Paddleboarding simply obtained easier with the omission of 1 main factor: water.
Los Angeles’ marinas, canals and channels have lengthy been hubs for paddleboarding actions, however on a current weekday afternoon in January, boarders flocked to the again patio of a bodily remedy studio in Westwood. About half a dozen of them lay face down on their boards, gently rocking facet to facet atop pink brick, arms outstretched and flailing beside them. From afar, they appeared like an array of beached bugs.
They have been doing a B-Board Exercise, a brand new train created by French coach Eric Vandendriessche. He’s the character behind Aqua Stand Up, a technique he taught in L.A. from 2016-20 on the Westside Jewish Neighborhood Middle and different areas. Aqua Stand Up had contributors doing body-weight workout routines on tethered paddleboards in a swimming pool, the instability of the water forcing them to make use of their core muscular tissues. B-Board Exercise is the category’ subsequent hotter, drier iteration: performed on strong floor, however simply as efficient for the core.
B-Board Exercise founder, Eric Vandendriessche, leads ab workout routines from his {custom}, inflatable steadiness board.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)
In the course of the 45-minute class, B-Boarders work out on an inflatable steadiness board that Vandendriessche custom-designed. Its curved backside mimics the instability of being on the water. And it’s made to be shorter than a normal racing paddleboard in order that it’s simpler to retailer and lighter to hold round.
The top objective? Develop power whereas partaking in an particularly novel exercise.
“It’s not paddleboarding, per se, however impressed by paddleboarding, re-creating these actions however on the bottom,” Vandendriessche stated throughout an interview on the studio, a light-filled room, scattered with candy-colored dumbbells and resistance bands. “I wished to assist individuals to not be afraid to go on open water or to paddleboard. And I wished to create one thing thrilling and enjoyable, actually serving to individuals to get in form, enhance their steadiness, use their core, whereas additionally engaged on flexibility.”
The day I visited, most class contributors have been making an attempt B-Board Exercise for the primary time.
“I’d similar to one thing completely different,” stated Maël Mayet, a 36-year-old actor-model and private coach. “It’s all the time good to maintain up to date.”
Maja Damjanov, 38, was skeptical of B-Board at first. She works as a coordinator and supervisor on the bodily remedy clinic, Studio Brava, that hosts the category.
“At first I assumed: ‘Oh my god, that is so L.A.! Individuals simply don’t know what to do anymore!’ she joked. “However I’m all the time on the lookout for a brand new factor and truly, this fully is smart. I’m older now, so I wish to be wholesome and I don’t wish to stress my physique. Plus, it’s enjoyable.”
B-Board Exercise participant, Maël Mayet, takes a fast breather between workout routines.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)
The B-Board Exercise ended with a yoga session adopted by a guided meditation.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)
At the beginning of sophistication all of us stand on our boards, that are lined up in pairs on the slender patio. Vandendriessche is up entrance demonstrating, as upbeat digital music commingles with waves of swooshing visitors noise within the background. The ensuing soundtrack is just not in contrast to that of an L.A. seashore.
“Come on, you bought this,” Vandendriessche says, as we mimic fundamental squats, mountain climbers, fowl canines and planks on the board. He demonstrates with a broad smile, his sinewy body repeatedly squatting, then snapping again up, like a peppy jack-in-the-box.
Quickly sufficient, the category is trembling. Some attendees legs jiggle dramatically as they regulate to the board’s motion.
“Oh, wow, can you’re feeling it? This one’s in your thighs,” Vandendriessche says, punctuating his directions with a melodious “da-nah!” in sync with the music. “Rock that boat!”
Vandendriessche, 48, grew up in Southern France, within the coastal resort city of Biarritz. Sports activities have been an integral a part of his youth — he performed basketball and tennis, boxed, skied and did taekwondo. He went on to earn a level in sports activities administration and spent greater than twenty years as a private coach and group health teacher in Europe.
Although Biarritz was a vacation spot for water sports activities, Vandendriessche didn’t strive paddleboarding till his early 30s. However when he did, he took to it immediately, paddling on rivers, lakes and the “loopy waves” of the Atlantic Ocean. His favourite spot was the slender, tree-lined La Nive river, which snakes by means of Basque Nation. Its light currents and leafy environment reminded him of a peaceful bayou, quiet however for the intermittent buzzing of bugs and the splash of his paddle.
The thought for Aqua Stand Up got here to Vandendriessche whereas he was paddleboarding in 2009.
“It was tremendous enjoyable and I felt my core, I felt every little thing,” he stated. “I stated to myself, ‘Oh, I might like to suggest one thing to my purchasers.’ So I introduced my board into the swimming pool and invited a few of my private coaching purchasers to strive it. The suggestions was superior.”
Maël Mayet, left, and Studio Brava founder, Cristina Popescu, do planks as a part of the B-Board Exercise.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)
He devised the B-Board whereas instructing an Aqua Stand Up class in 2011. Vandendriessche was demonstrating the exercise on a pool deck, together with his college students within the water, and observed the wood board he was utilizing didn’t rock the best way he wished it to on the onerous floor. He filed away the thought for a dry, grounded paddleboard and continued to show Aqua Stand Up lessons, finally bringing the train to L.A. in 2016.
Then, in 2018, Vandendriessche dug up his notes and at last designed a board he might use on land. “I’m not an engineer, however I can draw,” he stated.
The B-Board took about six months to construct. Then Vandendriessche spent the following two years testing it out at personal occasions and festivals, making tweaks to the exercise and enhancing upon the board’s design. After three iterations, he was lastly happy.
When the pandemic hit, B-Board class attendance waned. However in early 2023, Vandendriessche met Studio Brava founder, Cristina Popescu, at a health conference in downtown L.A. Popescu was on the lookout for a approach to incorporate health lessons into her bodily remedy enterprise. The 2 determined to companion up.
Studio Brava founder, Cristina Popescu, stretches on her B-Board. “I used to be drained after 10 minutes — and I’m energetic!” she stated.
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)
“I all the time felt we needed to carry to the group mindfulness and health and well being usually not simply rehabilitation,” Popescu stated. “I’m tremendous enthusiastic about B-Board as a result of it’s one thing new, and it entails quite a lot of proprioceptive mechanisms for steadiness. I attempted it and I used to be drained after 10 minutes — and I’m energetic!”
The B-Board is the newest entry in a bigger health pattern of bringing board sports activities on land and indoors. Brushboarding, which employs a wave-like ramp fabricated from spinning brushes on which contributors can simulate browsing, has been round for greater than a decade. However B-Boarding may be performed on any onerous floor and requires far much less gear.
Advantages of the B-Board Exercise, in keeping with Vandendriessche, embody its accessibility and suppleness. The board may be inflated to various levels of firmness, making it kind of wobbly and tough to steadiness on. Very like a Bosu ball, one facet of the board is flat, and the opposite is curved. When it’s positioned flat-side down, it’s extra secure and simpler to maneuver — higher for cautious first-timers. However in contrast to a spherical Bosu ball, customers can lay their total physique on the board’s floor, permitting for extra forms of high- or low-impact workout routines.
“So it’s for everybody, all ages, all health ranges,” Vandendriessche stated. “It’s particularly good for growing the stabilizing muscular tissues, the muscular tissues that defend you from falling down.”
Vandendriessche estimates that contributors can burn between 400 and 900 energy in a 45-minute class, based mostly on information from his Apple Watch and the health tracker Myzone.
It’s a “select your individual journey” sort of train. There’s a HIIT health model (“B-Board Increase”), a yoga model (“B-Board Breathe”) and a children model (“B-Board Bounce”). Lessons are $30 every. There are educational movies on-line for individuals who personal their very own B-Board, which prices $450 on-line. however Studio Brava is the one location in L.A. providing in-person lessons.
Maël Mayet’s remaining verdict on the B-Board Exercise? “Liked it. Very difficult. It’s good to work out exterior of my consolation zone.”
(Michael Blackshire / Los Angeles Occasions)
Again on Studio Brava’s patio, our class winds down with some yoga. After the down canines and youngster’s poses, we lie flat on our backs on the boards as Vandendriessche leads a gradual, guided meditation.
“Shut your eyes and picture we’re all collectively on the ocean,” he says, letting out a deep exhale. Now rock the boat, as in case you have been on the water.” Individuals’ our bodies loosen and wiggle barely, as their boards sway facet to facet.
It was surprisingly enjoyable. Even higher? Nobody obtained seasick.
