Your body reacts to the challenge of paddleboarding by producing more ‘happy’ chemicals – we’re talking serotonin and endorphins – both of which are mood boosters.
When you take everything into account – such as the opportunity to lose weight, get a workout, and reduce your stress levels, stand up paddleboarding is a form of exercise which you’ll be counting down the hours until your next session!
