
Benefits of Paddle Boarding
Paddle Boarding is an emerging outdoor sport that is a fusion of surfing and kayaking. It’s a great way to experience the waterways around you while still providing fun and easy use. No motors, no licensing, and non worries!
Paddle Boards Are Unique
Paddle boarding has been a valued sport for many years, though only recently making its way into mainstream consumer use. These surf-board like creations are able to support activity in the standing position. This allows for a much freer experience of the world than kayaking, and has even spurred such groups as paddle board yoga (SUP Yoga). Before you go on your search for the best paddle boards money can buy, learn a bit of the health benefits associated with the sport.
Promotes Heart Health
If you are standing up, rowing adamantly with your paddle, and sustaining this action over an extended period of time — you might realize you’re getting quite a workout! Paddle boarding is one of those activities that are so fun, you can easily get worn out without realizing your actually working out. Prolonged exposure to paddle boards has been known to provide the same types of aerobic workout that is attributed to lowering blood pressure and strengthening the cardiovascular system.
Muscle Tone & Fat Loss
Stand Up Paddle Boards (SUP) aren’t really a way to build muscle mass. Their use involves the sustained rowing actions that are attributed to muscle tone and tendon strength. If you currently have a bodybuilding or weight-training program that involves power lifting, SUP boarding can be a great ‘off day’ exercise to help smooth soreness out. The action of paddling on either side continuously is a great way to build core strength and other muscles associated with rotating action.
Mental Health
Exercise and physical activity are associated with decreased risk of most major mental illness. Just 15 minutes of exercise a day has demonstrated the ability to help promote calm-mindedness and reduce overall anxiety. In addition to the exercise benefits, paddle boarding gets you out in the elements. Exposure to sun has been shown to increase Vitamin D levels in the body (it doesn’t actually give you Vitamin D) which is associated with improvements of nearly every aspect of health. In fact, Vitamin D is associated with a nearly 40% reduction in all-cause-mortality rates in the United States. Sunshine can go a long way!
Flexibility
Since the rise in popularity of SUP Yoga (Yoga on paddle boards) there has been a general increase in average flexibility among World citizens of approximately 1.5%. OK — that’s complete nonsense but well illustrating of how paddle boards can help inspire your Yoga practice, which everyone knows increases flexibility. SUP Yoga helps magnify one’s dance with gravity and balance. This increased focus helps to better refine the subtle shortcomings of your practice to strengthen your overall foundation. It’s also a great place to practice moves where you fall alot, since the water is more friendly than the ground!
Overall Considerations
Paddle boards are, essential, just buoyant slabs on which one can float about. The experience is what you make of it, and their true value is in the inspiration the cultivate to get people out into the world and moving about. There are some seriously quality paddles boards that you can buy for reasonable prices, though if you’re a beginner there’s no need to drop too much.
