Is paddle boarding good exercise?

Standup paddle boarding is fun and good for you. As a reported 4.5 million Britons have already discovered, paddle boarding is a fantastic way to exercise, working numerous muscle groups. Unsurprisingly, the internet is awash with ‘paddle board workouts’ references.

Modern paddle boarding is a relatively recent phenomenon, so its fitness benefits have only recently been understood. Naturally, it also depends on the type of paddle boarding you do and the intensity with which you do it. 

How paddle boarding became a sport

It is thought that people have been using sticks and paddles to propel boards through the water for millennia, but the sport began to take shape in Hawaii in the 1940s. Back then, it taught tourists how to catch and surf a wave, using the paddle to help stability.

It wasn’t until 2007/08 that the idea of paddle board touring began to gain traction. It gave rise to bigger boards with enough displacement to support a person without surfing, and the paddling style evolved accordingly.

Instead of adopting the sideways surfing stance, standup paddle boarders position their feet shoulder-width apart, one slightly ahead of the other, facing forward. To paddle, you reach ahead and to one side with a slightly bent back, dig the blade into the water, and almost swing your body forward around the planted paddle.

What muscles does paddle boarding work?

When you factor in the standing, balancing and paddling, SUP is often said to engage almost every muscle group in the body. There are the core muscles, of course, plus arms and shoulders. Then there’s the back, glutes, hamstrings, calves and even your feet.

Core

These are your key abdominal muscles. Along with the obliques, which range down your side, and the transverse abdominals, these muscles are deeply involved in your stability and balance, keeping you upright on the board. They also help you twist to one side for the stroke.

Back

Muscles in your back are responsible for much of the power you achieve with a long stroke, especially the long latissimus dorsi, which stretch from under your arms around and down to your lower spine.

Reaching forward and twisting slightly draws on muscles in your back.

Shoulder

This complex joint contains lots of paddling muscles, but you make the greatest use of the deltoids, trapezius and rhomboids. They are the muscles that enable you to raise your arms and launch each stroke. They also help you draw the paddle back and propel yourself forward

Chest

Pectoral muscles help you to hold one arm across your chest to grip the paddle and pull it back towards you. This is an elementary part of the paddle stroke and one that you’ll need to produce on both sides of the board in order to keep it moving in a straight line.

Legs

Your gluteus maximus muscles (aka glutes) work alongside your core muscles to help keep you stable and balanced while paddling. With your knees slightly bent, your calves, quads and hamstrings also provide extra power in the stroke, helping you swing your whole body towards the planted paddle rather than just pulling with your arms. All your leg muscles will be engaged with keeping you upright, and they can help with steering if you put more of the weight of the stroke through one side or the other.

Feet

The feet are another body region with a twin role. They help you stay upright, adjusting your balance with every ripple and shudder of the board through the water. But they are also important for transmitting power strokes to the board and transforming that into speed. Push against the foot pad with your toes while paddling to increase the power.

Arms

Perhaps most obviously, standup paddle boarding exercises your arm muscles. The triceps and biceps are engaged when reaching forward with the paddle and pulling it back through the water.

Cardio

A good paddle boarding session will raise your pulse and quicken your breathing in order to keep all your working muscles supplied with oxygenated blood. In other words, paddle boarding provides excellent cardiovascular exercise, which promotes general fitness.

How many calories does paddle boarding burn?

If you’re interested in paddle boarding as a workout, then you’ll probably want to know how much energy you burn while doing it. And luckily, the team at www.paddleboardinsiders.com have spent the time to work it out.

The bottom line is that an hour of paddle boarding will consume between 300 and 1000 calories, depending on the intensity of the session. Paddle boarding for fun is naturally less frantic, so expect to burn 300-430 calories per hour. If you’re doing it for fitness, you could get through 450-650 calories, and racing is a vigorous 700-1000 calories – but who could keep that up for a full 60 minutes?

For those who like a scientific angle, there is actually a formula to determine the calorie burn of a paddle boarding session. It takes into account your body weight, exercise intensity, and paddle length.

The formula looks like this: calories per minute = (MET x body weight x 3.5) / 200

You measure body weight in kilograms, while MET stands for metabolic equivalent—a number between 1 and 10 that expresses the intensity of the exercise. Intermediate paddle boarding equates to a MET of around 6, while all-out racing can go to 10.

To conclude, paddle boarding has some great benefits

One of the joys of paddle boarding is that it is a fun activity in its own right. It gets you out on the water and away from the crowds, where you can think at your own pace and enjoy a moment with Mother Nature. The workout benefits are almost a by-product for most paddle boarders.

And that means your body will benefit without you really realising it – just trying to balance on an ever-changing surface gets your core working. Even those who prefer to paddle board kneeling won’t miss out. Sure, there’s less exercise for your legs, but the other muscle groups, from the back and abdominals to the shoulders and arms, will be busy.

So whether you’re a Sunday paddler or on a daily workout, the main thing is to get out there. You’ll feel the benefits immediately!

Specialist paddle board insurance through Insure4Boats  

Ready to work your muscles with some paddle boarding? You might want to also consider protecting your SUP through specialist paddle board insurance for extra peace of mind. 

Through Insure4Boats, the cover is designed to protect your SUP against theft, loss, and damage. 

You’ll also receive £3m of Public Liability cover as standard, so you’ll be protected against claims if you injure someone or damage third-party property whilst out paddle boarding. 

Personal Accident cover is available as an optional extra to protect you if you’re injured in a paddle boarding accident. 

Find out more about how we can help here, or get an online quote in minutes.