PADDLE BOARD TRAINING WITH PUSH UPS

Paddle Board Training with Push Ups

I’ve always been a fan of push ups, but I haven’t done them for a few years because I was either paddling, going to the gym, or building my company. When the COVID 19 lock down began, the beaches and the gyms closed. I couldn’t paddle and I couldn’t work out. I had to do something, and I wanted to be strong and ready for the day I could finally put a paddle board into the water. It was time to get back to push ups.

Push ups are almost the perfect body weight exercise, because the movement works so many muscles. But, will it be an effective exercise in getting my muscles ready for paddle boarding? As it turns out, push ups train just about every paddle boarding muscle.

Commonality between the two exercise types can be broken into two groups. Primary muscles which have direct importance to the exercise, and Secondary Muscles such as stabilizers.

PRIMARY MUSCLES
Pectorals

• The major muscle developed during push ups, strong pectorals are important to the forward portion of the stroke. Pectoral work with your deltoids to plant the paddle with strength.
  

Deltoids

• Deltoids are the muscles that wrap around your shoulder. Anterior deltoids (front of the shoulder) are one of the primary muscles developed in push ups. These muscles help you to raise your arms in front of you. With every fresh stoke, you use your anterior deltoids. Building strength and endurance through push ups will pay off on the water with an improved stroke rate and less fatigue.
  

Trapezius & Rhomboids (Upper Back)

• The trapezius muscles are an important muscle in the paddle board stroke, and play an integral part for powering the pulling part of the stroke.  During push ups, these muscles acts as antagonist muscles. Antagonist muscle works in opposing forces to the primary mover (pectorals), muscle of an exercise. Without these muscles, you could not control your movement back down to the floor after pushing yourself up.
  

Triceps

• This muscle group gets a lot of work during push ups. Although, proper paddle stroke technique doesn’t depend on heavy tricep usage, the simple fact is that these muscles are used as part of the stroke. Strong triceps will help you to paddle longer without fatigue.

SECONDAY MUSCLES
Abdominals (Core)

• A strong core is imperative to having a strong paddle board stroke. A proper strong depends on proper use of the core. The Rectus Abdominus is a primary core muscle. It’s the long muscle that covers the front of your torso and gives the coveted six pack, and it is a primary stabilizer in push ups. Without a strong Rectus Abdominus, you will be limited on the amount of power transfer in your stroke.

  Obliques (Core)

• These muscles run along the side of your core, and they help to transfer the stoke power. During push ups, obliques are working with your abdominals to keep your body aligned properly.

Erector Spinae (Core)

• This set of muscles run along both sides of your spine. In paddle boarding, these muscles are used to flex, rotate and extend your back. During push ups, they are used to keep your back straight and flat.
  

Glutes and Hamstrings

• During paddle boarding, these two muscles not only help you to keep standing, they also assist in transferring the power of your stoke through the board to push you along the water. While you are doing push ups, these muscles are working to stabilize your body and keep it level. Essentially, these are the same duties while paddle boarding.
  

Since push ups are such an effective paddle board training exercise, get ready for the upcoming season by taking on this 30-day challenge. It’s starts at 30 push ups and builds to 100. Not only does this quantity of repetitions build muscle endurance, it also improves cardio vascular strength. Even paddling for one hour requires hundreds of strokes. Building strength and endurance is important.
 
Don’t be intimidated by the number of push ups required. It seems daunting at first, but if you take it one day at a time, and one push up at a time, you will complete the challenge. Don’t worry about trying to do them all in a row. Break your daily goal into sets of 10. Before you know it, it will be day 30 and the challenge will be completed. You will be strong and ready to take on the water. Remember, YOU CAN DO IT!!