SUPing is rewarding to your mind and body. It is a good pastime with friends and family, but it also improves your health and mental well-being. When you paddle standing on the board on the water surface, you need great coordination.
The process might look effortless, especially when an expert does it. However, you engage so many muscles of your upper and lower body, which is where the benefits come in. You can SUP board to improve your core strength, balance, posture, and enhance coordination.
Benefits of SUPing
Below are the main benefits of SUPing:
Mental Benefits
SUP boarding has so many physical benefits, but before that, your mind has to coordinate the functioning of the muscles. When you go outdoors, you connect with nature, and that gives you several mental benefits.
You have to concentrate and focus on your balance and your paddling. As you do that, you enhance your level of concentration. Further, the water has a therapeutic effect.
Health Benefits and Exercise
When you stand on the water outdoors, you expose your skin to the morning or evening sun. This allows the skin to synthesize vitamin D, which boosts your body’s ability to fight infections.
As you paddle, you engage the whole body, from the mind to the muscles. Some of the muscles that you engage include:
- the glutes
- quads
- stabilizer muscles
- abs
You will use almost all the upper body muscles and your rotational muscles to help your paddle.
At the end of the exercise, you will have had a full-body workout. Your arms’ biceps and triceps will pump the paddle. Other muscles such as the shoulders, back, and hips will give you the power to stand and stay the distance.
Your core will benefit as you rotate when paddling, aiding in the developing and strengthening of the oblique muscles. For every hour you paddle, you can burn between 300 and 450 calories. If you want to burn up to 1000+ calories, you can engage in paddle boarding racing.
Improve Your Balance and Posture
You need to practice standing on a paddleboard. If you are starting, you will need a big board for enhanced balance. A big board is more stable, and you can stand on it without falling.
As a beginner, you will fall off several times. However, your body and your mind will learn to coordinate, and you will have a better balance at it. Once you develop your balance, you will never lose it.
Most people spend their days sitting in an office. If that is you, you may suffer back and mobility issues, leading to poor posture. When you paddleboard when standing, you alleviate the strain you put on your back. You also work out the back muscles to make them strong to withstand long hours of sitting.
Fish Better
SUP boarding offers a great platform for anglers. When you paddle standing, you will have the mobility to get to fishing spots. There is no noisy motor to chase the fish away.
When standing, you can locate fish beneath the surface of the water. Today, fishing on paddleboards has become so popular that some board manufacturers are designing boards that accommodate anglers. The boards remain stable in the moments that the angler fights a fish.
Some boards even feature bungee rigging or cooler, tackle boxes, and rod holders. You will be more stable on these boards, but you may not propel them as fast as other boards.
Lower Mental and Joint Stress
When you paddle in a standing position, you enjoy a form of workout that doesn’t cause an impact on your joints. There are so many forms of exercise and sporting activities that can improve your health, but most of them can cause harm to your joints and your muscles.
SUP boarding involves you finding your balance and then paddling. The chances of you ending up with an injury are low. If you are an athlete rehabilitating an injury, you can use paddleboarding to stay in shape while easing the pain and stress on the joints.
If you have mental stress, the therapeutic effect of water and being in nature will help you ease your mind. The sight and sound of the water will soothe your mind and help you relax. Further, the beautiful scenery stimulates the production of endorphins and serotonins to make you happy.
Conclusion
Whether for mental or physical wellbeing, as a once-off recreational activity or daily exercise, paddleboarding has something to offer for just about anyone.
If you love speed and races, SUP boarding gives you a platform to join events and speed across the surface of the water. There are events in most parts of the world, and you can be part of them. Whether you are a beginner or a pro paddler, there is a race for you.
There are also paddleboards for everyone, from beginners to pro paddlers. Whether you want fishing boards, speed boards, or any other, there is something for you.
