Make A Splash: Water Aerobics Can Help Get You Fit Quick

Kelly Gonzalez
Busy Bodies Health and Fitness
Date Published: 2/4/09

Make A Splash: Water Aerobics Can Help You Get Fit Quick

Freezing cold temperatures can make outdoor exercise uncomfortable and daunting. It becomes more difficult than ever to stick to a consistent exercise program during the winter. Unfortunately, this can lead to weight gain, and decreased health and energy.

The gym is always a good option during the winter, but after a few weeks, you may become bored with the standard cardio machines and free weights. If this is the case, it’s time to switch things up. Not only will a change in your exercise routine stimulate your mind, but it will also help you break through plateaus by working different muscles, and presenting new challenges to the body.

If you haven’t tried water aerobics or aqua exercise before, it’s definitely something to consider. Aqua exercise classes are the perfect winter activity, because it’s indoors, social, and can safely prepare you to spring back into action when the weather warms up.

There are different variations of water exercise. There’s water aerobics, which primarily gets your heart rate up and improves lung and heart function there’s aqua strength training classes that improve strength and muscle tone, and even basic aqua jogging, which can help running form and lessen the risk of injury.

The most popular form of aqua exercise is water aerobics. Most classes combine cardiovascular conditioning, strength training, and flexibility into an hour-long class. Water aerobics generally consists of jogging, kicking, jumping, and even plyometrics to boost fitness levels. The average person burns about 300-500 calories/hour depending on how intense the workload is.

Strength training equipment especially made for water aerobics is often used to perform basic strength training exercises such as bicep curls, military presses, squats, and tricep extensions. Muscle tone is increased and strength is gained, because water provides resistance from every direction. Water provides 12% more resistance than on land, but feels easier. You not only receive resistance from the concentric action of the muscle (when the muscle contracts), but also are challenged during the eccentric phase (lengthening of the muscle).

If you haven’t exercised in a while, and want to get back in shape safely, water aerobics is the perfect form of exercise. In water you only support 50% of your body weight, which makes exercise easier. The water provides cushioning. Water aerobics is ideal if you are elderly, overweight, pregnant, or recovering from an injury. It can help arthritis, back pain, soft tissue injury, and decreased mobility.

If you’re an avid runner, aqua jogging can be a great from of cross training. By performing the running motion in hip or chest level water, or even deep water you are working in slow motion, this forces you to focus on correct form and action. You can prevent over doing it, and excessive wear and tear on your body by taking a day off from pounding on the roads. The greatest thing is that you’re still getting the cardiovascular and neuromuscular benefits of running.

An indoor pool can be a great place to do plyometics, which can improve speed, strength, and endurance. By performing tuck jumps, alternating lunge jumps, and scissor jumps in the pool, you are recruiting fast twitch muscles, burning fat, and increasing your lactate threshold without the pressure on your joints, which can increase your risk of injury.

If the gym is a bore, exercising at home is unproductive, and facing the cold temperatures and wind chill is not even an option, look into signing up for a water aerobics class at an indoor swimming facility. It’s a fun way to burn calories, boost fitness, and meet new people.