Water sports are one of the most entertaining ways of keeping healthy and getting exercise, especially during the summer months. Kayaking is an enjoyable sport and good for your health too. It gets your muscles working and is a good way to get the whole family outdoors and on the water. Just know your own strength and don’t overdo it, as keeping to your limitations will keep you out of trouble when kayaking.
Here are some amazing benefits of taking a kayaking holiday.
Upper Body Strength
When you are paddling your way through the water, you are using your arms shoulders and torso to manoeuvre your kayak. One part of the body that people forget they will be using for twisting and turning their way along the trail is their torso. The best part about this is you can have fun while improving your strength. Instead of lifting weights you are enjoying outdoor activities, racing through rapids, gliding down rivers and pulling and pushing yourself along in the water.
Toning leg muscles
You might be surprised to hear that turning and balancing the kayak actually tones your leg muscles. The constant squeezing of your leg muscles when you manoeuvre and turn increases the strength of your legs. In fact, it is a whole-body workout, but you might be having so much fun that you don’t even notice until afterwards.
Overall fitness
It’s not all about strength you will develop your overall fitness when you go kayaking. It’s actually a pretty good cardio workout, especially when you are white water and sea kayaking where you have to contend with waves. Aerobic exercise is known for its fitness and health improvements and kayaking is no different. These health benefits from kayaking and other aerobic exercise includes increased endurance, improved heart rate and can even have an effect on blood sugar and cholesterol levels. Generally, any kind of activity that gets you outside and moving is great for your overall fitness.
A Clearer state of mind
Paddling a kayak can be a great stress reliever, giving your mind something to focus on whilst exercising and increasing those mood improving endorphins in your body. Breathing in the fresh air and exercising in the outdoors will also help to clear your mind. Kayaking can be a mindful experience, when you are concentrating on the task at hand you can forget about everything else going on. The physical benefits can also have a positive impact on your mental wellbeing.
Building a positive self image
When you overcome a challenge, whether that’s covering a long distance or navigating particularly difficult rapids you will feel that sense of achievement. This in turn forces you on and makes you strive to improve the next time you kayak. In your life, thinking positively about yourself is really important and feeling that you have achieved something will help bring that positivity into your daily life.
Remember to cool down
After burning off all that energy it is easy to just stop and relax. But you must remember to stretch and cool down after your kayaking trip. Stretching your muscles helps to keep them supple and stop or help to ease those aches and pains the next day.
There are so many different locations to enjoy kayaking holidays and it might be hard to choose the best among them. But one thing is for sure you’ll enjoy some energetic exercise and reap the health benefits when you take a kayaking holiday.
Have you ever tried kayaking? How was the exercise for you?
Article Submitted By Community Writer