Stand-up paddleboarding is a super easy water sport to learn, and as a beginner, you can become a professional paddleboarder in almost no time. Individuals of all ages, shapes, and sizes are finding out to SUP board in a few hours with appropriate guidelines. Not only is SUP boarding easy to learn, it’s also super enjoyable, it gets you outside, and it is a great full-body workout. We could go on and on about the advantages of paddleboarding, but today we’re going to focus on how to use an SUP board and why it’s a great full-body exercise.
Ready to Begin Paddling?
From tips on how to prepare for your first SUP paddleboard lesson, details on the steps to take to start for the first time, and guidelines about what to do and not do while paddling your board around the water once you get started, we have a guide to everything a SUP boarder needs to know to begin.
Is Paddleboarding for You?
Just about any beginner can pick up SUP boarding quickly, and there are so many ways to benefit from SUP boarding. It is one of the best forms of exercise, and it is always such a joy to be outside enjoying the creation simultaneously, possibly on an adventure with another friend as well! No matter who you are, we can bet you will find something to love about SUP boarding (If not everything! What’s not to love?).
How to Paddleboard
Stand-up paddleboarding is not difficult. With a few simple steps, you will be paddling like a pro who started years ago in no time. Follow the steps below to learn the fundamentals of standing up paddleboard. Before you find out how, there are a couple of tips you must know.
Consider Before Paddleboarding
– Make sure you’re on a novice SUP board because they offer the most stability and will be the easiest to learn on.
– Go to a calm, flat water location like a lake in the early morning or evening when the wind has died. Because of the waves, we recommend you avoid the ocean to learn your first few times where you’ll find calm water.
– Do not fret if it takes you a couple of tries to stand up. Standing for a beginner is not hard, but it usually takes people a few shots to learn to master standing.
Preparing and Using Your Stand-Up Paddleboard
Preparing to start paddling your board at first is not hard, and if you are ready to learn, try these simple tips to take your first steps if you need a good list of pointers to guide you. You may use the following beginner steps listed below to learn how to paddleboard:
- Prior to going out on the water with your board, make sure your SUP paddle is sized correctly. Discover how to size your paddleboard here properly.
- When entering the water with your SUP board, you want to ensure your fins are not stuck in any sand or debris from shallow water.
- With one knee kneeling on your SUP board, push off to enter the water. This is okay if you drift across the surface while you learn to stand. You do not need to be completely stationary to stand up.
- First, get comfortable on your knees before standing. It is not difficult to stand, but you will fall if you fail to get your balance first.
- When you feel well-balanced in a kneeling position, it’s time to stand up.
- Position your board and paddle so that the paddle is perpendicular in front of you on your SUP board. Keep a hand ready to catch it if it is about to roll away, but this should not be an issue.
- While facing forward, you may place a hand on each side of your board to stabilize your weight if needed. This is an excellent way to prevent yourself from falling while you position your feet into the right places.
- Now place your feet, one at a time, shoulder width apart on the center of your SUP board. The center grab handle is a reference point for optimal balance and paddle performance.
- Be sure to grip your SUP paddle securely in your hand on the way up from standing (above the blade).
- Keep practicing standing up until you feel comfortable. You may kneel on the SUP board to a kneeling position in the same manner and stand up repeatedly as you practice.
Newbie Stand-Up Paddleboarding Pointers
When you’re discovering how to stand-up paddleboard, there are many typical SUP board mistakes a beginner paddleboarder can make that will make your initial experience hard. To avoid making these errors, we have compiled a concise list of some novice paddleboard tips for beginners to follow and get your beginning session right.
– The more momentum you have on your SUP board, the more steady you will be and the easier a session you will have. The process is similar to riding a bike, but the beginning is not tricky and having the water beneath you should you fear falling is safer than the hard ground and can help you build confidence more quickly.
– Posture and position are essential to make sure that you keep the most effective stroke while paddling and will enhance your paddling method on paddleboards. Having the right posture will make it easy to get used to councils and the water to balance your weight more effectively without putting excessive strain on your back.
– Don’t try to stand too far forward on your SUP board. It will be easier to handle your board if you stand in the middle or slightly back from it rather than on the front, and being too far forward will make it unnecessarily difficult to balance or handle your weight and direction.
– When you start paddling, remember never to look down or try to turn and look back behind you during a stroke. If you do, you will lose your balance and potentially fall off your SUP.
– If you need help keeping your balance right while paddling, concentrate on something on land or in the water and begin paddling towards that reference point to stroke and glide throughout the water.
– When standing on paddleboards, you want to be upright with your knees unlocked. It’s essential to keep your knees unlocked because having your knees locked in place for long periods can cause fainting, which would be very dangerous over the water.
– Be sure to position your SUP paddle’s blade totally into the water and with the logo facing away from you. This will help give you the most significant amount of power when you paddle with it, moving you forward or to the right or left more quickly.
– To turn your paddleboard, you will want to immerse your paddle’s blade into the water and push in reverse. This will help rotate your SUP board. Make sure to plant your feet comfortably on the board before doing so.
Paddleboarding is a Full Body Workout
After reading this, you’ll probably wish to cancel your gym subscription. Paddle boarding is an excellent full-body workout for anyone of any fitness level.
Burning Calories
Stand-up paddleboarding burns more calories in an hour than most sports because it incorporates all the critical elements of a full-body exercise: strength, balance, core and endurance. Whether you are recreational paddling, SUP surfing, SUP racing, SUP touring or SUP yoga you’re guaranteed to get a strong exercise. Likewise, it doesn’t matter what fitness level you are, newbie – specialist, everybody will get excellent training while paddleboarding.
Keeping Your Balance
When paddleboarding, your back, core and leg muscles keep balance continuously, while your arms, back, and shoulders are engaged when moving your paddleboard through the water. Continuing this pattern of movements regularly for a long time will be an unbelievable exercise.
Make Your Workout more Difficult.
If you wish to take it up a notch, increase your speed and the duration of time, you will be paddleboarding, and you will be getting an even better workout. We developed five fun methods to get fit on a paddleboard for those who like a nice change in their paddleboard regimen.
Other Advantages of Paddleboarding
Besides being a fun sport that gives you great exercise, there are some other ways paddleboarding can benefit your health and well-being, as well as even positively impact others in your life. Whether you have been paddleboarding as a beginner or started paddleboarding years ago, you can benefit in every one of these areas anytime you choose to begin.
Improves your balance
Practicing standing on a paddleboard for long amounts of time will help your body to improve significantly in balance and coordination. It is like many other sports in this way, requiring minimal effort to result in steady performance improvement. As your body begins to gain coordination at balancing your weight well and keeping you from falling, it quickly becomes muscle memory for you and requires less concentration.
Connects you with nature
There are few things better for your health and happiness than being outdoors. Being in nature and staying active keeps you physically fit and improves your mental health. This is a fun, easy way to get more hours outside and forget about all the burdens of life for a while. Once you get back from your first few times as a beginner and feel more confident, you could try taking paddleboards on the ocean waves for a new adventure if you want to. You can even fish while paddleboarding.
Stress relief
Part of improving your mental health is the stress relief paddleboarding can bring. Life is often chaotic, and getting outside to take an adventure gives you a way to unwind and clear your mind. Being out on the water, whether on a lake or in ocean waves, with the gentle wind in your face and the sun shining all around, is a calm and beautiful setting to put your mind at ease.
Boosts your endurance and confidence
The more time you spend on the water, the stronger you will grow. Like hiking, stand-up paddleboarding can significantly improve your physical endurance, and the adrenaline you get from the activity will boost your mood and alertness. With every stroke of your paddle blade, you move forward to a new place after a new place and learn even better how to leverage your weight and travel over the water, and you never have to look back.
Allows you to invest quality time
Stand-up paddleboarding is one of the best activities to do with family, friends or anyone else you love, even someone who is pregnant! Spending quality time together is essential, and stand-up paddleboarding allows you to accomplish this in addition to spending time outdoors and being active.
Concluding Paddleboarding Tips
Stand paddleboarding is not tough to do for beginners. It is effortless and a form of exercise to use that requires relatively less time to build up strength. Compared to most sports, paddleboarding can be learned in just a single day if practiced correctly. Paddle boarding is not only simple but an excellent full-body exercise and gets you outside, taking pleasure in creation.
Finding a Paddleboard
Perhaps you are interested in finding a paddleboard of your own or for someone else. We have a great resource for you to turn to for SUP boarding and finding the perfect board, whether you are just about to get started SUP boarding for the first time, or you have been paddling boards since several years ago.
Paddleboarding with Friends
Do you want a friend to paddleboard with but don’t know anyone else who does much SUP boarding? This may be a great time to introduce someone else to the sport! You can also find communities or groups of people who do sports like paddleboarding online to meet others who love paddleboarding and want to do it together. You can even paddleboard with kayaking others instead of using paddleboards. This is an excellent opportunity to meet new friends or get to know someone better by spending quality time together.
About Paddle Sesh
Paddle Sesh is an online marketplace for paddleboards, surfboards, kayaks, and canoes. We take pride in the personal reviews and tips we share so you can have a better purchasing experience. Paddle Sesh was founded in 2017 and diligently gathers online customer reviews to provide actual customer responses. Check back with us often as we review and share more tips about paddleboards, surfboards, kayaks, and canoes. Our website is continually updated with more articles about water sports products to move you through life. Our target is to have the most effective top-quality website and to educate and entertain our site visitors. If you have any inquiries, you can contact us at any time by utilizing our contact page.
