In the words of Ken Baldwin, director of
education at Perform Better Australia (an
organization devoted to providing innovative
fitness products, quality coaching/
training, and other educational resources)
in Brisbane, Australia, “Aqua is the ‘go-
to’ method of recovery for all Australian
Football Rules teams – rugby and soccer.”
As a successful way to recover, these
athletes either journey to a cold-water
beach or an ice pool, where they engage
in different types of regenerative walking
and running moves. Professional Australian
sports teams are not the only ones utilizing
water training from this long-term health
outlook. In fact, experts on this topic in
general are becoming more and more
intrigued by aquatic fitness and training
because of its therapeutic qualities.
3 BIG BENEFITS
Any type of person, regardless of age
or skill level, is capable of reaping the
benefits of water fitness.
What many people don’t realize are the
helpful properties of water which cancel
out factors such as age, weight, and ability
level. On land, these same factors might
otherwise hinder a person’s performance.
One such useful property of water is its
natural buoyancy, which greatly minimizes
stress due to weight. Buoyancy also allows
us to move around with greater ease. The
two other properties of water – density
and resistance – are just as important to
acknowledge. Water’s high density results
in fluid equivalent resistance stemming
from every direction. The influence of these
qualities sufficiently tones and strengthens
muscles in the body while allowing us to
move around with greater stability and
proficiency at the same time. Given these
key components of water, it is no wonder
that avid water exercisers experience far
less strain on the body.
1
2 People who frequently engage in
water exercise have expressed
improvement with endurance, strength,
and overall lean body mass.
With the proper aquatic guidance, evidence
shows that anyone can increase their
stamina, strength, and body composition.
When compared with women who used
weight machines and exercise bands
in similar programs, postmenopausal
women who trained with water resistance
equipment (two times per week for ten
weeks) gained just as much strength and
lean body mass. They also successfully
decreased body fat. Healthy young men
who engaged in a scheduled strength
training program (three times per week for
twelve weeks total) displayed a significant
increase in muscular strength, power, and
lean body mass. The interesting thing to
point out here is that in-shape, untrained
older women expressed similar benefits
exercising in the water versus on land.
These older women performed 60 minutes
of shallow-water fitness (including 20
minutes of upper and lower body resistance
training with equipment) for three days
a week over a span of 24 weeks. At the
end of the training program, these women
effectively enhanced lean body mass by
3.4% and substantially increased muscular
strength. Older women who exercise in the
water not only experience positive changes
in the body, but they also face a much lower
risk of sustaining injuries.
3 Exercising in the water also enhances
running performance.
When comparing dry-land runners
and deep- water runners (by analyzing
electromyography, or EMG, activity between
the two), researchers found similar, but
not identical, muscle exertion. For healthy
individuals on land and in water, optimized
neuromuscular responses were found in the
legs when maximum speed was reached. It
is also important to mention that deep-water
running reduces the ground-force impact by
more than 85%.
IN SUMMARY
People all across the world are thinking
about water fitness in new ways than
ever previously heard of. Water exercise
not only makes higher-intensity training
possible, it also helps those seeking
methods of recovery and rehabilitation.
For dedicated athletes who are prone to
injuries, these new trends in water fitness
are groundbreaking. Older individuals who
are not familiar with intense training can
still benefit greatly from in-water exercises
instead of those done on-land. Because
water exposure creates far less physical
strain on the body, different kinds of water
fitness/training are extremely beneficial
for the long-term health of any individual.
Because of water’s natural ability to
overpower uncontrollable things like age
and skill level, this gives anyone, not just
athletes, the capability to thrive and succeed
– no matter how relaxed or extreme the
workout may be.
enhance magazine | MARCH 2018
37