I’m a relative beginner and I also like to kayak for exercise, as well as just because it’s so darn fun, but the idea of paddling a Walmart boat for exercise isn’t too appealing. For the same $300 you can likely get a used boat on Craigslist or Facebook marketplace, especially at this time of year, that will be more pleasurable to paddle.
I’ve found that kayaking at a moderate pace, using proper form, will build muscle and stamina if you go on a regular basis.
It certainly tones and strengthens your abs, arms, shoulders, and neck.
I have been paddling a kayak for mainly exercise for 17 years. I live on a northern lake so have to wait till the ice leaves in mid April. Daily is tough going untill May. I’ve used several types. Heavy rotomolds, a 20’skinny race one and presently an 18’ epoxy/wood composite. For me, if it isn’t easy to paddle then I’d get one that is. The easy paddling type is one which will track straight as an arrow. A bow sliding back and forth is a waste of effort and slows the boat. If the boat is heavy, it will feel heavy and it seems your just wearing yourself out and will stop doing it. I think one needs to make exercise fun so it will become an activity you look forward to doing everyday like an obsession. Paddling fast in a good kayak is a very low impact aerobic exercise. It tones your arms, shoulders, back and the rest of you core. Having a sore or bad knee may be an issue. Using a good forward stroke doers also incorporate you alternately pressing with your legs. I’ve had many unrelated knee and hip issues. I managed to still paddle for up to two hours. Earlier years I did 7 miles most everyday at a 6 MPH pace. I can not make myself do that now at 72 years old. Now I go further at 8.5 miles at an 5 MPH pace. I love it and look forward to doing it everyday, weather permitting. If you can paddle on an inland lake while it’s pretty calm in the AM, that’s great. When it rough it’s hard to maintain a good stroke and balance too. Like others have said rent or borrow the best you can find to do so. Cheap kayaks for beach toys. My 2 cents. Also, learn to paddle correctly.
I think if you want to use a boat for cardio, a rowboat would be a better choice than a kayak. See if there’s a place near you that rents them. You’re looking for the skiff with a motor mount. It will put you to work, for sure, but it will track far better than a short kayak, and makes a great fishing platform.
Rental will eat your wallet fast, so if you enjoy going backwards (I didn’t) you can probably find a used one cheap, though you might then need a trailer for it.
I had one of these, but I can’t recommend it; it’s dangerously tippy, and until you modify it, every stroke is a steering stroke, whether you want it to be or not. I manufactured a simple kick-up skeg that attached to the motor mounting plate; it looked like a rudder, but it didn’t turn. That made all the difference. And it was portable. Cost quite a bit.
https://plasticboats.com/product/green-boat/
There are also some decent inflatables, and things like these: the Bic looks like it would track well enough without adding anything to it.
https://www.amazon.com/small-plastic-fishing-boats/s?k=small+plastic+fishing+boats
Hope this helps.
Adirondack guideboat
@kayamedic said:
Adirondack guideboat
Cool. Looks a little like a square-ended dory.
Oh, and I forgot about these:
@kayamedic said:
Adirondack guideboat
@kayamedic said:
Adirondack guideboat
Perfect, but where is the OP going to find one for his “$300” ?
Here’s my take on this. I think you really don’t want a department store junk boat for all the reasons above. Really, don’t do it. You’ll find that the corrective strokes needed will mess up your routine. But I also think you don’t want a fast boat. Why not? A fast boat will just be easier to paddle and you’re looking for a workout.
I think the sweet spot for you is 13-15 feet and 24 inches wide. If you go any narrower it will be too fast and also much harder to paddle with good form with a high angle stroke. Try and find one with a skeg for the windy days. Out here, in New England, boats like these, with paddles can often be found in the $300-$400 range on craigslist.
Now, you still might find it hard to reach 150bpm with this faster boat. So tow a small sea or drift anchor. Just make something yourself. This will give you a lot of drag and you’ll be getting your workout.
@JackL said:
@kayamedic said:
Adirondack guideboat@kayamedic said:
Adirondack guideboatPerfect, but where is the OP going to find one for his “$300” ?
oops… Need one more 0! The guideboat is a great rower and speedy and stable and not $300. Its an investment for sure
I think you could find an SUP for $300, hopefully used, that will do better for the exercise part. Paddling a kayak is an upper body exercise that takes technique and control to do any good. Paddling while using too much elbow isn’t going to be any form of decent exercise. An SUP, along with a shell, is a full body workout.
It might also help your knee, if you do it right.
Like most other forms of exercise, kayaking is just a part of it. Paddling is closer to a secondary exercise, rather than a primary exercise. You still need to work your core and lower body. It is a good way to get an exercised body outside. It also only works well if you can maintain a cadence with you paddle for and hour or two. Floating down stream is not exercise.
LimitIsIllusion, I get the feeling that it is rather high intensity cardio you are after. If that is your goal, you will probably run into some problems with paddling form.
I can do both high and low intensity in a kayak, but when I do high intensity and get near to my anaerobic threshold, my form and technique falls apart, and my paddling is a real mess.
I consider the kayak better suited for low intensity workouts where I paddle for several hours at or below my aerobic threshold. (Which in my opinion is more beneficial cardio training anyway, but that is another discussion.)
I recently got back into kayaking after about a 15 year break. I wanted something to compliment my road cycling, upper body work-out in other words. I found a good deal on Craigslist on a 16.5 foot Necky Elaho and started doing 2 to 3 hour paddles at a fairly fast pace. One thing I would say to watch out for is doing too much too soon. I was fit in an aerobic sense but the tendons and ligaments in my elbows and shoulders weren’t ready for such a hard, sustained work-out and I pretty much tore them to hell which took months to repair. Ease into it.
If you capsize unintentionally, that will get your heart rate up a bit.
@Upnorth18 said:
I have been paddling a kayak for mainly exercise for 17 years. I live on a northern lake so have to wait till the ice leaves in mid April. Daily is tough going untill May. I’ve used several types. Heavy rotomolds, a 20’skinny race one and presently an 18’ epoxy/wood composite. For me, if it isn’t easy to paddle then I’d get one that is. The easy paddling type is one which will track straight as an arrow. A bow sliding back and forth is a waste of effort and slows the boat. If the boat is heavy, it will feel heavy and it seems your just wearing yourself out and will stop doing it. I think one needs to make exercise fun so it will become an activity you look forward to doing everyday like an obsession. Paddling fast in a good kayak is a very low impact aerobic exercise. It tones your arms, shoulders, back and the rest of you core. Having a sore or bad knee may be an issue. Using a good forward stroke doers also incorporate you alternately pressing with your legs. I’ve had many unrelated knee and hip issues. I managed to still paddle for up to two hours. Earlier years I did 7 miles most everyday at a 6 MPH pace. I can not make myself do that now at 72 years old. Now I go further at 8.5 miles at an 5 MPH pace. I love it and look forward to doing it everyday, weather permitting. If you can paddle on an inland lake while it’s pretty calm in the AM, that’s great. When it rough it’s hard to maintain a good stroke and balance too. Like others have said rent or borrow the best you can find to do so. Cheap kayaks for beach toys. My 2 cents. Also, learn to paddle correctly.
Those are pretty respectable speeds for any age! I am considered a fast guy on all my group paddles and I usually go 4.5-4.8 mph in my 16.5 Boreal Baffin C1 kayak. You are killing it!
You wont be able to get your pulse up really high by paddling. But the exercise is still very beneficial.
I started out paddling on rented SOTs in lakes 2-3x/wk. I now have my own kayak, but when I travel I try to get kayaking in (I bring my pfd, a break down carbon paddle, dry bag, appropriate gear/clothes for weather) so I only need a kayak and I take whatever they have: SOTS, recreational, sea kayaks, etc. I’ve gone in lakes, rivers and coastal waters. It’s a great form of exercise: I alternate paddling around to get my bearings, check out wildlife, then I put on my bluetooth earphones to music and do a minimum of 5 miles. For me it is an enjoyable way to become more fit. Even if I have a barge, I look at it as a way way to increase resistance and gain strength (e.g. I rented a fishing NuCanoe on Loch Lomond in the Santa Cruz Mts. in CA). I also use the Kayak Logger app, so I can see my path, speed and distance I’ve paddled.
I am a new paddler and what I notice about the exercise aspect is the delayed reaction. Unlike running, hiking, working with weights, etc, I don’t really notice the impact of kayaking while I am actively doing it. But when I get home, store my boat down our long hairpin path and finally sit down it is then that I really notice that I am tired and my abs are burning…
@ThePaddler said:
You wont be able to get your pulse up really high by paddling. But the exercise is still very beneficial.
You absolutely CAN get your pulse rate up high by paddling, but as Allan said, you’ll need to have good form in order to do it. ICF Sprint kayakers routinely hold their pulse rates above 180 for extended periods, and as a former slalom racer, I can tell you it doesn’t take long to hit maximum aerobic during training, much less a race.
Are you going to achieve this on a leisurely paddle on your local pond? Probably not, especially if you want to sustain your high heart rate. It’s fairly easy to hit a max aerobic threshold for a short sprint as Magooch said, but maintaining a high BPM while paddling takes a big commitment, and most paddlers (myself included these days) don’t have the required core and shoulder muscles required. However, don’t discount paddling as an aerobic exercise, especially if you are willing to get your body in the required shape necessary.
For physiology nerds, there have been some good research on physiological responses to paddling in simulated race conditions. A little dry, but fairly interesting.
Mechanical Work and Physiological Responses to Simulated Flat Water Slalom Kayaking
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00260/full
All-out Test in Tethered Canoe System can Determine Anaerobic Parameters of Elite Kayakers
https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/html/10.1055/s-0035-1548766
From the reading I have done I would suggest the Dagger Axis 10.5 or Katana 10.4, and maybe look at the Aspire 105.
They are a bit more than you wanted to spend but I think they spec out well for the job description.
Depending on your current fitness you shouldn’t have any trouble maintaining 150 bpm while paddling.