Aerobic Exercise in Water: 4 Exercises You Should Try Today
Practicing water aerobics is a fun way to do your cardio workouts while staying as low-impact as you can. These workouts are fantastic for anyone at any fitness level and are especially helpful for those with painful joints and muscles, or even an injury. The water makes it so that your workout almost has no impact at all. So, let’s all learn more about aerobic exercises in the water.
What Are Aerobic Exercises?
Simply put, the term aerobic means that you use oxygen. So, you can complete them in the pool or ocean. There are water aerobic classes and exercises that you can do the next time you come to the gym. We want to help you build a routine and give you a great starting point for your pool exercise.
Water Aerobics Routine
There are tons of ways that you can exercise in water. Here are just a few water aerobic exercise examples to help you put together a fun, calorie-burning workout.
Push-ups
All of the oomph, with less impact. Give water push-ups a try to tone your arms, back, and chest. They are easy to do and will have you feeling stronger in no time.
- Stand near the side of the pool with your hands on the edge about shoulder distance apart
- Take a step back until your arms are straight out (but not locked) in front of you
- Bend your arms forward and lean towards the wall until your elbows are at about 90 degrees, and then slowly push yourself back
- Repeat until exhaustion
Squats
Squats can be hard on the knees and incredibly difficult for some of us to do. With the added buoyancy of the water, you can get all of the health benefits without as much of a risk of injury.
- Stand in shallow water with your feet hip-width apart
- With a straight back, bend your knees until you reach a 90-degree angle (or until water starts to go above your shoulders)
- Slowly go back to start
- Repeat until exhaustion
Jogging
When you think of jogging, you may not be imagining dipping into the pool to finish your run, but you can. Jogging in place in the swimming pool is an excellent way to do aerobic exercise in water.
- Head to the shallow end of the pool with a pool noodle
- Hold the pool noodle in towards your chest and begin to jog in place
- Once you are comfortable, begin to push the noodle forward, and pull it back to your chest as you jog (this will work your arms too)
- Repeat until exhaustion
Weighted Lunges
Pool weights are great tools that you can use to replicate movements in the gym, and even some that you can’t do with weights like tricep dips. One water aerobic exercise is weighted lunges.
- In shallow water, hold your water dumbbells in each hand
- With your legs about hip-width apart, step your right foot forward until your knee is at about 90 degrees
- As you are stepping forward with your right foot, push your pool weight forward with your left arm
- Now do that again on the opposite side
- Repeat until exhaustion
Equipment you can use:
Your Body
As with most exercises, your body is all you need to get a great workout in the pool. Whether you are swimming laps or completing bodyweight workouts like the examples we listed earlier, you don’t need anything but your body and a swimsuit to get a great workout and build your water aerobics workout routine.
Weights
The look of your aerobic water weights will vary, but weights used in the pool are typically larger than dumbbells found on the gym floor and made of foam or foam-like material. They feel light in weight, but with the resistance, the weights create in the water, they are sure to give you an excellent low-impact exercise.
Noodles
Holding onto a pool noodle might take you back to your childhood when you would lounge around with your friends and fight over which color was best. But, these noodles are one of the best tools you can use in the pool. They are especially helpful for practicing swimming strokes, helping you to stay up as you learn proper form. You can also use the noodle to help with stabilization and various other water exercises that require resistance—some which we’ve listed above.
With these aerobic exercises that you can do in the pool, we hope you have enough tools to finish a great workout. If you would like to join in on one of our incredible group exercise classes in the pool, check your class schedule and come join in on the fun.
Want to swim at a Chuze near you? Check out our gyms with pools below!
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Garden Grove, Rancho Cucamonga, Corona, Anaheim, Cudahy, San Bernardino
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