The sport bodyboarding contains the word “body”; therefore, it’s a safe assumption to correlate the two, meaning physical fitness is a dominant aspect of the sport, however to what extent?
Yes! Bodyboarding can help you build better fitness! Kicking with fins and paddling with your arms creates lean muscle while also providing good cardio exercise, especially in larger waves in which the sport is predominantly practiced.
Bodyboarding is a popular water sport that people all over the globe can enjoy. It is frequently compared to and contrasted with surfing, and it has begun to rise in popularity and media attention.
On the Outer Banks, bodyboarding is a fun water sport to learn. Bodyboarding is a fun method to improve your watersports skills and is ideal for a range of waves.
Physical strength, understanding of waves, tides, and currents, and the ability to balance on the board in the water are all required for bodyboarding. Be aware of the many sorts of waves that exist, and then prepare your equipment.
It takes tremendous resistance to keep up with this sport. Let’s go over the suggested training to practice:
Physical Preparation For The Sport
Stretching
Experts suggest that the practice of Yoga is an excellent complement to other exercises since it improves hip, trunk, and spinal mobility, which is essential for maintaining good posture and exerting directed force.
All body dumbbell routines are suitable for your conditioning and keeping you robust. Using lightweights like a medicine ball and executing twisting movements can help with force production for all maneuvers.
With this, the best pre-bodyboarding stretching workout once arriving at the water is;
Sun Salutation
“To bow down to” or “to express gratitude to.” Hindus employed sun salutations as part of their morning prayer and worship routines in the past.
They’ve grown over time to become an essential element of warming up the body and soothing the mind, assisting yogis in disconnecting from daily distractions and entering a meditative state before their practice.
Weight balance and body strength
Elite bodyboarders must be strong enough to handle all-day sessions in the surf without bulking up to the point where they sink between sets.
It’s critical to have a solid balance of endurance and strength training. Failure to prepare for the physicality of bodyboarding, when compared to other sports, could cost you your life.
Balanced diet
Maintaining endurance in any sport requires proper nutrition. Eat a well-balanced diet that includes a range of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, nuts, fish, lean meat, chicken, and protein substitutes.
Make careful to stay hydrated, especially since you’ve probably drunk quite a bit of salty seawater, which will dehydrate you even more.
To give oneself an energy boost, have a cereal bar or energy gel, as well as a banana.
Can Bodyboarding Build Better Overall Fitness?
Bodyboarding has various health and fitness benefits due to the physical and mental challenges placed on an individual. Here are specific health benefits aligned with the sport:
- Boosts coordination skills, as staying on the board necessitates concentration and balance.
- The combination of sea air and invigorating waves provides the ideal environment for mental refreshment.
- Strengthens the cardiovascular system by allowing the heart and lungs to pump oxygen more efficiently through the bloodstream to the body’s muscles.
- Strongly directed paddling is occasionally required, which improves muscular arm strength.
- The combination of sea air and invigorating waves provides the ideal environment for mental refreshment.
- Leg muscles are developed when the legs move the bodyboard through the water.
As a result, a bodyboarder’s physical and emotional health are essential elements in determining his or her level of success.
Stress Relief
Regular exercise can help alleviate stress by raising serotonin levels in the body, popularly known as the “happy hormone.” The fact that bodyboarding is a water activity adds to its appeal.
When people are around or in water, they are naturally more relaxed and less worried. So, if you want to de-stress, enhance your mood, and get in shape all at the same time, bodyboarding is the way to go.
Education
Since this sport comes hand in hand with the possibility of injuries and even death, in some cases, even death. We must stress the importance of proper education before the practice of such.
First-timers should begin with an entry-level board. These boards will allow you to float and provide a fun ride, but they are not suitable for more extreme wave riding.
To select the ideal board for your skill level and body type, ask a surf shop or competent expert (height & weight).
As of yet, there isn’t a registered standard for minimum/maximum height and weight to practice this sport; however, it is essential to understand the presence of these factors due to these possibilities:
- Riding small waves: A larger, thicker, and more volume-filled board in comparison to your height and weight will assist you in becoming more buoyant. Even if you’re heavier, the waves will be so little that you won’t sink.
- Riding huge waves: If you’re going to be riding big waves, you may get away with a smaller board in terms of height and width, always making sure this board is proportioned to your size. Even though you’re enormous and hefty, the waves will be so forceful that you’ll be driven ahead at an incredible speed on small boards (not too small).
- Drop knee bodyboarding: There are a few things to consider if you want to concentrate on drop knee and stand-up bodyboarding. This type of bodyboarding, even if you’re riding bigger waves, using a larger board than your body is beneficial when your favored style is dropped knee bodyboarding. When the board’s length is a little longer, it always helps.
The appropriate bodyboard will decide how quickly you glide over waves, how difficult it is to paddle out, and how simple it is to bust spins and airs.
Understanding The Waves
The weather is a crucial aspect to obtaining a good bodyboarding experience, and with this comes the waves.
Since the weather has such an impact on the waves, we must pay attention to it.
The swell direction, the shape of the sandbars or reef on the bottom, wind direction, and other topographical elements influence the shape and size of waves.
Bodyboarders prefer more “ledgy” or steep waves.
Health Complications From Bodyboarding
You should follow a training regimen that supports the sport’s physical demands.
Regardless of its health profit, we also must connect on the possibility of injuries during the practice of such; Closeout barrels, shore breaks, and the fins can make wipeouts and duck diving broken waves on your knees a death sentence.
To prevent all complications, the RNLI (which is the “respect the water” global campaign) suggests you go over these seven checks before practicing:
- Always bodyboard between the red and yellow flags. It’s easy to be caught out in the sea
- Wear your leash and hold onto your board if you get into trouble – it will help you float
- Bodyboard with a mate, especially in big swells. Look out for one another
- Remember to check your equipment for damage before use
- Check the local forecast for wind, tide, and swell. Don’t go on the water in conditions above your capability
- Consider other water users
Source: Bodyboarding safety checklist
Conclusion
Bodyboarding can be the ideal option for somebody who is trying to get good core strength or for somebody that’s looking for an outlet or change of scenery.
However, the same attention we pay to those health benefits should persist when it comes to experts’ security measures and suggestions since the wrong movement or stretch could lead to muscle damage and sometimes even broken bones.
Regardless, bodyboarding comes with a handful of benefits that really take them apart from all water sports.