Baltimore gym offers paddleboard yoga

Posted: February 19, 2013 at 9:47 pm


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A new fitness trend that combines the swimming pool with yoga is coming to Baltimore next month.

Exercisers at the Maryland Athletic Club in Baltimore's Harbor East got a taste for stand-up paddleboard yoga on Tuesday.

"You're using the board as your mat to do those traditional yoga poses, but we're also going to incorporate some Pilates moves as well, so you're really engaging the core and keeping the heart rate up the whole time," said yoga instructor Jessie Benson.

Paddleboard yoga was first offered by Ultimate Watersports about a year ago in outdoor waters around Baltimore, but now that it's winter, it's moved to an indoor pool at MAC to get the same workout in a different environment.

"Outside, our locations are extremely beautiful and very serene, which is really complimentary to the whole yoga idea. Indoors, we have a much more dynamic atmosphere here at the Maryland Athletic Club. It is a very busy place -- an incredible place to come and get a great workout," said Hal Ashman of Ultimate Watersports.

Because paddleboard yoga is done on an unstable surface, experts said it works different muscles more effectively than traditional yoga.

"It's the same poses, but just taking them to a higher level and having to hold them a little longer with that instability. You'll see a big change in your body and in your balance and overall flexibility," Benson said. "You're really going to engage your core and those abdominal, oblique and back muscles in a new way."

"I think the perception might be that it's just much, much harder to do yoga on a paddleboard, but what we're finding is it's actually a better workout without being that much harder," Ashman said.

Benson said paddleboard yoga is a natural step up for experienced yoga students, but it's easily picked up by beginners, and it's easy on the joints.

"It would be best if you have a little bit of yoga or Pilates background so you know the basic poses, so when I tell you to get in downward-facing dog or to do our sun salutations that you sort of know what to expect. But, certainly, it's open to all fitness abilities, men and women of any age. It's great," she said.

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Baltimore gym offers paddleboard yoga

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February 19th, 2013 at 9:47 pm

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