Exercise In Water Doesn’t Have To Be Swimming
If you are looking to change things up with your workout routine, then you should exercise in water right now.
I’m not talking about swimming. Everybody knows swimming is amazing. I’m going to get into swimming another time. In the meantime, if you don’t know how to swim, grab some lessons.
Seriously, don’t you want to go on a boat? You can’t go on a boat if you can’t swim. You’re thinking, “I’ll go on a big boat. Like they use for a cruise. Then I won’t have to know how to swim.”
Wrong. Those big boats have problems too. You might have to jump overboard. You figure that lifejacket will take care of you. Right?
Well, it might keep your head above water but what if there’s a current? You want to be able to keep yourself where people can find you. A current can sweep you out to where a family of jellyfish will be waiting for you. Then they adopt you as part of their family but you can never hug them because jellyfish sting.
Trust me. Learn to swim.
Exercise In Water Changes Up The Routine
So before I go into swimming (it is awesome), I just wanted to focus for a bit on why you should exercise in water. There are so many great things about it before you even get to swimming.
As I alluded to at the beginning, if you’re getting bored with your current workout, jumping in the water is a great way to change things up. Sometimes, the best time to exercise is when you’re in the water.
Photo by Dana Tentis from Pexels
I’m not saying you should try all the exercises you currently do in the water. Push ups in a pool are tough. Same with the plank. Tough because it will be hard to derive any benefit with the buoyancy helping you out. The water will take away most of the challenge. Also, you have to hold your breath for a crazy long time.
There are some exercises that become more of a physical fitness challenge in the water. High knees come to mind. Doing the standard high knees is a great exercise. Jump in the water and you get an extra challenge.
The benefit comes from the resistance that water provides for you. Being in a pool or lake or really big sink full of water means that you’ll experience resistance throughout the full range of motion. You can be working on opposing muscle groups at the same time in water. On land it is one muscle group at a time generally in one direction.
Consequently, the resistance combined with the movements, should result in stronger muscles and overall improved fitness. It’s also a great way to burn calories. Not to mention you feel like you’re flying.
It’s Like Weight Training But Different
The water replaces the weights. So it feels more comfortable and you’ll be able to build up more stamina without feeling so worn out. This is one of the benefits of the buoyancy.
Try doing high knees , knee tuck jumps or lunges across the length of a pool where you can walk along the bottom. You’ll feel it immediately.
Working out on land you can use gravity to your advantage to improve your physical fitness and focus on balance and coordination at the same time.
By jumping into the water you can change your focus to flexibility and exploring movement.
Tons Of Benefits (According To Important People)
Studies show exercise in water improves knee and hip flexibility for patients suffering with osteoarthritis.
Exercising in the water is great for bone health and improving bone density. The buoyancy of the water helps to support your entire body.
It’s great for lowering blood pressure and releases endorphins that lower stress levels. And lowering stress levels is a good exercise habit to strive for.
What I always enjoyed is how there is very little stress on my joints. In a strange way, it feels like exercising while relaxing. That’s getting a little closer to swimming. But it rarely feels like work.
Instead of a good sweat, exercising in water always feels like a good cardio workout that lets me feel cool at the same time. One of the things I never really enjoyed about any kind of workout is getting too hot. A pool is great for preventing that.
Good For Training And Whatever Ails You
Just simply running or walking in water is great exercise. As it turns out, it’s also great if you want to stay active and are rehabilitating from injuries.
Dr. Naresh Rao who was the Olympic Team USA water polo physician for the 2016 summer games, prescribes water therapy for knee issues and low back issues.
So it looks like exercising in water is great for physical conditioning and recovering from injuries. Not to mention you can always just float around when you run out of steam. See, that’s another reason you should learn to swim. Floating around is awesome.
There you have it. My introduction as to why you should exercise in water right now. So go outside and jump in a lake. Ask a neighbour politely to use their pool. You’ll probably like it.
I don’t get to jump in a pool or lake as often as I’d like to because they’re usually frozen. But when I do, it’s always enjoyable and sometimes… I might even workout too.
