How Good Is The Water Exercise?
An aerobic water exercise of around 30 minutes will help you burn about 300 calories.
Most classes will run for around 45 minutes and should include a warm-up, cool-down and stretching exercises.
The main benefits of this type of exercise are: Great for all fitness levels; Good for weight loss / fat burning; Builds strength and flexibility; Excellent cardio-respiratory exercise.
Aqua exercise: resistance/strengthening classes aimed at improving tone, strength and mobility.
The main advantage of exercising in water is that it offers resistance in all directions, compared to land exercises where you work only against gravity.
Because of the cushioning effect that water provides, this form of exercise is particularly beneficial to anyone at risk from bodily stress, including the elderly, overweight, or those recovering from soft tissue injury.
It’s also particularly good for pregnant women and is an ideal post-natal exercise.
If you don’t have classes in your area, a simple way of incorporating water exercise into your regular fitness regime is simply walking, jogging or running in water.
This exercise is great for toning legs and strengthening your hips, as well as increasing cardio-respiratory fitness levels.
Bend your knees and squat as low as you can comfortably manage, using the side of the pool to steady your balance if necessary (but don’t use it to support your weight or you’ll lose the effect of the exercise).
Exercising in water requires you to support only 50% of your body weight, making exercises easier to perform. Water’s buoyancy lowers the risk of stress-related injuries that some land exercises have. The water’s resistance against your movements results in a higher workout intensity compared to land exercises.
You’ll come out of the water looking fresher and smelling nicer than many other exercise classes: no sweat, and no wet hair.
Water exercise is commonly advocated for people with the following conditions: Arthritis, Back pain, Joint problems, MSSoft-tissue injury, Cardiac patients, Obesity. If you suffer from any of these conditions, however, you should speak to your doctor before undertaking any exercise regime.
