THE FAT BLOCKER EXERCISE PROGRAM: POOL EXERCISES
Exercising in the water has become quite popular in recent years with those who have joint pain, injuries, trouble keeping their balance, or who just plain love being in the water. The water provides resistance so your muscles have to work, but being in the pool eliminates the gravitational stress of exercising on land. Thus, your joints take less of a beating. And just about any kind of exercise can be done in the water: aerobic, strengthening, and/or stretching.
Don’t shy away from water exercises if you aren’t an expert swimmer or if you have trouble treading water for long periods of time. Most exercises can be done in the shallow end of the pool or with the use of a flotation device. And the benefits can be tremendous. Pool exercise:
♦ Provides a form of exercise for those who have joint problems or weak muscles and might
otherwise shun activity.
♦ Supports the body during exercise, reducing the possibility of muscle strain or wear and
tear on the joints.
♦ Generally has the heart beating at a lower rate than it would while exercising on land, so
greater amounts of activity can be tolerated at a higher intensity.
♦ Can often be continued even when the exerciser has been injured. (Injured runners often
train by “running” in the water while their injuries heal.)
♦ Can help to relax muscles and ease pain.
♦ Reduces the possibility of overheating (because the water is usually cool).
Most of the exercises that you might do in aerobics class can be modified for use in the pool. An especially effective, calorie burning exercise is water walking, or striding through thigh-deep or deeper water. The deeper the water, the better the workout because it takes more effort. And if you swing your arms, you’re also working out your upper body. Try it in different directions—backwards, forwards, sideways, and diagonally. Remember that the need for the warm-up and cool-down applies to all forms of exercise that you do. But of course the length of exercise will vary. It’s much easier to walk for 30 minutes on land than in the water! On the other hand, to reach your optimum fat-burning level, the ideal to keep in mind (your distant beacon) is that you should continue your cardiovascular effort for at least half an hour. Fine. So do 10 minutes in the water, and then 20 minutes jogging. You could even split the jogging in 2 and do 10 minutes in the water, 10 on solid ground, and then the last 10 minutes on your bicycle. (I call that a 30-minute Iron Man!)
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