How To Stand Up Paddle Board: 7 Beginner Suggestions

But personally, my summer activity of selection is one that appears lots harder than it actually is, and offers the proper balance of exercise and leisure: stand-up paddleboarding.

Despite my paddleboarding evangelism, I can’t let you know how again and again I’ve had friends resist the offer to try because they fear their balance isn’t ok. While it’s possible you’ll fall off your first few tries—not the worst thing on a hot summer day—with the proper guidance, stand-up paddleboarding is straightforward to learn, and comes with an entire host of advantages. You get a full-body balance and stability challenge, plus a core, glute, and arm workout. Not to say that blissful feeling of gliding across the water.

“Anyone can do it,” says Curt Devoir, director of the Skilled Stand Up Paddle Association. “You don’t even have to stand—a whole lot of people just sit or kneel.” Plus, the game is very versatile—depending in your preference and luxury level, you can putter around a pond, catch some waves within the ocean, do yoga, and even race on a paddleboard.

Able to start? Listed below are some tricks to know before you hop on board.

1. Learn from a specialist

The perfect option to learn to paddle is to let a professional teach you, says Devoir. If you happen to attempt to teach yourself, you can unknowingly introduce bad habits which might be hard to interrupt, he says.

Yow will discover introductory classes nearly in all places there’s a rental shop, most of which can provide the boards as a part of the category. If you may have the selection, opt to learn in a calmer body of water (like a lake or pond) before taking over the challenge of navigating the ocean’s waves. (But loads of beginners learn within the ocean, says Devoir—just know that you might not actually stand all the best way up, which is completely normal.)

2. Start on land

Before you hit the water, take a while to get acquainted together with your equipment on land, says Devoir. You’ll need to test out your life jacket and leash, and adjust your paddle to ensure it’s the proper height: If you happen to put your arm straight up within the air and place the paddle on the bottom in front of you, the handle should come as much as your wrist.

Practice your hand placement. When your paddle is to the proper of your board, your left hand needs to be holding the handle of the paddle, and your right hand should hold on midway down. While you switch to paddle to the left of your board, your hands also switch. (If you happen to’re going to be paddling while sitting down or kneeling, you’ll need to take a lower grip.)

You possibly can even do a full dry run. Stand in the midst of your board with barely bent knees and one foot on either side of the carrying handle (your feet needs to be around hip-width apart, but try a wider stance if that makes you are feeling more stable), and take a look at paddling through the air, switching your paddle forwards and backwards between hands, and transitioning from standing to kneeling and back again without losing your paddle.

3. Get up slowly

Actually attending to a standing position would be the hardest a part of paddleboarding. But that shouldn’t be your first step: Get comfortable paddling around in your knees first, says Devoir, especially if you happen to’re within the ocean.

While you do feel able to arise, take your time, suggests Candace Young, DPT, SCS, CSCS, a physical therapist on the Hospital for Special Surgery in Recent York City. Though you’ll need to get your feet planted quickly so that you aren’t in limbo, keep your center of gravity low in a squat until you are feeling balanced, then rise all the best way up. (Still keeping a soft bend in your knees, which can aid you balance.)

One common mistake to avoid: Sticking your paddle out horizontally in front of you when you arise, which Devoir says won’t actually aid you balance. As a substitute, go ahead and stick the blade of the paddle within the water. “It adds some stability,” he says. “It’s like a 3rd leg on the market.”

4. Get moving

Similar to it’s hard to balance on a motorcycle that won’t going anywhere, you’ll have a neater time staying regular once you truly start moving, says Devoir. To your most effective paddling stroke, “you don’t need to pet the water,” he says. “Putting in only a pair inches of the paddle, you’re not going to get anywhere.” As a substitute, “reach forward, bury the paddle within the water, and pull it back, keeping the paddle as vertical as possible,” he says. Once the paddle gets back to your legs, pull it out of the water and begin again.

The conditions and where exactly you’re attempting to go will dictate what number of strokes you do on one side before switching, but it’s best to generally avoid switching after every stroke for efficiency’s sake.

Time to show around? You possibly can either stick your paddle way out in front of you, then sweep it around in a circle, or plant it behind you and push forward. As you get more comfortable, leaning into one foot or the opposite can aid you steer, too.

And if you happen to’re attempting to stay vertical within the ocean, you might want to begin out either facing the incoming waves or away from them, somewhat than having them hit your side, which will probably be an even bigger balance challenge.

5. Loosen up your feet

While you’re feeling off-balance, it’s only natural to need to grip the board together with your toes. Avoid this urge, says Devoir. “After a couple of minutes, you’re going to begin to cramp up and your feet are going to harm,” he says. As a substitute, attempt to chill out your feet and opened up your toes. Your weight needs to be evenly distributed throughout your feet, says Young.

6. Don’t look down

“Numerous times, when people first get standing, they’ll look down and find yourself with this hinge of their torso,” says Young. “If you happen to begin to look down, your whole center of gravity starts to lean forward, and also you’re not gonna stay on the board long after that.” Keep your chin and chest up, your eyes on the horizon, and your shoulders stacked above your hips.

7. Use your whole body

Though it could look like your arms are working hardest when stand-up paddleboarding, it needs to be a real full-body sport, says Devoir. In other words, “if only your arms are sore, you didn’t do it right,” he says. “I’ll have days where I’m going upwind, and I’m using my legs greater than my arms because you may get more power out of them.”

Paddleboarding needs to be fun, so don’t worry about whether you’re engaging the proper muscles whilst you’re on the market, says Young. So long as you maintain a slight bend in your knees, your quads and core needs to be turning on to aid you balance.

Trying to up your paddling game with cross-training? Young suggests alternating reverse lunges, “so you may have that strength to give you the chance to push up from the board,” in addition to squats, and planks, “to give you the chance to maintain that straight line from head to toe, which is what you would like as you’re paddleboarding,” plus any balance exercise that has you practicing standing on one leg.