Pilates for Watersports: Stand Up Paddle Board (SUP)

At Polestar, we encourage you to apply your Pilates knowledge to every discipline of movement you can find. SUP (Stand Up Paddle surfing) is a good way to add a new dimension of awareness to your routines. Just don’t slip in the water! SUP (Stand Up Paddle), or Surf Remo, is one of the fastest growing water sports in recent years. It is an aquatic activity that is performed standing on a surfboard, with the help of a paddle, to propel you through the water. The first account of people doing this was in pre-colonial west and southern African tribes, standing in long canoes with modified spear-paddles. The sport as we know it originates in Hawaii, where they used 5 meter long boards and paddles. Professional SUP started in Hawaii around 1990, when the practice was being taught in surf schools for the first time.

Natalia Testón leading a class on different SUP Pilates moves

SUP is an ideal activity because it doesn’t require much adeptness to surfing (or even waves). Practicing Pilates in this way affects both posture and balance. When you climb on the paddleboard, your body is forced to activate stabilizing muscles to not lose balance, due to the instability of water. It does wonders for awareness, assuming you can stay on! Try it out with a large class size. Polestar Graduate, Natalia Testón, demonstrates a few of these routines. She first discovered her love for surfing in 2006. It wasn’t until 2012 that she fully fused her two loves into an actual class for her clients. As a level 1 Sports Technician, she challenges her clients with new and exciting techniques. Natalia is also regularly invited to teach many Pilates and surfing workshops in Spain. In Pilates, we use concentration to unite body and mind in a coordinated work that helps us to maintain control over our body, improving our balance and posture. Something similar happens when we practice SUP: we are enhancing the work of stabilizing muscles by activating the core without realizing it. Mixing up how practice movement like this has vast benefits for our usual movement patterns. Similar to that added awareness from remaining afloat on the paddleboard. This leads to an increase in core strength and even an increase in breath control. If you end up giving it a try, share your experiences with us with #IamPolestar, #PilatesForSports and #SUP!