LA TIMES: A water workout so hard that just standing up is an accomplishment
I’m wobbling. I’m as shaky as a newborn deer. My core, my arms, my legs, every muscle in my body is straining to keep me upright, balanced. Then, 25 minutes in, when I momentarily relax, thinking I’ve got it under control, I suddenly lose it — and plunge sideways into the abyss.
Well, not an abyss, actually.
Just the the cool, chlorinated water of a community swimming pool.
Involuntarily laughing in embarrassment, as everyone does when they tumble off their boards, I crawl back on and eagerly resume one of the coolest — literally—workouts ever: Aqua Stand Up.
Falling into the drink once or twice is to be expected during your first time doing this unique new strength-and-aerobic workout conducted on stand-up paddleboards. Tethered on each end to opposite sides of the pool deck, they have just enough instability to make every yoga / Pilates-ish movement a challenge and the all-body workout a tough, satisfying 45-minute adventure.
Aqua Stand Up creator Eric Vandendriessche, a native of the resort town Biarritz in the South of France, got the idea for the class in 2011 while stand-up paddleboarding on the flat Atlantic Ocean waters outside his hometown.