Over the years, stand up paddle boarding has grown rapidly into popularity as a great vacation activity that looks good when shared on your social media accounts. However, far from being just a fancy beach activity, stand up paddle boarding is a great exercise for almost every part of your body. As such, stand up paddle boarding definitely strikes the balance between having fun while on vacation and being able to continue exercising at the same time.
What is Stand Up Paddle Boarding?
Stand up paddle boarding first became popular as a watersport for vacationers going to the beach or any place with a body of water. Basically, stand up paddle boarding involves a person standing or kneeling on the middle of a paddle board and propelling himself forward through the water using a single giant paddle. This activity has become a popular watersport because it’s easy to try while still being fun and exciting.
Is Stand Up Paddle Boarding a Good Exercise?
You bet! In fact, it is an excellent exercise as it targets and helps almost every part of your body. With paddle boarding, you can have upper body training with leg work as well as core strengthening. It’s an all-in-one exercise that is fun and lets you experience the outdoors.
Health Benefits of Stand Up Paddle Boarding
Of course, we wouldn’t be telling you this if we didn’t have a list of all the health benefits of stand up paddle boarding. For you to better appreciate stand up paddle boarding as an exercise, read on!
Stand up paddle boarding can help you burn a lot of calories
While the exact amount of calories that you could burn is hard to specify as it depends on the type of stand up paddle boarding activity you are doing, you will surely be able to burn a minimum of about 305 – 430 calories per hour by just stand up paddle boarding at a leisurely pace according to SUP World Mag. If you want to up your pace a bit and participate in a stand up paddle board race, you could burn between 713 to 1,125 calories in a span of one hour. If you want to complicate things a bit and do some stand up paddle board surfing, you’d be able to burn 623 to 735 calories per hour. Now, you have a way to burn those excess calories while having fun even while on vacation.
Stand up paddle boarding helps you strengthen your core
Tired of the pain of planking or other core exercises? Then, stand up paddle boarding might just be the right fit for you. This is a great way to strengthen your core because your abdominal muscles must work continuously to maintain your balance on the board. In fact, the rockier the water, the better for your core since it needs to work even harder for you to steady yourself and maintain your balance. With stand up paddle boarding, you get a gentler, more relaxed, and more fun core exercise while still reaping the same health benefits.
Stand up paddle boarding targets different muscles in your body
But wait, there’s more. Stand up paddle boarding doesn’t just exercise and strengthen your core but almost every other muscle in the body as well. All the muscles in your arm get a workout when you use the giant row to propel yourself forward against water resistance. Apart from this, your leg muscles and your lower back muscles are also in for some exercise to help your core in maintaining your balance. Imagine how many muscles you get to work out with stand up paddle boarding, all without the muscle pains you get after working out in the gym.
What are you waiting for? If you live near a body of water or if you are going on a beach vacation, it’s time to try out stand up paddle boarding. Since purchasing your own board can be quite expensive, you can always rent a board out instead. At Island Marine Rentals, we offer some of the best paddle boards for rent. We are #1 for boat rental in Madeira Beach, FL! Come and visit us to experience a fun and exciting workout!
