Get Out of the Heat and into a Pool (Part 1)

@RedMountainSpa
By Kim Watters, Fitness Manager

Add some splash to your workouts! Water exercises can be fun and the pool offers a warm and supportive environment, yet allows you to challenge yourself. The pool’s buoyancy reduces about 75% of your body weight, taking the pressure off your joints, which makes it more enjoyable to bounce and splash around. At the same time, the environment of the pool forces you to push up to 12 times the resistance of air when moving in the water. The mere motion of walking frontward and backward in the pool forces you to use your core muscles, thus, making it a great environment to increase strength in your posture muscles. You are able to get a great workout with out breaking a sweat because of the coolness of the water.

Get out of the heat and into a pool with these fun and effective exercises:

Cardio with Flotation (1-5 minutes each exercise)

Bicycle (hamstrings, quadriceps and gluteus)
Using a flotation belt or a water noodle place between the legs, move your legs as though you were pedaling a bicycle. Completely straighten your leg into a vertical line. If you are in shallow water straighten the leg in front of you as though you were riding a recumbent bicycle. Use an arm pattern that moves the body forward (Breast stroke or one arm at a time.)
*Variation: Bicycle on your side. The entire body should be in a horizontal line. This will make your body travel in a circle.

Frog Kicks (inner thighs)
Stay in a seated position using a flotation belt or a water noodle held behind your back just below the shoulder blades.

1. Tuck your knees into your chest.


2. Open your legs into a straddle.


3. Close your straight legs with power. This will make your body move backward in the water.

Reverse Frog Kick (outer thighs and hips)
Stay in a seated position using a flotation belt or a water noodle held behind your back just below the shoulder blades.

1. Start with straight legs out in front of your body.


2. Open your legs into a straddle with power.


3. Tuck your knees into your chest. This will make your body move forward in the water.

Side-to-Side Tucks (abdominals and obliques)
Use a flotation belt or a water noodle held in your hands in front of the body.

1. Start with your body in a horizontal line (on your ribcage), arms to the right and legs to the left.


2. Tuck your knees to the chest and then push them to the right.


3. At the same time of the tuck push your arms/water noodle to the left. Try one noodle in each hand in addition to the flotation belt is for added stability.

Check back tomorrow for more pool exercises.