Fitness - How Does SUP Compare to Other Sports?

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Fitness - How Does SUP Compare to Other Sports?

Matt Gambles • 3 April 2020

One feature of my local beach I used to live on (Playa De Los Lances in Tarifa, Spain) is the regular, strong offshore winds. This is one of the worlds premier kitesurf and windsurf destinations, attracted by this very wind. As a paddleboarder it means constantly working to combat them, and lovely sculpted, smooth wave faces. In a future blog, we shall discuss how to surf offshore conditions well.

Coming off the water I am fully content, and also, fully tired out!. The contstant paddling into strong winds, the kicking you get from a good wave session and the strong sun all add to the mix. I personally love this feeling of being tired out and stoked at the same time.

A fellow Paddleboarder (and accomplished kitesurfer and wakeboarder) commented to me that he thought Paddleboarding was physically the most involved and tiring of all his many board sports. I tended to agree, as we are constantly flexing our muscles for balance, using our core to paddle and much more.

After researching the subject, I found some pretty astounding figures for us Paddleboarders, which will certainly act as more motivation for me to get there.

These figure are all based on an hours excercise and show the calories burnt.

SUP Activities (in light winds):

Casual - 430 - 305 (About twice that of a casual paced walk)

Yoga - 540 -416

Touring - 708 -615

SUP surfing - 735 - 623

Racing - 1125 - 723

Other Sports:

Surfing - 412

Biking - 483

Running - 650

Swimming - 840

Very interesting reading, and certainly explains getting tired quickly while Paddleboarding. The Racing stat is of interest too, for me personally, I think that I shall look at incorporating higher intensity bursts of paddling into my personal paddling (and instructing too).

So, with a smug face, after being such a calorie burning super athlete (!!), I shall sign off for now. Adios and see you on the water.

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