Shoulder Strength | Suzie Trains Maui BLOG

UP Your SUP Permformance Suzie Cooney for Naish on Combining Upper Body Paddle Endurance with Balance and Core Training

By Team Assistant To Suzie Cooney, on February 25th, 2011

UP your SUP Performance by Combining Upper Body Paddle Endurance with Balance and Core Training for Naish International

by Suzie Cooney, CPT of Suzie Trains Maui and Naish Team SUP Rider

You can click here and go directly to the full article: http://www.naishsurfing.com/sup-fitness/

Whether you’re new to the sport of stand up paddling or preparing for an exciting Maui Maliko downwinder, having upper body paddling endurance and excellent balance will get you through the deepest troughs, maybe help you pass a competitor or help you enter bigger waves and swells with extra confidence and success!I like to be as efficient as possible when training, so combining the two is perfect.The following exercise is just a sample of what you can do to get stronger, develop faster reflexes, increase the rapid firing of your finite muscles that stabilizes your larger muscles, improve your timed runs and possibly reduce fatigue and/or risk of overuse injuries.It’s well known that SUP requires the entire body to perform and respond in unison. You’re never isolating one muscle group at any given moment.As you paddle, your entire shoulder complex, upper/lower back, feet, ankles, knees, hips and core (everything excluding your extremities) are executing each short or long stroke in a smooth, connected motion. Conditions can and do change, so adding some balance work is also a huge plus. I totally can tell that when I balance train, my reactions are sharp and quick.Based on your current level of fitness, ease into some of these more advanced moves and change the variables accordingly. You can simply start with your own paddle or select one of the suggested weights. I usually start light and advance to heavy, to fatigue.

The Exercise: Balance/Weighted Paddle Stroke Repeats:

Equipment: A weight: 4-10 lb medicine ball, 9-12 lb body bar or regular dumbbell
A balance platform: a small 12” inflatable disc or BOSU, INDO Board 24” Gigante inflatable disc, INDO Board or your own SUP
Caution: if using an SUP board on a Gigante, you may want to remove the fins.

To read the rest of the article and to see all the exercise photos of Suzie and her training go to: http://www.naishsurfing.com/sup-fitness/

Every month Suzie will provide Naish and their readers more helpful training tips for beginner to advanced stand up paddlers.

For more information or to book Suzie for an event, host a SUP Fitness Clinic or for private training/instruction e: info@suzietrainsmaui.com or got to:
http://www.suzietrainsmaui.com

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