Get Out of the Heat and into a Pool (Part 3)

@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)

Abs & Back
Tie your water noodle in a knot for these exercises.

Lateral Flexion

1. Start in a standing position with the right arm abducted at a 45 degree angle and your water noodle in your hand.


2. Keep the right shoulder joint still and then flex the spine laterally, bending to sideways to your right.


3. Repeat for one minute and then work your other side.

Forward Flexion

1. Start in a standing position with the arms held out in front of you at a 45 degree angle, and your water noodle held in your hands.


2. Keep the shoulder joints still and then forward flex the spine, rounding your back as though you are trying to bring the two ends of your spine together.
3. Repeat for one minute.

Here is some additional information to help you maintain and improve upon your water workouts.

• Try adding up-beat fun music between 130-145 beats per minute to your workouts.


• Have a fun and explore new movement in the water.


• Play like you did when you were a kid so you don’t get burnt out or bored.


• It is great exercise to swim like a mermaid and jump like a dolphin.