SUP Fitness

UP your SUP Performance

Combining upper body paddle endurance with balance and core training
by Suzie Cooney, CPT of Suzie Trains Maui and Naish Team SUP Rider.

Whether you're new to the sport of stand up paddling or preparing for an exciting Maui Maliko downwinder, having upper body paddling endurance and excellent balance will get you through the deepest troughs, maybe help you pass a competitor or help you enter bigger waves and swells with extra confidence and success!

I like to be as efficient as possible when training, so combining the two is perfect. The following exercise is just a sample of what you can do to get stronger, develop faster reflexes, increase the rapid firing of your finite muscles that stabilizes your larger muscles, improve your timed runs and possibly reduce fatigue and/or risk of overuse injuries.

It's well known that SUP requires the entire body to perform and respond in unison. You're never isolating one muscle group at any given moment. As you paddle, your entire shoulder complex, upper/lower back, feet, ankles, knees, hips and core (everything excluding your extremities) are executing each short or long stroke in a smooth, connected motion. Conditions can and do change, so adding some balance work is also a huge plus. I totally can tell that when I balance train, my reactions are sharp and quick.

Based on your current level of fitness, ease into some of these more advanced moves and change the variables accordingly. You can simply start with your own paddle or select one of the suggested weights. I usually start light and advance to heavy, to fatigue.

The Exercise: Balance/Weighted Paddle Stroke Repeats:

Equipment:

A weight: 4-10 lb medicine ball, 9-12 lb body bar or regular dumbbell
A balance platform: a small 12" inflatable disc or BOSU, INDO Board 24" Gigante inflatable disc, INDO Board or your own SUP
Caution: if using an SUP board on a Gigante, you may want to remove the fins.

Progression Variables:

floor to sand
2 legs to one
discs to SUP board
less air to more air in discs
light to heavy medicine balls
tempo of movement: slower to faster
number of repetitions: low to high
change stance position

Variation 1. Using a medicine ball (board on a Gigante disc) with a faster tempo

Variation 2. Using a body bar (board on a Gigante disc) with a slower tempo

In Variation 1, I'm standing on my Naish Mana 9'0" with one Gigante disc lightly inflated and an 8 lb medicine ball, then I advance to 12 lb weight body bar in Variation 2. You can also add another disc or more air for more action. My stance is a surf stance and my ratio of paddle stroke is 2:2 (2 strokes per side) with a fast tempo.

Be sure to have good posture, look at the horizon, engage the muscles of your core (draw your navel in to the front of your spine) and mimic the movement of the appropriate paddle stroke of your choice. For example, a short stroke for wave practice or extend a little further towards the nose if you're training for long distance. Stop the action and exit at your feet.

You will feel EVERYTHING engage and maybe burn a little. This is good! If you feel any low back discomfort, pinching at the top of your shoulder, reduce the weight of medicine ball or body bar and/or keep the weight closer to the center of your body. Don't sacrifice good form. If you're goofy foot (right foot forward), switch for fun to regular (left foot forward) and vice versa.

Time yourself instead of counting reps. First start at 15 seconds, then 30, 45 and for hardcore folks, 1 minute! Be sure to rest appropriately between sets or timed bouts. Change the ratio to 3:4 same side strokes, switch to opposite side OR alternate side to side continuously. ALWAYS mix it up.

Until next time, paddle hard, stay hydrated and fuel your body well for extra time on the water.

Strong SUP Legs for Flat Water, Waves and Gliding Power

Stabilizing and Balance Exercises
by Suzie Cooney, CPT of Suzie Trains Maui and Naish Team SUP Rider.

Stand up paddling on flat water, waves or riding a board like the 14′ Glide and catching a 50 yard glide, requires your legs to be strong together and independently.

I've written articles before on leg strength, but I want to get really specific here for stand up paddling. These exercises are designed to demonstrate techniques to use your own body instead of machines to achieve your goals, allowing your body to become the machine and your arms and legs to be powerful and stay in control.

Over the course of a few weeks, I'll be sharing with you lots of excellent leg exercises that will help you catch more waves, dig your rails a little harder for a faster buoy turn and introduce you ways to combine leg strength, power and balance into your personal training so you can be a better paddler. There are four main types of leg exercises I'll be showing you: Stabilizing/Balance, Strength, Balance/Strength and Power. From small waves to big, connecting one glide to the next to casual paddling, I'll attempt to break it down so you can learn about the fine stabilizing muscles around your ankles, knees and hips to the power house of your legs: the glutes. This year, you'll be paddling stronger than ever!

This Week: Stabilizing and Balance Exercises

These exercises help promote quick reaction times, foot and leg stabilization to recruit finite muscles around your feet, ankles, knees, inner thighs, and the muscles that grab the ball of your femur or hip.

Exercise 1: Half Foam Roll Balance to Single or Two Legged Squat

12″ half foam roll
Dumbbells or medicine ball

Ground to 1/2 foam roll; add weight; add weight to front of body; move balancing leg forward, side, or back; perform squat

Balance on one leg while keeping your knee tracking over your long, 2^nd toe. Look up, not down and keep your upper body as quiet and relaxed as possible. Squat down if you like and move your leg in the frontal plane or in front of you, back to the start position then move to the sagital plane or to the side of you. Keep foot and toes relaxed too. Progress this by adding weights in each hand or hold a medicine ball or dumb bell in front of you.

Then, flip the half foam roll horizontal and hop on with 2 feet, ALWAYS keeping your knees softly bent. If you stand straight up, just like on your SUP board, you're goin' down! Attempt some squats to be sure that your knees are again tracking over your 2^nd toe. Add weight to progress. 

Exercise 2: Stability Ball Knee Balancing

Stability ball

Close eyes; hold weight; standing

This exercise helps strengthen the inner adductors or thigh muscles, but also requires the hips to join in too. This is one of my favorite exercises and the bonus is, you work your core as well! If you've never done this before, please use a sturdy stationary object to assist you at first. If your ball is heavily inflated, it will be faster and less stable. Put less air in the ball to make it easier and more stable.

Mount the ball with your knees hip width apart and abs contracted. Find an object to focus on and slowly try to unhook your feet behind you from the ball so that it's just your knees on the ball. Slowly get really centered and keep your upper body quiet. Time yourself for 30 seconds or more!