Misconceptions About Aqua fit

When people ask me where I work and I tell them that I teach AquaFit at our local pool I almost always get the same response.  "What's AquaFit?"  You would think that after being asked the same question countless times over I would be accustomed to it.  You would think, but that question always takes me by surprise.  It is in the name Aqua = water, Fit = fit, fitness.  Many people think about the old water aerobics classes of yester-year.  Old grannies in flowered swim caps gabbing away while the instructor pumps out the same tired, old routine.  I found the following statement on Wikipedia in a brief description of "Water Aerobics" under the title of "Disadvantages".


 "Although aquatic exercise greatly reduces the risk of injury, not as many calories are burned as would be in some other activities.^[4] Though aquatic activities in general expend more energy than many land-based activities performed at the same pace due to the increased resistance of water, the speed with which movements can be performed is greatly reduced.^[2]"

Lets break this statement down shall we.  Aquatic exercise does reduce the risk of injury as buoyancy assists any upward movements and decreases impact on the joints.  Buoyancy however also resists any downward movements - resistance exercise.  You can use the buoyancy of the water to protect your joints at the same time as performing resistance exercises.  Explosive movements such as plyometrics are more difficult in the water as suddenly an upward movement (such as a jump and tuck) is made much more difficult with the added resistance of the water.  When you jump and tuck on land you have gravity pulling you down making it tough.  When you do the same thing in the water you are driving your body up faster than buoyancy so you are pushing against the drag of the water.  If you parallel the intensity of a land workout in your aquatic workout, the benefits will also be paralelled.  On average resistance in the water is 12 to 15 times greater than resistance with a land move (with out equipment).  The temperature of your environment can change your body's response to exercise.  When you submerge yourself in water that is cooler than your body temperature your body needs to generate energy to maintan the core body temp.  So just standing in cool water burns more calories than standing in an exercise studio.  When you go from standing to a workout of intensity paralelled to that of a land workout you are now burning more calories than you would on land.  The Wikipedia explanation also mentions a reduced speed.  Unless you are being chased or need to stay at a particular speed to avoid exploding why is this an issue?  (Although if you are being chased, at some point your pursuer would also have to enter the water effectively slowing him/her down as well and evening the playing field.) Your moves are slower because they are against greater resistance than they are in air so your muscles are working harder to try and maintain a level of speed therefore increasing intensity.  The only small bit of truth to that statement is in what happens after a workout.  Following a land workout, you can continue burning calories for hours as your body works to cool down.  In an aquatic workout, the water has a cooling effect as mentioned above so you don't heat up as much as you would on land and your body doesn't have to work as hard post workout.

There are many different options available for aquatic fitness classes.  I am currently teaching a shallow water class for seniors with different levels of intensity depending on their fitness level.  I also teach a couple deep water classes where I vary the intensity with each class sometimes doing a relatively simple class and sometimes amping it up to a bootcamp level depending on the participants who are there that day.  If you go to a variety of classes or find a good instructor who likes to mix things up, you will never get bored.  As with any type of exercise I wouldn't recommend doing AquaFit as your only form of activity.  You should have a good variety to prevent boredom and keep surprising your muscles.  The one thing that you can't really get from an aquatic workout is a load bearing workout to build bone density as much of the load is taken off of you due to buoyancy. 

When you think about the benefits of an aquatic workout, they far outweigh the negatives.  Hydrostatic pressure assists the heart allowing a lower training heart rate with the same cardiovascular and metabolic training advantages as on land.  It increases blood flow and displaces bodily fluids decreasing swelling.  The turbulence of water has a massaging effect on the body further increasing blood flow to the working muscles and can cause instability, effectively working your core and improving balance.  Being submerged in the water has a calming effect.  Activities such as front and back crawl have a meditative quality, strengthening the mind, body connection and relaxing the mind.  Because of the cool, soothing environment, you leave your workout feeling refreshed and not drained.

So the next time a friend asks if you want to go to the pool with them and try out the AquaFit class, give it a go.  You might surprise yourself, it's a lot more challenging than you think.

Note:  I recently had 2 men from my evening aquafit classes approach me to thank me for helping them.  They started taking the classes 8 weeks ago and by participating in 1 class/day, 6 days/week one of them has lost 18 lbs, the other has lost 14 lbs.  They admitted that while they are more aware of what they are eating, they haven't made any huge changes to their diets.  What a great testament to aquafit!  I only wish we had before and after pics.  Eventually as with any form of exercise, their bodies will become accustomed to the workouts and they will have to change their diets and add in some other forms of exercise to continue to see results but they plan to continue with aquafit.