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Getting fit while playing
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Combine a paddle from Bold Point with a walk on the East Bay bike path for a fun full-body workout.
Few things in life feel better than being fit. Couch potatoes can experience an unimagined level of energy, vitality and spunk after only a couple weeks of vigorous activity. It doesn't even have to be a chore! Of course the secret is found in the water.
Water sports offer perfect opportunities for exercise that promotes a healthy heart yet spares joints from undue wear. The resistance of water tones muscles. Having fun allows us to keep playing for a long time which produces weight loss and improves sleep, blood glucose, cholesterol, blah blah blah.
Kayaking works core muscles when done properly. Abdominal and chest muscles are much bigger, and therefore stronger, than arm muscles. Sitting up straight, use your arms to place the paddle in the water, then use your core to pull yourself forward. This is a faster way to travel than leaning back and using only your arms. Regular paddlers can see significant improvement in core strength just by doing what they enjoy. Combine this with a leg workout (biking, walking, running) to hit all major muscle groups. Keep your pulse up for an hour or more every day for weight loss. Try to go a little longer and/or faster each time. Metabolism will increase at first and then level off so throwing in new challenges like this will prevent plateaus. Doing a wide variety of sports is the other way to stir things up, like a run after paddling and biking to the beach. In the same way, swimmers should use a variety of strokes to stay challenged. Throw in some snorkeling/SCUBA and surfing sessions to make swimming even more fun.
People who don't need to lose weight can benefit by improved muscle tone and heart health. Even without excess weight, high cholesterol and blood pressure can be problematic for many people. Regular exercise can be enough to bring those numbers down to normal. Of course we should all be in contact with our physician about these problems and any other special considerations we should follow when exercising. We should be smart about using sunscreen every time. We should be careful of the places where we play and protect them by leaving no trace of our visit. We should be careful about being wet in a windy place (like a kayak) because hypothermia happens more often in summer than in winter. When we're mindful of how we play, we can't help but win.
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