How Improve Your Balance On a Paddleboard

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For some people, stand up paddle boarding comes super easily, while for others, it can feel like more of a challenge even after a couple of sessions. If you're part of the latter group, don't worry; there's loads of things you can do to improve your balance on a paddleboard.
In this video, we'll be going over a few tips and tricks to get you feeling comfortable, secure, and confident on your SUP.
Our first tip is to choose the right board. Generally, taller/heavier paddlers, especially those just starting out, benefit from wider SUPs. Most SUP newcomers will feel comfortable on SUPs about 32" wide, but for our larger paddlers, it may be necessary to look in the 33"-35" wide range.
Tip #2 is to ensure that you have the proper foot positioning as you stand up on your board. A common mistake we see among beginners is to have their feet in 'duck stance' with their heels pointing inwards and their toes pointing out towards the rails of their SUP. Instead, you'll feel much more stable if you position your feet sot hat they're parallel to each other, as if you were standing on a set of railroad tracks.
Thirdly, you'll want to ensure that you keep your head up while you're paddling and primarily while you're standing up. This keeps your weight centered over your hips and feet, whereas looking down causes your knees to lock and your butt to lift, shifting your weight forward and causing you to feel unstable. It helps to think of the motion of standing up on your board like you're doing a squat, rather than a stiff legged dead lift.
Our fourth tip is to use your paddle as a third point of contact, both while you're standing up and when you start paddling. If standing from your knees is a challenge, try planting the blade of your paddle squarely in front of you, as if you were spearing your board. Then you can use the paddle as a support to climb your way up to standing position. Once paddling, the paddle continues to act as a third point of contact, as you can use it to brace against to the water and improve your stability.
Lastly, a few general notes that will help improve your balance are to keep your head up, as this will keep your weight centered over your feet, and to keep loose knees to be able to absorb and wake or chop on the water. Most importantly, keep in mind that all things come with practice; don't be discouraged if your first few times SUP'ing aren't picture perfect.
For a more detailed demonstration of each of these tips, stick with us through our video and don't hesitate to reach out in the comments with any questions.
0:00 How to Improve Your Balance on a Paddleboard
0:44 Tip 1 Choosing the Right Board
2:20 Tip 2 Proper Foot Position
3:16 Tip 3 Proper Head Position
3:53 Tip 4 Third Point of Contact
5:09 Conclusion
#howtopaddleboard #SUPforbeginner #howtoSUP

[@supboardguide]

SUP Question of the Day 🌊: What balancing tips have been helpful for you as your skills have improved? Let us know in the comments below 👇👇👇

[@martin.feuchtwanger]

I'd like to add a teachable safety tip: Always kneel down or stay on your knees when near rocks or docks. Being low down will reduce both the chance of and the severity of a fall onto a hard object. Paddle away from rocks or docks until you have deep water with no obstacle before standing up.

[@donnafletcher1562]

Great advice thank you

[@mitchdavis2902]

Best tip an old-timer shared with me when he was working with me was... while on my knees, take a few strokes with the paddle, look at the horizon, and stand up. It made all the difference in the world to have just a small bit of momentum. Hope this helps someone. Smooth paddling!

[@billdawes123]

The 'getting the board moving first' is actually quite an interesting one because it works for some people but not others. A lot of people find it destabilising having the board moving. It depends quite a bit on the shape of the board, too. If it worked for you though, then great!

[@xtreamer100]

ty for the info sir, very helpful for a nobie in the paddle board world :) regards from Colombia

[@rhyljones5051]

Thanks for these awesome pointers. Clear, simple, straight forward. Perfect.

[@ShoaibAkhtar-sy7pv]

I love your lessons. Simply the best. Thanks for such an awesome content

[@perfectgame23]

Tighten your core and butt when feeling wobbly has helped me. Great video. Was using 32” board. I’m 6’2” and 200 lbs. physically fit and 66 yrs old. Terrible balance! Ordered wider board. Will hopefully have better results. Thx again for the tips.

[@billdawes123]

Absolutely - a wider board is going to be a complete game changer for you. And hopefully then, as you will be a whole lot more comfortable on it, you will find your balance steadily improves too.

[@perfectgame23]

@@billdawes123 on new wider board today. 45 minutes without even the thought of losing balance. Two thumbs up.

[@billdawes123]

@@perfectgame23 That's great to hear! Thanks for letting us know.

[@Bierasciejec]

Thank you!!! Your videos are very helpfull!!

[@davidferguson8280]

That was excellent. Got our first board this week and this video is excellent. Thanks so much

[@supboardguide]

Glad you found it useful!

[@deanwright9272]

Definitely useful

[@doctor19741]

You know I’ve trawled KZbin over the past year for a practical application of the basic skills and found your videos to be spot on for me! Thank you so much. I am curious what you think about advancement from beginner to intermediate… you know depending where you live in this world And what time of year you are out, the weather And tide conditions affect safety and comfort. I’ve gotten pretty handy at this now. What are the do’s and don’ts in respect of weather and tide conditions on coastal routes particularly ? Thanks Also, I was wondering what paddle would you recommend for intermediate blow up SUP … I can stick to mine as I know my technique is everything but a thought about changing paddles perhaps

[@billdawes123]

@doctor19741 Weather and tides are indeed big issues, with huge safety implications for stand-up paddleboarding. too big a subject to cover in a reply here, but we are planning on creating some content on this in the near future. As for a new paddle, not knowing what you currently have it's a bit difficult to advise but for sure, if you can afford it, upgrading to a paddle is always money well spent, whatever board you're on. An intermediate iSUP will benefit from a better paddle just as much as an advanced race board will. And with regard to advancing from beginner to intermediate, it really just comes down time on the water, wherever you are in the world. It sounds like you're getting plenty of that, so just keep on paddling and keep on having fun!

[@Sergioditaranto]

Scusa se scrivo in italiano ma ho un poco di cose da dire. Questo canale è fantastico! Il migliore in assoluto perché spieghi bene, sei sintetico, grazie alla traduzione automatica nelle opzioni riesco a capire tutto,, sei preciso in ciò che dici e lo fai in maniera semplice. Il montaggio video è perfetto così come l'audio. Solo 2500 iscritti non rendono giustizia al tuo lavoro che fai con passione e sacrifici. Sono sicuro che presto gli iscritti aumenteranno notevolmente. Io possiedo da poco tempo un sup Mistral acquistato a Lidl. Cosa ne pensi di questo sup? I tuoi suggerimenti sono preziosi e per questo mi sto vedendo tutti i tuoi video. Continua così. Grazie per ciò che fai per noi. Saluti dall'italia

[@supboardguide]

Grazie per le gentili parole. Non abbiamo testato un SUP Mistral.

[@laurachauvin2592]

I'm fairly new to this sport, having had to swap over from kayaking for physical reasons. I'm having difficulty keeping balance in windy situations. And honestly, it's not that windy, lol. My board is 34" wide, 10'4" long and I'm about 200 lbs and 5'7" tall. I've been using your techniques and they work fabulously, but as soon as there is a bit of wind I find I cannot stay standing and maintain balance. Could you speak to this? Or do you already have a video that might help? I honestly wouldn't have continued with this sport if it weren't for your videos, so thank you!

[@supboardguide]

It's likely to actually be the chop caused by the wind that's actually throwing you off balance, rather than the wind itself. Honestly, the best way to stay balanced through chop is to just keep paddling and keep the board moving (its kind of like how balancing on a bike is easier while pedaling/moving than it is if you're just sitting still). It's also helpful if you turn your board so its nose is pointing into the chop, rather than dealing with it at an angle. One thing to note though is that what seems like 'not a lot of wind' on shore can actually be quite a lot once you're on the water. Honestly, once the wind is reading 6-8 mph or more, I usually won't take a board out.

[@donnafletcher1562]

Thank you brilliant advice again

[@andreahykes5951]

Was this filmed at Sand Hallow?

[@supboardguide]

Yes it was! Good eye!

[@warrenshattock5099]

My major balance problem is forward back not side to side, I am on a 32 inch inflatable. I find it helps to have one foot slightly in front of the balance point and the other behind it. Only half a foot length so hardly noticeable but it helps me.

[@billdawes123]

Nice one - you are adopting what is known as 'staggered stance', and as long as you are careful to keep both feet facing forward, rather than letting either foot turn in or out too much, and above all being really careful to ensure that neither foot creeps in towards the centreline, then it's a great stance that dramatically increases your fore-aft stability, exactly as you say. Don't feel that you need to swap which is the front foot and which is the back foot, when you change sides with the paddle - just leave your naturally forward foot to the front.

[@warrenshattock5099]

@@billdawes123 I am 69 in June so as I improve I may tinker with it. Paddleboarding has already dramatically improved my balance and things like walking downstairs without 'crabbing' or leading only with one foot. It's a good pastime for oldies.

[@billdawes123]

@@warrenshattock5099 I couldn't agree more - I honestly believe that it's about the best possible exercise for the 'oldie'; it's low impact, easy on the body but it has so many positive benefits. I have coached many clients well into their 80s and it is astonishing just how restorative it is. Keep it up! Just one word of advice though; really try and work on good paddling form, so as to avoid injuring yourself. Keep it smooth and relaxed. Use a paddle with a smallish blade and not too stiff a shaft. Check out our technique vid on how to paddle more efficiently; hopefully you'll find it helpful.

[@Journeyofcheng]

I am a beginner. I fell into water a couple time while I was not worried about falling into. Could I be too relaxed?

[@billdawes123]

No, not at all. Falling in because you're relaxed (and hopefully having fun!) isn't ever something to worry about, unless of course the water is freezing cold, or infested with piranha fish or crocodiles. If you keep on falling in but really don't want to, then it may well mean that you're on too small or unsuitable a board, as discussed in the video. But if you're just falling in because you're having fun then realy don't worry.

[@Journeyofcheng]

@@billdawes123 thanks for your reply. I felt I was probably not focused and my core was not tightened up before I fell into water. The water was calm and there were no distractions.

[@billdawes123]

@@Journeyofcheng OK. You shouldn't need to be concentrating on holding your core tight while paddling; again, unless you're on a really narrow or wobbly board. It will become tiring very quickly if you're holding yourself too tense and 'locked'. So when you're starting out, there is this fundamental tension between concentrating on balancing, and relaxing and letting your body do it for you - which is what happens when you get your 'sea legs', and you don't need to think about balancing any more, your knees, hips and ankles absorb the bumps and bodyweight shifts without you even thinking about it. All you need is time on the water. I generally find it takes clients about 3 hours of paddling before they are able to relax and let their body take care of the balancing. Indeed, I've noticed that there is a very clear visual indicator as to when a client has gained their sea legs - they stop looking down when they get a wobble. That's a really clear indication that their brain has worked it out. But up until that point, any slight unexpected weight shift results in the client instinctively looking down, as the brain tries to compensate and work out what to do. So - hang in there, go do some more paddling! You'll get it very soon.

[@mcorbin5408]

How close you are standing by the rocks is scaring me!

[@billdawes123]

Don't worry, there is quite a bit of foreshortening from the camera lens, it is not as close as it looks. Plus which, it gets deep very quickly.