Gone are the days when you had to join a gym for workout. Sometimes daily getting up early morning for walk sounds boring and dull too. So new talk of the time is burning your calories with some outdoor physical activity. One such is kayaking.
Why we need to exercise
We need to exercise to keep ourselves healthy. It gives us a sense of achievement. It improves your quality of life. Exercise routine is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle.
How often you should be active
The experts recommend that we should exercise at least 30-45 minutes per day, three to four times per week.
Features of a good exercise routine
Staying active is good for your overall health. It effects your physical well-being. Besides it refreshes your entire being when you have finished your session. This gives you a sense of achievement. With kayaking, you may feel good, especially when you are able to catch a fish or two in hand of course!
Good exercise also encourages strong sense of self-esteem which results in a better mental health. Ultimately you end up as a person who doesn’t get fatigued with hectic exercise machines. Instead when you indulge yourself in sports with lots of physical activity like tennis, kayaking, swimming etc. You start enjoying your workout routine and work an extra mile to challenge yourself.
So, good workout builds up your physical, mental and emotional well-being. It should not let you get bore or burned out at the end. It should break your four-wall routine.
What is kayaking
It is an aquatic outdoor activity. You move around in waters on a kayak with its gear and supplies.
You can enjoy diving, fish hunting and lots of nature absorbing activities in it. It is a recreational workout with added health benefits.
How kayaking effects us
Physical health:
- It adds to your physical workout because of the hard-core paddling.
- This increases a great deal if you are going upstream as water resistance is increased. This increased resistance is directly associated with the calorie burn out.
- You might be amazed to know that one hour of kayaking workout results in as much as 350 calories. This is far more than simple workouts where you hardly burn up to 150-200 calories.
- It also effects the muscles strength. So, with its help you will work on not only upper body muscles but also if done with proper body position and posture, it helps in strengthening lower body muscles too. Muscle strength comes with how you use them so more activity brings more strength. Hence you become more robust with more muscles working your way out in kayaking.
Yes, when it comes to heart and lungs health you can again count on kayaking. How?
Very simple more paddling more effort and finally more demand from heart to pump faster and better. More oxygen required from the body and more efficiently working lungs. Hence with it you are not only working with skeletal muscles but also making your smooth involuntary muscles like heart and lungs to work out. Remember the rule of use and disuse.
So if you ever doubt kayaking as an exercise, it should be cleared today!
Physical activity not only means getting your muscles move it also means getting an extra ampoule of vitamin D from the bright sunlight exposure. So, you can get it enough in first one hour or so before you finally apply your sunblock.
- Mental health: Exercising in your gym in a closed room doesn’t impact your nerves as strongly as an outdoor aquatic activity. So mental health and fitness boosts up manifold with an outdoor sports activity. It helps to break the boring routine barriers and makes you feel better. It stops the viscous circle of duties and depressions. Hence a break in routine assists in fighting depression and mental stresses. Stress hormones release is hampered and happy hormones circulate around in your body.
- Spiritual strengthening: No doubt a healthy body and strong mind helps to liven up a spiritual uplift.
- Living close to nature: kayaking besides giving so many workouts, provides you with an opportunity to bath in the beauty of nature. You look at the beautiful scenery sights. Sounds of the waterfall. Chirping of the birds around. Green trees and eternal landscapes put a wonderful impact on your overall health.
Precautionary measures
But it should be added with few precautionary measures. No doubt kayaking is a wonderful exercise experience but before planning it, you should consider the following measures for a better experience:
- Choice of kayak: While you are selecting a kayak, you should keep in mind that its better to choose a broad vessel with sit on top option. As this helps in a better recreational experience.
- Keep the Weather in mind: Now with all the gear up and preparations you don’t want to end up in a wind storm. So always check the weather forecast before you proceed and prepare.
- A good navigation system: The resort or island maybe familiar to you but you should have a smart navigation service with you. It would be great if you can mark the important landmarks beforehand.
Who and what should you avoid in kayaking:
Those who are not physically fit. And those who have no experience of going before should avoid going alone. Take your experienced friends along. Your pals can help to share the paddling workout too. The exercise bike advisor researched and stated the home exercise machines to grow up your physical stamina. It helps you to be physically fit before going in kayaking.
Conclusion: Kayaking is a good exercise and workout. It impacts positively on your physical and mental well being. It builds up your stamina and heart and lungs health. It is an excellent milestone to achieve towards a healthy lifestyle. It is expensive and requires some basic technical knowledge and skills. So you can enjoy it with a good preparation. Do a workout with lots of selfies with nature!
