Browsing Tag

SUP

SUP in the City

Posted on April 8, 2019

Living in the city, the beach is often just a weekend away, but it’s the perfect place to go for a little SUP after work too, even just to get a little perspective. There’s a few great places to rent them from in Dubai, from beachside hotspot Surf House, to Ignite Surface on the Palm Jumeirah. But they get booked up, so sometimes it’s nice to guarantee a board by investing in one of your own.

My favourite place to relax is out on the water and now that my new home has direct access to the sea, I’ve been looking for a new way to fully explore it. We’ve got a wealth of wildlife like jellyfish, stingrays and water birds all around, so actually being out on the water is without a doubt the best place to see them.

I used to have a SUP board here, but as I was living quite a bit away from the sea front, it took a serious 4×4 to transport to and frow, so I eventually gave it up. The inflatable SUP is of course a much more suitable city-living stand up paddle board as you can take it literally anywhere with you and you won’t need a car for it either.

It comes with its own travel case and a hand pump too, which didn’t take more than a few minutes to blow up fully. Known for their reliability and rock-hard rigidity when inflated, the blowup version is a real winner. I got mine from MTM Marine in Dubai who stock them from WOW Water Sports.

Fitness

Waking Up With Roxy Fitness

Posted on May 11, 2017

What better way to kickstart the day, especially now the weather’s getting hotter, than an early start down by the sea. I’m totally a water baby and I love the way we get energy from it too, so when ROXY, a brand I haven’t seen in ages, calls us all in for a #RUNSUPYOGA event, i’m 100% in!

ROXY’s a brand I grew up with but I have to admit, I haven’t noticed much of their presence here in the region in a long time. Promoting their new activewear, which is surf to sand appropriate, we tested out their latest pieces down at sunset beach with Surf House Dubai.

Kickstarting the morning with a beach yoga session to wake up our tired limbs, we put our balance to the test before heading out in two groups for an SUP fit session with the Surf House team. Harder than it looks, even for the most practised SUP’er; balancing, squats, push up’s and burpees when there’s a few waves underneath you is a testing experience to say the least.

A brand inspired by both the mountains and the sea, it launched in 1990 with the first women’s specific boardshort inspired by Lisa Andersen, and have been mastering the art of fashionable surf wear since…

Fitness

Testing Out: SUP Yoga

Posted on March 7, 2017

Now I think of myself as a fairly fit person, with relatively good balance, but all of that went out the window when I was asked to Vinyasa flow through a downward dog on a moving SUP, out on JBR’s early waves. What a great workout!

SUP Yoga is one of those awesome classes where you feel challenged but don’t quite realise just how much your core is working to help keep you upright (dry) until the next day’s ‘doms’. A total mixture of yoga and pilates (yogalates if you prefer) this class is a fantastic way to wake up your weekend.

Situated off the shoreline of the Doubletree Hilton in JBR, the class is run by their in-house centre Watercooled, where dancer Sophie will take you through a tailored program under the early sunshine. The idea is not to fall in, but I did and in all honesty it wasn’t that bad… bring a towel with you just in case, but on the SUP during the class, all you’ll need is some sunscreen and sunglasses.

From some strengthening V-sits to shoulder testing side planks, the toughest part of your workout here is to remain on the board itself. Never before have I been so aware of staying ‘grounded’ throughout my practice, which of course is totally ironic as we’re floating around on inflatable boards.