Get Fit with/for SUP

We all know that SUP is great exercise, but It takes more than one great exercise to get fit. There’s also diet, other aerobic activities, flexibility training and general muscle workouts. It’s often a battle against social pressure, time, and genetics to achieve the kind of results you’d like.

Me last winter, there’s about ten pounds more of me right now

I’m from a family of large people. Despite being 6’2” and 250 pounds I look like an average guy in family photos. I’ve battled weight and waistline my entire life, despite being an inordinately active person and generally watching what I eat. I don’t eat fast food, don’t eat junk, but I’m a little too fond of fine food, wine and beer. My greatest weakness is the evening. If there’s any goodies in the pantry late at night when I’m watching the tube, I’ll find them.

As I get older (61) I find I’m eating less and less and weighing more and more. I need to step up the exercise side of the equation but I also need to gain some flexibility before I freeze solid like a cigar store Indian. I believe step one has to be to loose some weight. I think my downward dogs, distance paddles, surf sessions and workouts will all come a little easier if there’s a less of me.

What I find it takes to be successful at losing weight and adding muscle is some outside pressure—something to reinforce your will when those Ginger Snaps are calling to you just before bed. Something to drive you to the gym when you’d really rather sleep another hour. I find both positive and negative pressure work well—the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

I’m proposing a training program here on Ke Nalu, and you can participate. Whether you’re looking to loose weight or just increase your physical capabilities for the demands of Stand Up Paddling and surfing, find your outside pressure here. Join me, Stoneaxe (Brother Bob), and anyone else on Ke Nalu that chooses to participate. We’ll use the forum topic attached to this post as our training and weight loss log. Set a goal, build a plan, and tell us all how you do. we’ll praise you when you hit your mark and give you grief when you don’t. Publicly tracking your performance should be a good way to apply both positive and negative pressure—and I know I need both. Perhaps you do too.

And then there’s the bet. If you fail to make your weekly goal two weeks in a row you have to post a video of yourself on youtube doing stupid tricks on your SUP board. If you fail to make your final goal you have to post a video of yourself wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra, playing a ukulele and singing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” in falsetto.

This is what Bob will look like

As I said on Stand Up Zone, I’d rather give myself liposuction with a box cutter and a bicycle pump than lose that bet.

Join in, use the form below to set and track your own goals. Just copy the form, click on the forum button below, REPLY to the thread and paste in your form. A little rules clarification–if your goal is two pounds per week and you lose three one week, you carry your one pound extra forward as a benefit–so you can get ahead. My plan is to start really strong and try to maintain. I know there will be slip-ups so I need to get ahead.

You can build any form you want, or you can copy and paste mine into your forum posts. I’m going to report weekly since that’s the deal Bob and I have for our weight bet. Note that once you have set up a forum post you can edit it at any time. I think I’m going to create weekly forum posts for myself and treat it as a weekly diary. You can do it any way you choose.

Here’s the sign up form:

Name (handle is fine)_______

Current weight _________

Weekly goal __________

Number of weeks _________

and here’s the tracking form:

Week: ___ Start Weight___ End Weight

Daily Goals—Exercise and eating

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

If any of you folks are experts on doing any aspect of this: weight loss, general training, paddling, etc. Please share your information. For that matter I’d love someone to do a monthly column on fitness for paddle surfing, or coach people on how to paddle or surf.

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