Why Go Standup Paddleboarding? Harvey Dawkins2019-05-11T06:26:09+01:00 More commonly known as “SUPing”, Stand Up Paddleboarding has taken the 21st century by storm as a peaceful and unique activity to get you out on the open water. SUPing is an invigorating way to explore the shores at a pace that suits you. Many prefer to gracefully and leisurely paddle slowly through calm seas or rivers in shallow water, whereas others are enticed by the buzz from surfing the waves. This is simply the beauty of it, it is an adaptable activity that, dependent upon your mood and experience, can be suited to however you see fit with as much or as little effort made as you want. Aside from providing endless hours of fun and a means of solitude, SUPing is an impressive way of keeping fit. Without even noticing it you use, at one point or another, every muscle in your body – whether this be to balance, sucking in your core to remain upright, tensing your tri’s and bi’s pushing your paddle through the water, or carving tricks in the surf, you’ll feel parts of your body working you may never have used before. There are many personal trainers that use it within their programmes (obviously the ones that are lucky enough to live by the water) as a means of cross-fit, strength and/or core training. Over the years, what started as a minority activity, SUPing has now become the worlds fastest growing watersport that gains more and more interest the larger it gets. One individual who has truly embraced all that Stand Up Paddleboarding can offer is Ollie Shilston. Ollie has been competing in SUP for three years in multiple national and international competitions including many over in America where the SUP community is much larger as well as representing Great Britain at three ISA World Championships. Ollie says that SUPing is relaxing, and provides many great health benefits. “The movements you do are beneficial to strengthen and to tone up the body.” “The mechanics of SUP offers a combination of the movement of the legs and hips together with the movement of the trunk, and finally expressed through arms working the whole body.” “I also find it can be my escape from the day-to-day grind!” he said. When asked to sum up SUP in three words Ollie said that it is: “Challenging, exciting and fun.” The intense environments we live in day-to-day can be draining upon the most adaptive of individuals and stress is a silent killer within us all. Taking a board out into the open water a few times a month and tuning into the gentle movements of the water below you can help lower stress levels by bringing a sense of calm into a possibly hectic life. The gift of Standup Paddleboarding is that it is pure fun. We recommend that you pick up a paddle and give it a try for yourself! Below are the range of packages that we offer for SUPing at Lagoon Watersports. The group sessions are a fabulous way of having an incredible amount of laughs with your family and friends, but do not worry – we never leave you out there alone, we are there every stroke of the way! See you on the water… Learn to SUP in Brighton. Share this post Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google + Email Author Harvey Dawkins