Pool Shark: SUP Fitness at Anderson Aquatics

A few years ago, after taking a single lesson on a beautiful holiday weekend, I was inspired to take up paddleboarding, convinced it would be a great way to enjoy the ocean and work my core. It was only after I’d invested in a brand-new board and a secondhand wetsuit vest that I learned the waters from southern Santa Barbara County down to Baja are considered a great white shark nursery. I started seeing drone footage showing sharks swimming mere feet away from paddleboarders. Although I saw no reports of any juvenile sharks attacking people, I quickly lost my enthusiasm for paddleboarding. My board sat unused in the side yard until my dog, then still in her chewy puppy phase, destroyed it.

So, I was delighted when I got an invitation from Anderson Aquatics to try their new SUP (stand-up paddleboarding) fitness and yoga classes. When I’d first checked out Anderson’s pool-based fitness offerings, shortly after they opened in the old Diver’s Den location in the Funk Zone, these classes weren’t yet on the schedule. With summer upon us, it was the perfect time to head back to the 92-degree pool.

After I had admired the glow-up the facility had gotten since my last visit — fresh paint, a remodeled bathroom with curb-less shower, and new signage — the first order of business was getting onto a board. There were three of them anchored in the center of the deep end, attached at their front and back edges with clips to two ropes strung the length of the pool. From the pool deck, instructor Breanna Anderson, who owns Anderson Aquatics with her husband Travis, coached me and my classmates Sophia and Dora to approach the board from one of the long sides, then hoist ourselves onto it. It’s not an elegant process.

The floating fitness boards used for these classes are specifically designed for pool usage and also have a built-in yoga mat on the surface. Unlike an ocean-going paddleboard with tapered ends, the pool boards are wide and rectangular with rounded corners, providing extra stability. Honestly, I felt a bit more like Huck Finn rafting on the Mississippi than Duke Kahanamoku surfing the Pacific.

Breanna coached us on how to fall off the board (make yourself small, get low) and where (to the side, into the water, not onto the ropes anchoring the board). Then she had us start by just getting used to moving on the board. Standing and swaying from side to side wasn’t too hard, but turning around was another matter. I felt practically rooted to the board as I tried to do a 180 while maintaining the wide stance Breanna recommended.

As a warmup, we lay on our backs doing hip bridges, then Breanna led us through birddog pose, Russian twists, reverse tabletops, pushups, planks, and windmills to an energetic playlist that included Dua Lipa’s “Levitating,” Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams,” and One Republic’s “Counting Stars.”

Although all the exercises were familiar from land-based workouts, doing the moves while bobbing on the surface of the pool made them more difficult (I almost fell off the board doing calf raises). And despite the small class size, the movement of the other boards does create a wake that we all had to contend with. For an added stability challenge, Breanna distributed lightweight balls, which we wove between our legs and behind our backs as we knelt on alternating knees.

We slid off the boards to do some exercises in the water too — flutter-kicking and marching our legs and making cross-country skiing motions. There was upper-body work as well; arm pop-ups, which involved pressing our palms onto the surface of the board and lifting ourselves out of the water, left me winded.

Breanna also incorporated some playful elements that reminded me of being in the pool at summer camp. We tossed lightweight medicine balls to each other and made gigantic splashes by lying on our stomachs on the board and kicking with pointed toes, which was a good hamstring workout. In later classes, Breanna worked pool noodles into the routine. 

For the cool-down, we moved through several yoga poses: reclining pigeon, cobbler, down dog. While we were on our backs, hugging our knees to our chests, Breanna encouraged us to rock from side to side. I joked, “Aren’t we doing that already?” It was only when I climbed out of the pool that I realized how tired I was from the 45-minute workout. 

Over the course of four classes, though, I felt myself getting stronger and more comfortable on the board, managing to stay on for the most part. Turning around got easier, although I never tried Breanna’s (facetious?) suggestion to do a 180-degree jump. Arm pop-ups were still challenging but didn’t leave my deltoids sore for two days as they had after the first class. And it was a personal triumph when, in the fourth class, I was able to rise from a kneeling position into a crescent lunge — in the first class, I’d barely budged.

For the SUP-style yoga class I took, Breanna focused more on flexibility and less on strength. While the SUP fitness class incorporated many yoga poses, the yoga class didn’t include any pool-based exercises — we stayed on our boards as we moved through sun salutations and warrior series. That’s why Breanna says the SUP yoga will likely be a seasonal offering; being wet on the board for 45 minutes was fine for a sunny summer evening, but in the winter it may get too cold. The SUP fitness classes, with their mix of time on the board and in the warm water, are now on the regular schedule at Anderson Aquatics. And not a shark in sight.

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Located at 22 Anacapa Street. Classes, personal training, body work, and open pool available. Reserve a spot in a class using a mobile app. For SUP classes, you need basic swimming skills, enough upper body strength to pull yourself onto the board in deep water, and the ability to tolerate kneeling. Cubbies provided for storing personal items. Bathrooms and two separate shower rooms. Parking on the street and in the adjacent Garden Street lot. Buoyancy belts, pool noodles, and other equipment provided. See anderson-aquatics.com.