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Everyone is outdoors enjoying the pool in one way or the other. Perhaps your community pool offers water aerobics. If not, here is one of the many water aerobics routines you can try on your own. I compare this water aerobics routine to deep water running workouts that are offered at some gyms. The only tool you will need is a noodle. Deep water running requires a specific belt around your waist.
- Sit on the noodle like it is a horse.
- Take your feet off the floor and suspend your legs, or go to the deeper end of the pool (feet still off the floor).
- Get used to being suspended and move your legs like a bicycle.
- You can use your hands if you want, and see if you can travel forward.
- Go ahead and try different water aerobics moves on your noodle, like a cross country ski or jumping jacks. Get the full extension of your muscles, by really stretching out your limbs.
- You can vary your speed to increase your heart rate.
- Bring your arms out to the side and do arm circles and different moves with the arms in the water to keep the heart rate in your targeted zone.
- Perhaps you want to just use the arms to travel forward.
- Or just use one leg to travel forward.
These types of suspended water aerobics routines are very joint friendly, fun and can be very intense. Perhaps, you could practice this routine during adult swim. Give it a try!
Since the weather is warmer and it’s almost officially summer, I thought I would talk to you about water aerobics. Water aerobics is a great way to get a cardiovascular workout. Some community pools may offer water aerobics classes during the summer months. If they do go for it!
There is deep water aerobics, where you usually wear a belt around your waist, some weights around your ankles, and suspend in the deep water while exercising. This is a fabulous workout, because there is no stress on any of your joints and can be done by everyone.
There is regular water aerobics, where you are in more shallow water, feet on the pool floor. The proper depth is usually gauged, between the navel and the nipple. Anything higher than the nipple there is too much flotation, and anything lower than the navel there is too much stress on the joints.
There are noodles, dumbbells, kick boards and yes, there can even be Step Water
Aerobics. All of these devices can elevate the heart rate, and keep it in your targeted heart rate zone, plus it’s a great way to tone your muscles.
So go ahead and give water aerobics a try, now is the perfect time!!
One of my favorite water aerobics routines is the one dumbbell routine. I like to use the 1 dumbbell (DB) routine because it forces you to work that arm harder and to get the full range of motion. A couple things to be mindful about is to do the same exact workout with the opposite arm. That should seem obvious.
You can use the 1 DB with both hands when you are transitioning the DB to the other hand. During this transition phase you can do some froggers, or jumping jacks pushing the DB down or out. You could incorporate any of your other exercises in the phase of transition.
You can add another twist to your water aerobics routines by using the noodle in 1 hand. The noodle will give you more resistance than the one DB, because you are displacing more water. You can transition the noodle in front of you doing whatever intermediate exercise you want, then moving the noodle to the opposite hand.
Do let me know how this works for you at my email address: www.suism@aol.com
There is so much information out there on different types of water aerobics routines, I thought I’d add yet another one to your list. Every now and then I like to do a 1 dumbbell water aerobics routine. Yes, using only one dumbbell gives each arm a very thorough workout.
What’s nice about this workout is that you are concentrating harder on the arm with the dumbbell. Therefore, you get a greater range of motion when you move the arm. I like to do 3 different exercises with one arm before I switch arms and repeat the same 3 exercises. It’s fun too, because when you are transitioning from one arm to another, you can kick up the cardio a notch. This can be done including some power jacks. Put both hands on the dumbbell and push the dumbbell down as you kick your legs out to the side. During this transition you can also include some travelling.
By alternating the dumbbell from arm to arm and doing the same repetitions and exercises on each side, your upper body workout is complete. Switch up the transitioning and be sure to give each arm adequate rest. Try to add this to your list of water aerobics routines and see how you like it! It sure changes things up and gets everybody working!
I like to change up my water aerobics routines frequently. Right now, what I am working on for my classes is offering water aerobics boot camp. I have done these boot camps before and it is great fun! It challenges your body in the water in a new way, while still getting an intense workout!
Depending on how many participants you have in class, they can actually get through all the stations provided. I alternate stations with cardio and toning. All the stations are timed. Each station is something different. I encourage participants to listen to their bodies. I try to push them and keep them motivated so they get a great workout.
Like many water aerobics routines, we warm up together for about 5-7 minutes. We also cool down and stretch out together at the end. I try to keep the class to 1 hour. There is continuous upbeat music playing! I’m floating around help participants if they forget what to do at each station. There are pictures and notes on the edge of the pool. Plus, I explain each station quickly before we begin.
This is a departure from the usual water aerobics routines, but everyone has lots of fun!
A really good cardiovascular workout to try is water aerobics!! OK, now listen to me, NOBODY CARES WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE IN A BATHING SUIT!!! Believe it or not, everyone justs wants a good workout. I have been a water aerobics advocate for several years.
Last night, I was talking with family members about the benefits of water aerobics, and like you “they don’t want anybody seeing them in a bathing suit.” Read My Lips, NOBODY CARES!!! So get over that fear and get your tools/toys, like aqua dumbbells and noodles and get moving in the pool. Using these tools can intensify your workout even more. May I also suggest webbed gloves. They can really strengthen your and tone your arms.
Tomorrow, I’ll present to you water aerobics exercises.
Water Aerobics Routine
Last night in class, we had fun with a “Whirlpool” water aerobics routine. By creating a whirlpool with the participants in class you get plenty of resistance. You can use all the different kinds of exercises in a circle creating this whirlpool. As a resting period have the members face the center of the circle while executing an exercise. This creates a more social environment for the class too.
This is an example of a whirlpool water aerobics routine that can work for you. We started out with a basic jog forward and backward the length of the pool. After feeling the resistance as you change directions, I wanted to create more resistance for the class. We all got in a circle. If the class size is large, make 2 separate circles. I’m just using 1 circle for this explanation. When the circle was formed, we started jogging in a clockwise 
manner. Wrists were flexed pushing the water away from you. When there was good movement in the water, we jogged backward in counter clockwise motion but still facing forward. The hand position was open fingers, palms in the water pulling the water behind you. Keep alternating directions in your circle. You could add in a variation to this water aerobics routine, by turning your body around and jog forward in the circle, but counter clockwise.
Then have the participants face the center of the circle and Cross Country Ski toward the middle, with the palms facing up toward the ceiling. Travel back with your ski and with fingers open, palms facing away and behind you pulling the water back.
You could also add in a Rocking Horse toward the center of the circle and switch legs as you travel back from the circle. Switch legs and Rocking Horse clockwise in the circle, switching legs and Rocking Horse in the other direction.
After doing this water aerobics routine for about 20-30 minutes, our heart rates were up and we had fun! Believe me with the whirlpool movement, there is plenty of resistance and an excellent cardio workout!
Come on in and Exercise, the Water’s Fine
As we age, it becomes more important than ever to keep our muscles strong and our reflexes sharp. Muscle tissue can deteriorate and atrophy with disuse, so there’s no excuse not to get out and be active. For many older Americans, lack of exercise has more to do with an ignorance of one’s options than anything else. More and more people are taking up water aerobics routines to stay fit and healthy later in life.
The human body is virtually weightless in water, which means that exercises performed in the water are low-impact with a decreased risk of injury. Since water provides a natural resistance against arms and legs, it’s possible to tone parts of the body without the use of free weights. Exercising in water is not just good for muscles, however. It can also benefit those people suffering from joint pain such as arthritis.