Is paddle boarding good exercise? The short answer is yes! Paddle boarding is a low impact, repetitive motion and when combined with fresh air, water and beautiful scenery it’s easy to see how spending time on your paddle board can help with reducing stress and benefit your mental and physical well-being.
Paddle board exercise benefits both the mind and the body, including some ways that you might now expect. Getting out into the fresh air and taking some time away from day-to-day stresses can do wonders for your physical and mental health.
Whether you’re about to get started or are already a seasoned pro, it’s worth knowing these five top paddle board exercise benefits.
5 Benefits of Paddle Boarding
1. Paddle Boarding Reduces Stress Levels and Increases Mindfulness
If you needed an excuse to get to the beach, river or lake, now with your paddle board you have one more reason! Getting out of the house or office and spending time by getting back to nature is a no brainer when it comes to your wellbeing.
Being near large bodies of water naturally makes us feel more relaxed. This is because of minerals in the air; for example, it was found in 2019 that English people who lived within a mile of the ocean were 22% less likely to report feelings of depression and anxiety.
Being in an open body of water and having the time to focus on your physical presence on the board can make all your worries seem to wash away.
2. A Low-Impact Workout
Paddle boarding requires a whole body workout. Propelling your board forward while maintaining your balance means you’ll be working your back muscles, core, arms, legs, shoulders, and torso, offering you a whole body workout.
As a form of exercise, paddle boarding is gentler on the body than other kinds of more intensive workout. This means that it’s harder to injure yourself despite engaging your whole body in the exercise.
For this reason, a lot of athletes turn to paddle boarding when they’re healing from an injury from another sport. It’s a low-impact form of exercise that will keep you healthy without risking and serious damage to your body.
3. Improves Your Balance
Being able to balance is an essential part of paddle boarding. However, it’s typically easier than trying to surf because you’ll be on calmer water than ocean waves.
Paddle boarding makes you focus on your core and leg strength while you try to master standing up out on the water. Your balance will improve as you practice, and this will also have a knock-on effect of improving your concentration.
4. Boosts Cardiovascular Health
Paddle boarding moves your body in a similar way to cross-training and aerobics, so your heart rate stays elevated while you’re out on the water.
This benefits your health in the long term as well as short term. In fact, paddle boarding regularly, as with any exercise, reduces your likelihood of having a heart attack or stroke.
Exercise and improved mindfulness benefits through paddle boarding can result in a stronger immune system. Which as we know from the last few years is more important than ever!
Stress can cause your autonomic nervous system to be overactive. This puts your immune system at risk. Lowering your stress will give your immune system a chance to rebuild and fortify. This, combined with improved physical health makes you stronger to tackle whatever life brings you emotionally and physically.
5. Paddle Boarding Helps to Connect With Others
We are social creatures and positive interaction with others can really help with our mental well-being, so whilst paddleboarding can be a great solo activity it can also be a great way to connect with others and transport ourselves away from the stress of your day-to-day life.
Everything is simplified when you’re out on the water and you’re left with little distractions. Paddle boarding opens up the world to build stronger connections with others. We are lucky in the UK to have so many local SUP clubs. It’s a relatively new sport with many people taking it up later in life. This removes the snobbery which you find in some more established sports.
Start Paddle Boarding with Quroc
These are only five of the great mental and physical health benefits that paddle boarding can have. You will already know this if you have a Quroc paddle board but if not, you'll find we have the best paddle boards for you. Whether you’ve been paddle boarding your whole life or are a true beginner, we’ve got something for everyone.
