Is kayaking and SUP cardio or strength?

iheartmy1dog
iheartmy1dog Posts: 207
edited January 30 in Fitness and Exercise
My arms are definitely getting toner so I think of it as strength but in myfitnesspal it's considered cardio... I was wondering which it is?

Replies

  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    if you're deconditioned it will add strength until you become used to it. It will always have an element of resistance but it's primarily cardio.
  • amybg1
    amybg1 Posts: 631 Member
    Competitive- Sprint paddler here...It's primarily cardio but all depending on how used to it you are as well as what workouyts you are doing it will add strength especially to your shoulders, back and core
  • iheartmy1dog
    iheartmy1dog Posts: 207
    Thanks so much for the helpful replies! I only started kayaking a month ago, I've been out 8x, 2hrs each time so far and SUP 2x, total of 4hrs. So these two things don't replace doing curls? I think strength is soo boring so I was hoping it counted lol
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    if you want to totally drop doing curls because you're kayaking you'll hear nothing bad from me. drop em. a lot of your rowing work for your back might also become redundant, unless you going for a higher than usual strength levels.

    but don't drop squats for your legs, or deadlifts/kb swings or something for your posterior chain, and benching for your chest. but curls, meh.
  • iheartmy1dog
    iheartmy1dog Posts: 207
    Ahh.. You listed way too many strength exercises lol I wish they weren't so boring to do!
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    i listed 3 exercises. doing 3 sets of each would take 8-12 mins each or 30 mins total. there are 168 hours in a week. surely you can spend 2 of those hours improving your overall fitness level? 3 sets of pushups can't be so boring that you couldn't knock it out, could it?
  • iheartmy1dog
    iheartmy1dog Posts: 207
    Yep, it could! Lol jk I thought you were suppose to do strength to the point of failure? With some of the exercises it takes forever to get to that point! The repetition bores me to death
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    failure, sure, if you choose. takes forever, no. add enough weight so that failure comes somewhere between 6 and 15 reps. i like 8-10 but that's personal preference.
  • iheartmy1dog
    iheartmy1dog Posts: 207
    I'll have to give it a try... When I'm feeling ambitious lol Thanks for the tip! :)
  • bowbeforethoraxis
    bowbeforethoraxis Posts: 138 Member
    I look at any toning I get from these as a side benefit, and sometimes when I do these, I skip on strength training that day, but as soon as I'm not sore afterwards I either up the intensity, or the amount of time. If I'm just taking a nice paddle around, I still do strength training.

    Can you find some type of class that includes strength training but doesn't bore you?
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