How Fit Do You Need To Be for SUP? You Can SUP When You Are Overweight

Do you have to be fit to paddle board?

Well, swimmers ask whether you have to be fit to swim and surfers ask the same question.

Basically, being fit is something that everyone worries about all the time. However, it becomes the main concern for people who want to enjoy water sports.

If you are not fit enough, you will always feel too exhausted after paddle boarding.

So, how fit do you need to be for SUP? You do not have to be fit to enjoy paddle boarding. In fact, even overweight people can paddle board. You will experience some trouble when trying to get back on the board after falling into the water, but you can do it.

If you love water sports and you would especially love to take up stand up paddle boarding,  get into it straight away. Don’t let your body tell you any different!

After all, paddle boarding gives a full body workout and you can burn hundreds of calories. If you are overweight, you will burn calories faster because fat is easier to burn than muscle.

In addition, to lose more weight, you can vary the intensity of your workout. You can paddle board harder, faster and for a longer distance to burn more calories.

Can you paddle board if you are fat?

It is not the question of whether you can paddle board if you are fat. It is a question of how often you should do it. And the answer is very often.

When you are fat, you need a workout that focuses on all muscle groups, but one that especially works out those attached to the core.

Stand up paddle boarding is one of those workouts. Since you have to do it standing, you involve your core muscles, the abs to keep you steady and balanced on the board.

It may not look like you are doing much, but the truth is that adopting the right stance starts burning calories straight away.

If you are worried about sinking when you fall into the water, well, worry not! You see, fat people float better than slimmer people.

Of course, hefting your weight onto the SUP board will be a bit hard, but that too is part of the workout.

When you are overweight, you will feel breathless when you engage in straining activity. This is because your heart is straining to pump blood and your lungs are straining to pump air.

What you need most when you are overweight is a strong pair of lungs and heart. That is why you need the best cardiovascular workouts more than slimmer people.

SUP gives the best cardio. You will enhance the strength of your heart and lungs a great deal.

How to paddle board easily if you are overweight

Now that we know you can paddle board if you are overweight, we need to find out how you can do that easily.

Here, we bring you a few helpful tips to help you get started on SUP. They are as follows:

1. Get the right stand up paddle board

If you are a beginner, you need to start on the best paddle board for beginners. It does not matter whether you are fit or unfit, but it has to be a beginner board.

Beginner boards are shorter and broader. By design, they can be rigid or inflatabl paddle boards, but the most important thing is that they be wider and shorter.

When you are learning how to SUP, your first worry is staying afloat in the water rather than speed. Broader and shorter boards float better on water.

Also read: How to make SUP paddle float

The general rule of thumb is to make the SUP board about 8 to 10 inches taller than you. Racing SUP boards are taller than this.

2. Learn how to swim first

Okay, you can SUP even when you do not know how to swim. However, you have to choose at least one struggle.

Not to be biased, but you can enjoy paddle boarding more when you are overweight and you know how to swim.

Since you can learn swimming fast, say in about a week, we suggest that you start by learning how to and then take up paddle boarding later.

To get out to the right paddle boarding depth, you might have to swim. This time, you will be carrying your stand up paddle board. Thus, having this skill really does help!

3. Do some exercises for paddle boarding

You can be overweight and flexible at the same time, if you engage in certain workouts on land. In anticipation of the kind of work that is required to drive a paddle board, you need to engage in core strengthening exercises.

You will also need to do some legwork since you will be doing your SUP when standing up. Remember to engage in strength training exercises.

Using a paddle board to lose weight

And now we come to the most important part of this post – the main benefit of paddle boarding when you are overweight is losing weight. Whether you do it to lose weight or for fun, you will lose weight all the same.

Here are helpful tips for how to use paddle boarding to lose weight:

1. Increase the intensity of your SUP activity

Once you have learned the basics of stand up paddle boarding, get serious about using the exercise to lose weight.

One of the ways to do this is to vary the intensity of your paddling. For instance, you can increase the distance that you paddle board.

You can also try to increase your SUP speed and the time you spend in water. These things will help your body burn more fat.

How many calories are we talking about here? Stretch your imagination.

After all, if you can burn up to 430 calories in an hour of casual paddle boarding, you can guess how many more you would burn if you set out to lose weight using this sport.

2. Trying paddling against the current

When you have gained some skill in stand up paddle boarding, you should try paddling against the current.

Take a mark in the distance and paddle towards that. Since you will be “fighting” the current, this is going to require more work from you, hence getting you to burn more calories.

One of the best places to paddle board against the current is in the river, where you can go against the flow of the water.

River paddle boarding requires some skill, so it might be some time before you do it. But do try it, you might surprise yourself.

3. Try SUP Yoga

SUP yoga is one of the best ways to burn calories. Experts say that you can burn up to 540 calories in one hour when you engage in stand up paddle boarding yoga.

This is more than you would burn when paddle boarding casually (430 calories) or when walking at a moderate pace for an hour.

Wrapping Up: Do You Have To Be Fit To Paddle Board?

If you are not fit and you would like to start burning some serious calories, take up stand up paddle boarding as soon as possible.

Even doing it for sport can burn you up to 430 calories an hour. If you change your diet and get more active on your feet on land, you can lose weight fast.

So, as to the answer to the question of: do you have to be fit to paddle board? Not at all! If anything, you can lose weight by paddle boarding, so get on with it soon.