Have paddle will exercise
What's SUP Part 2: Mastering Hard Core SUP
Jul 28, 2011 | 3:25 pm
I got back up on that board, and for an hour and a half, I escaped life and reality and took to the water.
That is how it feels when you stand up on the board, you enter into another world. And it's the next step in my new SUP (Stand-Up Paddlebaord) workout.
I already tackled the beginning SUP class: learning how to balance, paddling correctly and getting the most out of the SUP workout. Now I faced Hard Core SUP.
Stand Up Paddle boards are 11 or 12 feet long, and the shorter the board, the less control you have.
Class begins with all nine of us, first kneeling and then standing up on the board. The "Hard Core" name comes from not the paddle portion of the class but the exercises.
Imagine: You're in the middle of the lake, balancing on a paddleboard, with one foot in the middle of the board, the other foot in the air. The hope is the position will engage your core. What it did for me? It sent me into the lake!
I tried to fall in with grace.
The class is designed with a series of stations. You paddle to a buoy, stop, "attempt" the series of exercises and then paddle over to the next buoy station. I say "attempt" because some of the exercises will take more than one or two classes to master.
We worked on all body parts, starting with arms and, particularly, triceps. You know, the part we women hope won't jiggle when we wave. We then moved on to legs and core with squats, side planks and bicycles.
Our fourth and final station challenged our true essence of balance. This is where I and all but one of my eight classmates fell off of our boards. Moving from standing on one foot to jumping in a complete square to try and balance on all sides of the board--left side, front, right side, back.
It is what makes this class so unique and, in a way, spiritual.
Anyone can do some form of a push-up or sit-up on solid ground. But on a paddleboard? This class is a chance to find that balance from within. Believing you can win out over the urge to fall off because staying up is half the battle. You master that, and the ability to do the exercises will inevitably come.
---
Want to try? Pure Austin, the Quarry Lake location, offers Hard Core SUP on Friday nights.