I am going to be racing distance SUP races this year and I am in my first year of SUP race training. I am a bit worried about overuse injury (primarily to my shoulders.) In your experience, how many days per week should I be paddling? I have a lot of endurance sports activity (running and biking) but not much with my arms.

– Anonymous, CA

You are correct. Overuse shoulder injuries are common in SUP. I have seen too many athletes bite off more than they can chew in their first and second season. As you have probably already learned the hard way it is much better to do a little less and avoid injury.

My recommendation is that new paddle athletes (without a history in paddle sports or swimming) should limit their paddling to three days per week.  Experienced paddle athletes can handle significantly more than that and I will commonly have experienced paddlers in the water 5 days or more per week.

This does not mean, however, that you should be sitting on the couch the other 4 days per week. My recommendation is that you should build your fitness with cross training such as running and biking. You can also do a swim workout or easy prone paddle workout for an extra day per week of endurance work for your arms if you feel you are recovering adequately from your 3x/week SUP workouts. Finally, I would also like to see you in the gym  twice weekly doing strength training.  To some degree, this is part of the blueprint that I follow in the beginner training programs.

Although it might not seem like a lot at first glance, 3 SUP workouts, 2 gym workouts, 1 swim or prone paddle workout, and some cross training thrown in the mix will get you race ready and help lower your risk of overuse injury.

Roch