How Can Yoga Help Boost Your SUP Performance?

The stand-up paddleboarding craze does not look like it’s dying off anytime soon. One way to boost your strength and balance as you float across the water is through yoga poses. The two wellness and fitness activities are interconnected in numerous ways and, when combined, have a host of synergistic benefits. How can yoga help boost your SUP performance? Read on for some insightful tips. 

The Power of Stand-Up Paddleboarding (SUP)

As the name implies, stand-up paddleboarding involves standing up on a huge, stable board and using a paddle to push yourself across the water. This workout engages muscles in your entire body, allowing you to attain more balance and stability. 

You can perform SUP on any still water body, from rivers to lakes and even the ocean. The activity has both physical and mental benefits. In terms of fitness, it’s an amazing way to boost your cardiovascular health, engage various muscle groups, enhance balance and coordination, and build strength. Being out on the water can help to lower stress levels and enhance your overall well-being. 

The Synergy Between Yoga and SUP

There is a natural alignment between yoga and SUP as holistic activities, particularly in the following aspects: 

Yoga for SUP: Balance and Core Strength

The biggest advantage of yoga on SUP is enhanced balance and core stability. The unsteady water surface challenges your body to stay still, keeping your core muscles hyperactive. Compared to traditional yoga, this exercise is more rigorous and helps you get a more vigorous core and greater overall balance. 

Flexibility and Range of Motion

Doing yoga poses on a paddleboard adds an extra aspect to your practice. You have to work muscles in a different way to remain stable. As a result, your range of motion and stability improve significantly over time. Eventually, you will gain confidence and be skillful enough on the paddleboard to perform poses that may have previously appeared undoable.  

Mindfulness and Focus on the Water

Chronic stress can leave you in a continuous “fight or flight” mode, preventing human functioning in physical/sporting feats as well as cognitive/academic ability. Yoga poses on the water help to improve focus and deal with stress and anxiety. It can also lead to improved self-care since it enhances positive thinking. 

Yoga on SUP: Exploring Water-Based Poses

While yoga on a stand-up paddleboard sounds intense, there are easy poses, or asanas, to try when starting yoga on SUP. One simple exercise to start with is the child’s pose. To do this pose, kneel down and touch your toes while having your knees at hip-width. Let your stomach rest between the thighs and your forehead on the board, with your hands stretched out at your head’s sides.  

With each breath, you synchronize your movements with the lapping water, finding serenity in the fluidity of the practice. Whether you’re flowing through sun salutations or finding stillness in meditation, the experience of water-based yoga on a paddleboard creates a unique and invigorating way to engage with both body and environment.

Integrating Yoga into Your SUP Routine

Before you paddle out, there are a few things to do to prepare for yoga on SUP.

First, confirm with your class that paddle boards are available for use. If you don’t have one of your own, rental options are available. If you’re looking to purchase your own SUP, do thorough research, as there are many different kinds and materials nowadays. 

Next, ensure that you have comfortable and supportive clothing, most likely swimwear, sportswear, or yoga attire. 

Lastly, remember that practicing yoga on SUP can be tough at first. You are likely to roll or fall into the water on your first few tries, so make sure you are comfortable swimming in your chosen body of water or have a plan of assistance if you need it.

If you are a beginner to stand-up paddleboarding yoga, try out the following poses: 

• Chair pose
• Warrior 2
• Boat pose
• Savasana (lay flat on your back with arms and legs fully extended resting next to you)
• Downward-facing dog

As you practice your poses, ensure that you always have two points of contact on the board. Opt for a wider stance as well so that you can support your balance. 

The Takeaway

Stand-up paddleboarding can help you improve your mental and physical health in a phenomenal way. Level up your exercise through yoga on SUP. The paired exercises help to greatly balance your core strength and balance, improve your range of mobility and flexibility, and also improve your focus. 

AccuDock caters to a wide range of water sports enthusiasts with floating docks for sailing, canoeing/kayaking, recreational boating, and leisure activities like yoga on the water. Contact us today to see how we can cater to your water-based lifestyle, like yoga and stand-up paddleboarding, with our custom floating docks.