5 Best Exercises to Prepare for River Rafting

If you’re an outdoor person, chances are you’ve been rafting through a river. Widely picked up as an adventure sport and for thrills, river rafting is an exciting, somewhat dangerous, but invigorating sport. It involves rowing a large inflatable raft through rough waters. It's often performed as a race against other teams.

As exciting as it sounds, if you’ve ever gone rafting, you should know it’s no breeze through a stream. Although white water is great at pushing you fast, rafting requires lots of energy and strength to perform. It’s always a good idea to train your muscles for this sport if you have a race coming up.

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Best Exercises for River Rafting

Here are five of the best exercises to prepare your body to raft through those torrents. These exercises can help you strengthen various muscles in the body for better strength and stability while rafting. Let's get started:

#1 Bent-over Rows

Here's how they're done:

• Hold a dumbbell in either hand. Hinge forward at your hips while maintaining a slight bend in your knees. Allow the dumbbells to hang straight below your shoulders.
• Row the dumbbells upward by pulling your elbows back, bringing the dumbbells just below your chest.
• Extend your arms down again to return to the starting position.
• Perform 12 to 15 reps on each arm.

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#2 Dumbbell Chest Press

It's done as follows:

• Lay on a flat bench with a dumbbell in either hand. Bring them up to the sides of your chest with your elbows pointing outward.
• Push the dumbbells up into the air right above your chest, straightening your arms fully.
• Bring the dumbbells back down beside your chest.
• Perform 12 to 15 reps on each arm.

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#3 Reverse Lunge

Here's how it's done:

• Stand straight with your feet together.
• Take a step back with your right leg, and drive that knee towards the floor.
• Raise yourself back up by pushing up from your left leg, and bring the right leg back to the starting position beside the left leg.
• Perform 12 to 15 reps on each leg.

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#4 Russian Twist

It's done as follows:

• Sit down on the floor, and bend your legs in front of you, pointing your knees to the ceiling.
• Lean your supper body back slightly, and maintain a crunch in your core.
• Twist your upper body to the left, rotating your shoulders as well, and then to the right.
• Repeat this move, alternating sides, for 12 to 15 reps on each side.

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#5 Bicycle Crunch

It's done as follows:

• Lay down on the floor on your back, Bring your hands to the sides of your head, and point your elbows out.
• Bring your right knee in toward your chest, and raise your left elbow off the ground, twisting your body to make your elbow and knee meet.
• Straighten out your right leg while bringing your left knee in, twisting your upper body the other way so that your right elbow meets the left knee.
• Repeat this move, alternating sides, for 12 to 15 reps on each side.

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Takeaway

Add the aforementioned exercises to your routine three to four times a week to get the best results and to absolutely kill your day out rafting. Make sure to also carry all your safety gear; eat your meals on time, and stay hydrated throughout. Best of luck.