( 
)I'm writing this in response to all of the emails I get with this very question, just in varying forms, almost always from women: "I am in poor shape, I never used to be but I'd like to lose about 30 lbs. Water aerobics looks like something I'd like to do. Can you get me started? How does it work? How do you choose the right jogger? What are the gloves for?" That is another topic that I'll write about after this. Aqua joggers, webbed gloves, funny looking Xcuffs and other toys we play with to get our workout, What is it all about?
Water Aerobics is the fastest growing fitness regime among the Baby Boomers today. I read an article about this in AARP some time back, that this generation will be looking for exercise alternatives as we develop arthritis and various joint replacements and issues. It is really an old sport, originally designed for athletes, competitive runners who had become injured. In order to maintain their conditioning, their coaches put them in the pool to run. There they can maintain their aerobic conditioning, with no impact and whatever injury they had was not negatively affected. Demi Moore made water aerobics popular when she used it to get her gorgeous body back after 4 pregnancies. Now we can take from all of this and design your our own workout, and that's what I do for a living, teach people to "turn their pools into home gyms". I happen to live in an area, S. W. Florida, where residential pools are common place
Water aerobics is simply using the water to train aerobically, like running. The deep end, shallow end, it doesn't matter, exercising in the water is advantageous in so many ways, I'll list just a few of the most common:
-Athletes who want a Cross Training option
-Injured individuals who want to maintain their cardio strength and cannot tolerate any kind of impact
-Pregnant Women
-Obese Individuals who want to start an exercise program
-Fibromyalgia, Arthritic, a multitude of illnesses that involve total body pain, restricting the ability to exercise "normally"
-Rehabilitation from just about anything
-Athletes who want to perfect a stroke or sport ie baseball batting, tennis serving, volleyball. If a stroke can be perfected in the water, slow motion using the resistance of the water, when you take the athlete out of the water in thin air, the result is a faster more powerful stroke. The same goes with jumping (volleyball), running, etc. If you can do it in the water, it is so much easier in thin air. Runners run faster, jumpers jump higher, you get the picture.
Water is such a gentle medium, it is also like getting a massage while you work. Not that you feel fingers massaging your body, but the buoyant forces of the water assist with blood flow. Flexibility is enhanced so that your range of motion is greater under water than in air. If you are just trying to limber up, doing it in the water gets far greater results than standing and stretching on land. Again, the buoyant forces of the water assist in increasing your range of motion, assisting in the stretch. Flexibility is one of the first things to go as we age, but it can be reversed and increased, similar to weight training. With practice (Yoga people talk of "practicing" Yoga, not "doing" it). Do you "practice yoga?" The term is important, it implies growth, persistence and increase in flexibility over time. Just like weight lifting as you increase the weight your body adapts and becomes stronger, Flexibility is the same, with "practice", and the water assists.
DOMS, which stands for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, that's the kind of soreness you feel when you do something new that is strenuous and is a result of lactic acid build up, when you wake up in the morning and feel sore within the muscle. This you will not feel with water aerobics, again, because the force of the water helps push the lactic acid around eliminating this almost completely. I can make myself sore if I really try, and I could make you sore if I really pushed, but the goal is to be gentle enough so that you don't feel this at all.
The impact to your joints can be no impact, to mild impact. That is the difference between working out in the deep end with a flotation belt, or in the shallow end, with or without a flotation belt (low impact).
The following is some information I've found to be helpful for my customers who are not familiar with aquatic fitness. If you're a runner with an injury, suffering from arthritis, any joint pain, obese, pregnant, a bored athlete, or just love the water, this is a great option for you! You can visit my web site to see workout plans to be conducted in the water at
http://web.mac.com/sarasaquaticfitness
You need to copy and paste this address in your menu bar to get there.
Click Here to Find Instructional Water Aerobics Workout CDs
My eBay id is sarasaquatics, which really is short for my business name, Sara's Aquatic Fitness and Swimming Instruction. I am a certified personal trainer, water fitness instructor, spent my youth on a swim team, years as on a synchronized swim team, am an avid step aerobics fanatic, weight lifter, and I pulled from all of these experiences to coordinate a one hour class using the Aqua Jogger as the basis. If you are familiar with circuit training, where you move from one weight lifting exercise to another, maintaining your heart in your "aerobic fat burning zone", my workout follows the same concept. This is what I teach to my clients in my area. A typical work day for me is to show up at a home with kids, do a couple of swimming lessons, then work with "mom" in the pool as a personal trainer. I sell all the equipment you would need, and then I heard the same comment so many times, I came up with my solution which is this: "Sara this is wonderful but there is no way I'll remember all of this!" So I started making CD's for my individual clients for them to play and remind them of the workout we'd just developed. Now I am committed to making 6 instructional CD's, and have completed the first one which can be found here:
My typical "uniform" for anyone who wants to start exercising in the water is the following:
-A flotation belt to hold you vertical in the water, like an Aqua Jogger
-Webbed gloves to act as weights in the water, providing resistance to the muscles in the upper body with every move you make
-Footwear, varying in resistance based on your fitness level. A closed toe water shoe would be the easiest, add a pair of X Cuffs to make it harder, then a pair of Runners instead of shoes would be the maximum resistance on your feet which will transform the shape of your legs and butt.
You might want to add a few additional water toys as you go to make it more interesting and increase the difficulty as you get stronger, like Delta Bells, which are like dumb bells made of foam. Use these to create greater arm strength. A noodle can be used for a multitude of things and is a super cheap addition to your collection.
All of these items can be found at my eBay Store
Deep water running is an awesome experience for someone who has been limited in movement for a variety of reasons. I do not encourage the purchase of a "kit" where you get all of the equipment in one box. The "joggers" in these kits are generic one size fits all, and the "economically" inferior jogger. Additionally, the dumb bells that come with these kits are not to be used all of the time, I use them for about 10 minutes out of a 45 minute class. You get a lot more bang for your buck using webbed gloves for arm exercises, and I have read too many articles on shoulder injuries from chronic use of these aqua dumb bells (I am also a member of the American Aquatic Association and read their journal religiously). With the use of gloves, you are mimicking free weights in a gym, except of course you are in the water.
This is incomplete.
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