Why kayaking is good exercise

However, proper paddling technique puts the entire body to work — even your legs and glutes! Also, if you get bored with fitness routines easily , kayaking could be the perfect full-body workout for you:. Paddling makes for an excellent low-impact activity that can improve your aerobic fitness, strength, and slim you down by burning calories, develop your core, while remaining easy on the joints:. You get to achieve your fitness goals without the excessive wear and tear that often accompanies other forms of exercise, such as running.

Alternatively, if you hope to spare your elbows and shoulders the unnecessary strain, a pedal-drive kayak is always an option. Either way, kayaking has many benefits; it is a highly adaptable, inclusive, and versatile outdoor activity for pretty much anyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions or injuries, age, or current fitness level.

For this reason kayaking can be an excellent exercise for pregnant women — but you should always check with you doctor or healthcare provider first. If you ever wondered can you lose weight by kayaking , the answer is a loud, definite yes. Heart-pumping physical activity is bound to burn some calories — and, combined with an adequate diet, ultimately leads to we i ght loss.

The calories you burn depend on several factors , including age, gender, size, and body type. However, you can burn an upward of calories kayaking, as long as you put in the effort. However, the duration of an average paddling session more than makes up for that difference and amounts to more calories burned.

Kayaking will help improve muscle mass and develop strength. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. All the while, your heart is getting a workout , too, which contributes to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. If you want kayaking to count as exercise, you have to treat it as at a workout and pick up the pace. Hopping into your kayak and spending time outdoors comes with another outstanding health benefit:.

Vitamin D deficiency is a global problem linked with diabetes, obesity, hypertension, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, osteoporosis, and neurodegenerative diseases. Doing so will surely increase your chances of finding the right solutions. Being more active and exercising regularly can help improve your memory and thinking skills. Aerobic exercises, unlike resistance training and muscle toning exercises, can increase the size of the hippocampus, which is the specific portion of the brain that is responsible for learning and verbal memory.

Kayaking is a type of aerobic exercise and performing it consistently will stimulate the growth of new blood vessels in your brain and raise the total number of new brain cells. Overall, it can significantly help the brain stay healthy. Exercising during the day will make you feel exhausted and will help you fall asleep much faster than when you do nothing the entire day.

Also, expending all the energy you have can help you stay in deep sleep longer, improving your sleep quality throughout the night. You can ask any of your family members or friends to join you so that you can share a more memorable and enjoyable experience together. No matter how busy you are at work during the weekdays, it is best to allocate some time to socialize and bond, especially with your family. Joining one of these clubs is an excellent opportunity to meet new people and widen your circle of friends.

While spending time with other people is good for you, it is just as important to find time to reflect and reconnect with yourself. If you are looking for a sport you can enjoy by yourself, kayaking is one that can be easily done solo. You can do some of your explorations without bringing anyone and spend it focusing on yourself.

If you like to mediate, being in nature can provide you with the perfect setting. Kayaking can be an excellent opportunity for self-improvement.

You can keep track of your performance with every kayaking session. Each time you go kayaking, record your speed, the distance you covered, and the time that you finished kayaking. Keep track of your performance and set small goals for your improvement.

Seeing your improvements will provide you with self-satisfaction. Know of more benefits of kayaking? Are you worried about getting your fishing license? Kayaking is both an adventure sport and a survival activity. Due to the nature of this activity, it is a must that only reliablegearis used for kayaking. There are different lures for different situations when fishing, so you need to make sure you are using the right one.

What is Kayaking? Benefits of Kayaking. For those who are new to this sport, here is a checklist of the equipment and items you need to bring with you on your first outing: Kayak Two paddles, one being a spare Floatation device Bilge pump Waterproof bag Sprayskirt Headlamp, together with spare batteries Whistle For longer and challenging kayaking trips, you may also bring extra gear such as: Towline Paddle float Paddling knife GPS or Maps Compass Float bags Two-way radios.

Benefits of Kayaking Aside from being an enjoyable and fun activity, kayaking offers many benefits for your physical health and mental health. Physical Health Benefits of Kayaking 1.

Achieve your ideal body weight Kayaking is one of the many forms of exercise that can help you to shed some weight. Increase upper body muscle strength Since you are mainly using your arms throughout the kayak exercise, these body parts become more toned. Develop toned legs Although the benefits of kayaking are more evident on your arms, shoulders, and upper back, it also has significant effects on your and legs. Strengthen your core muscles Your abdomen, obliques, and lower back are also engaged during this workout.

Increase your endurance Because kayaking is done for hours, it allows you to improve your stamina, which means you can withstand extended periods of effort without getting easily fatigued. Improve heart health Kayaking is an aerobic sport, which is also known as a cardiac exercise. The question of whether or not kayaking is more of a cardio or strength training workout is one that paddlers have been asking for years.

New kayakers often discover that they feel definite post-workout muscle soreness, which is a good sign that they got a strength training workout.

You may also notice that you feel out of breath as you paddle. Cardio workouts are ones that are designed to increase your heart rate and respiration. Jogging is a common form of cardio exercise that you can enjoy on land, and kayaking also helps to get your heart rate up. Strength training involves exercises that build up your muscles. Although lifting weights and other forms of strength training can get your heart rate up, they are typically done for shorter periods of time.

Kayaking does work out your muscles, which means that you get to combine cardio and strength training during your adventures. Depending upon where and how you kayak, your trips could serve as a form of interval training. Kayaking often requires periods of intense paddling followed by short breaks.

This work hard and recover pattern challenges your muscles in different ways than sustained activity. In fact, one of the first rules of thumb to follow for kayaking is to be careful about how far you paddle out until you know your limits. This is because people often head out paddling without realizing how strenuous the motions are to move the boat through the water.

It is far too easy to get halfway out onto the water and realize that your muscles are already tiring out. The most obvious area of your body where the strength training benefits of kayaking appear is in your shoulders and your back.

Here, there are multiple muscles that all work together to create the rowing motion that you need to maneuver your boat. Kayaking works your upper and lower trapezius muscles along with your rhomboids. The oblique muscles run along the sides of your trunk, and the constant rotations back and for help to increase strength in your core. Good core strength is critical for preventing capsizing, and it gives stability to the spine that improves posture.

Those frequent rotations you make while paddling serve as mini crunches for your abdominal muscles. You also make small contractions of your abs when you are trying to balance your kayak, and these further tone your muscles. Kayaking is often viewed mostly as an upper body exercise, and the truth is that you will work your back and abs far more than your legs.

However, maintaining good posture in the kayak means that you will actively use your legs as you paddle through the water.

Turning and balancing the kayak requires you to apply pressure to the pegs with your legs. This serves as a form of isometric exercise, which involves contracting your leg muscles. Isometric exercises are excellent for maintaining your leg strength. If you kayak often enough or for long distances, this can build up the muscles in your legs.

For the highest level of cardio benefits, you should aim to keep your heart rate within its target range for at least 20 to 60 minutes.