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A few weeks ago I blogged a bit about water aerobics exercises. I ended that blog mentioning there are tools you can use in the water to make your workouts a little more strenuous. Today, I’m introducing you to the noodle.
I teach shallow water aerobics. What I have been doing to change up my aqua classes is using the noodle as a flotation device. I have participants sit on the noodle like it is a horse and take their feet off the floor. The usual water aerobics exercises like cross country ski, jumping jax, and jogging can all be done on the noodle while still achieving the cardiovascular benefits. For instance, after we go through some warm up exercises we will start working into some cardio specific work, like fast jogs using arms and legs for 15 seconds. Or we jog forward and backward with out using our hands. This works great because your legs do all the work.
Another option is doing jax with your legs. Extend your arms out to the side, keeping them in the water, and doing fast arm circles forward and backward for 20 seconds with recover in the middle.
Then another round of fast arm circles forward and backward. I incorporate cardio intensive upper body only or lower body only exercises in intervals. These intervals are all done suspended sitting on the noodle.
I encourage participants to engage their abdominals while performing these water aerobics exercises. I can always tell who doesn’t keep their tummy tight as they tend to move around in the pool.
I’ll throw in some active abdominal work, arm work and leg work as a period of recovery before we jump back into the higher intensity cardio moves. These water aerobics exercises done suspended on the noodle is great for all levels. The best benefit for using a noodle routine is that it is very joint friendly and simulates a deep water aerobics class in a shallow pool.