Fitness benefits of water sports
And a review of the F word
You may find me a little nostalgic for home with the warm weather, and return to bodies of water. And I just re watched Ted which is streaming again on Netflix. “Tom Brady could do it!” Try reading this article in the voice of Peter Griffin.
The operative word for this article is Fun. Screw Fitness. Fun may be the most important part of health and fitness. I’ve seen so many people fail at fitness because sometimes it’s not fun. Sometimes health and fitness can feel like an obligation. The people who live the longest are from cultures that don’t go to gyms. They garden on hillsides, nap, drink wine, and socialize.
I’m not against gyms. I’ve worked in and worked out in gyms my whole life. But after the last 3 years, and warm weather arriving, this just feels right.
I’m going to review the physiological drivel if you care to hear it. Then when a doctor, therapist or family member chides you for not hitting the gym, you can spout off the science, and say “shut up! I’m hitting the beach.”
The resistance
Not the resistance to exercise, that we already fixed by making it more fun. This resistance I’m talking about is to your muscles. Water is largely an isokinetic resistance, meaning that no matter how much force you apply, the speed will mostly remain the same. At times you can try to move your arm or paddle faster, however it is limited by the mass and friction of the water.
This is a great form of exercise to the muscles as it is very taxing. You are exerting a lot of force. The speed is slower, so risk of injury is lower.
With that much fun (exertion) you are also improving the cardiovascular system.
Weight loss and hypocrisy
Guess who bitched and moaned the most about the water playground being installed on our lake above? And guess who’s kids, and the kids’ father, has been known to partake in such festivities? “Cannonball!”
Swimming is known as one of the highest calorie burns. I can tell you from experience that swimming in that friggin cold lake, and climbing those structures, is one of the most exhausting “exercises” in recent memory. And look at how ravenous the kids are after a day of swimming. Seriously, it must burn a bazzilion calories, if you cared. That might help with the cooler of tonics you’re sippin on the beach.
Paddles, and my wife being right again
When my wife suggested she wanted a paddle board about ten years ago, I thought they were pretty lame. Of course I had never tried one, that’s just the smug Bill Burr answer to anything new that might be fun.
In canoes I tend to have Yankee Griping Syndrome (no not gripping, that’s what you do with the paddle. Griping is defined as “complaining in a persistent, irritating way.” Kinda like being in summer traffic heading towards the Cape bridge gridlock). In other words, low back pain, either hunched forward, or leaning back on those crappy chair backs.
With the standing paddle boards, no back pain. Great exercise for the core that I’m always preaching about. You think I would have known that…
Paddles of all kinds increase the lever arm, increasing proficiency at moving through the water, but also put more force on the muscles. So, while you are having all that fun, you are also getting a muscle workout.
Periodization
This is the theory that our bodies will only respond to the same exercise/stress stimulus for so long before we start to plateau, and gradually start to lose ground. The natural change in seasons helps us change our routines.
Who cares. Pass me another cold one, so I can do bicep curls with 12 ounces.