If you are like me, you’ve probably heard people raving about paddle boarding or about how great they feel after their paddle-boarding trips and workouts. What’s all the hype about? And why do they feel so good? To understand this sport better, I started with paddle-boarding myself. It didn’t take long and I got hooked on this amazing and fastest growing water sport on the planet.
Tired but happy, fresh and re-invigorated
As with almost every sport, the post-workout euphoria has a lot to do with the chemistry in our brains. It’s fairly simple, yet super complex. Simply put, the physical exercise alters the balance of some “magic” molecules in our grey matter and as a result, we feel good. Yes, I’m talking about the infamous endorphins, the group of hormones produced within our busy brains and overloaded nervous systems, that are responsible for post-exercise feelings of happiness and euphoria. So the first benefit of practising paddle-boarding would be “FEELING GOOD” after each workout. However, beside this most obvious benefit of paddle boarding, there are other good reasons why it’s a good idea to start with this sport.
Working-out in a healthy and comprehensive way
In this article I want to mention my favourite 5 health benefits of paddle boarding. But before I dig deeper, let me quickly explain what paddle boarding is. Stand Up Paddle boarding, or SUP for short, is a popular water sport best performed in the open ocean or on calm and steady rivers. People use paddle (1 peace) while kneeling or standing on their paddle board or surfboard to propel themselves forward.
“A healthy mind in a healthy body!”
1. It cleanses our mind and re-invigorates our body
The feeling of gliding over water, while paddling our arse off is a great and healthy way to purify our mind and release the malicious “office-and-meetings” tension that often accumulates in our bodies like a radioactive graphite — slowly destroying our ability to focus, or see our priorities clearly and function efficiently. Paddle boarding is a great way to rid our mind of the stress and to re-invigorate our body.
2. It strengthens our core muscles
Similar to Yoga or Pilates, paddle boarding also works out the core muscles of our bodies. However, unlike Yoga or Pilates, SUP is much more dynamic activity and therefore it’s great for those impatient people who can’t sit still, inhale and exhale slowly and be with themselves alone. Please mind that I’m not suggesting that paddle boarding should replace Yoga or Pilates for all of us. Definitely not! Yoga and Pilates offer some meditative components, such as breathing techniques and heaps of postures that are unique and beneficial for our bodies. But for those who are into something more active and healthy, paddle boarding is something to consider. Remember: the key is to strengthen our core muscles, improve our posture, fix back problems, get stronger and healthier. The correct paddle-boarding exercise targets the core muscles of our body perfectly while improving their strength. The great foundation for a healthy posture.
If you happen to be in Ho Chi Minh City, you can learn more about the correct paddle-boarding technique first hand from SUP instructor Ly in Thao Dien.
3. Stand Up Paddle Boarding will improves your balance and stability
This third benefit of SUP is my second most favourite as it combines the core-muscles of our body with the effect of muscle memory and the amazing power of the human brain. It’s all about how these three components work together. Similar to skateboarding, rope-walking or surfing, the stand up paddle boarding forces our body to constantly adapt and adjust its balance to new stimuli to keep the body on the board. With time and practise this becomes second nature to SUP practitioners and they can rip some benefits of the improved balance, concentration and stability in their everyday life. Let me give you an example. The other day, I slipped over some garbage that was left over on the floor in my apartment building. Luckily I didn’t fall. My body instinctively found its way to avoid catastrophe. Instead of landing on the floor like an overripe apple I somehow managed to softly land on my two legs. I’m not sure if this would be the case if I wasn’t paddle-boarding every day.
4. SUP is an intense yet, low impact sport!
I can’t stress enough how important this is. For those of us who have problems with our backs (e.g. herniated disc or slipped disc) to do any high or medium impact sport can be tricky. There is no doubt that running or cycling are great activities. They both offer great cardio benefits. It’s healthy to boost our cardio-vascular system and by doing so pump more blood through our bodies, but at the same time, when we run or cycle we also end up bombarding our spine with thousands of small (or big) impacts. On average when I go running my spine undergoes somewhere in between 5000 to 8000 impacts. Each step equals an impact. Not a big problem for a young and healthy person. But if you have issues with your back, this can lead to exacerbation of your back-pain. Paddle boarding is different in this regard. There are no impacts when you stand and paddle on the board. It’s more static activity compared to running, yet still fairly dynamic and cardio-intense as paddling requires a lot of upper-body movements. It’s also about maintaining balance and posture, hence the core-muscles (point 2). Therefore, this 4th health benefit of doing SUP is also my very favorite one. With SUP we can do a full-body work-out while preserving our back and joints. It’s a great low impact sport. And if we fall into water, all that happens is that we cool down a bit. No dramas!
5. It works out just almost every muscle in our body
I don’t know many low-impact sports that utilise almost every moving part of our bodies including the core muscles while also engaging cardio-vascuallar system at a fairly high rate. And yes, I mentioned the core-muscles again as it’s important to keep in mind that there simply isn’t a healthy body without a healthy core.
From our toes-to-our-ears, when paddling on the board, we exercise every key muscle group in our body. Stand Up Paddling feels like standing on an exercise ball, swimming and cycling, all at the same time but without the impacts.
Active, healthy and low impact
To sum it up, paddle boarding is perhaps not for everyone but if you seek a viable alternative to your favourite sport that is active, healthy and low impact, paddle boarding might be the right choice for you. And the best thing about paddle boarding is that almost anyone can do it as it is super easy to start with and progressively learn more.
