The way of water: How aquatic exercise can benefit seniors

Water babies, that’s us. 

We’re at home in liquid from before birth, and we seem to naturally gravitate to it. We love the ocean, the pool, the hot tub and the bathtub. 

What is it about water that means so much to us? It surrounds us, it cradles us and it supports us. We’re nearly weightless in water. The largest of us can glide with ease and grace, feeling minimal resistance. 

I think it’s those endearing properties of water that make aqua exercise pleasant and effective. 

Fitness

Swimming is the most common form of aqua exercise. It’s good for all ages. It uses all your major muscle groups, strengthens, tones and helps build aerobic capacity. There’s almost no impact, so it’s kind to your joints while it gets you in shape.

I swim laps for 30 to 40 minutes four or five times per week. I find it relaxing and stimulating at the same time. Some days it melts my stress and puts me in a meditative state. Other days, I do some of my best thinking during my swim workout. 

In any case, I always get out of the water with that energized, good-tired feeling. Mornings are my favorite time to swim. But I’ll take a swim any time I can fit it in. I mostly swim outside so, as pretty as dusk is, I’m usually done before that because mosquitoes love me.

If you’re a beginner, start slowly with a few minutes a day. Stay in your comfort zone and build up. I can swim for an hour or so now, when my body is in the mood. But it took me over a year to get that conditioned, and I had a head start as a fitness professional. 

Take your time and keep it fun.

Aqua exercise

Can’t swim? No worries. There are aqua exercise classes at local rec centers everywhere. There’s aqua cardio, aqua strength, aqua stretch, just about aqua everything. It’s done in about 4 feet of water, so there’s no need to swim. 

You can get a great workout. It’s no-to-low impact, so it’s easy on your joints. And if you have access to a pool or calm water, now you can stream a workout onto your tablet, prop it on a chair and exercise your brains out.

There’s some cool equipment to use in the water, too — aqua dumbbells, paddle gloves, jogging vests. Obviously, if you’re going deep-water running, you’ll need one of those deep-water jogging vests. But otherwise, you don’t need that stuff to get started. Besides, many aqua cardio classes don’t use any equipment. 

Here is an aqua exercise you might try for cardio:

Aqua strength is a good way to ease into strength training. Aqua dumbbells aren’t very expensive, but you don’t necessarily need them. You can use empty water bottles with the caps on to substitute aqua dumbbells. The air in the bottle provides plenty of resistance for strength training. The bigger the bottle or jug the more resistance you get. You can even regulate the resistance by filling them partially with water. 

PT and rehab

Immersion in water was used for healing by ancient civilizations more than 3,000 years ago.

They were on to something. Nowadays, immersion in water provides a supportive, low-impact, low-resistance environment for modern, medically based, physical therapy and injury rehab. A doctor usually prescribes specific aqua rehab exercises.

Aging fit

Someone really smart and probably pretty old, once said: “Aging is not for the faint of heart.” 

Can I say I can relate to that without giving away my age? Guess not.

Luckily, water is also a great medium for vintage bodies that simply can’t take the impact of other types of exercise, at least not every day.

Even if you’re active, getting older can make it hard to do land-based exercise on a regular basis. And water is fun. You don’t know you’re exercising until you get out, and your body tells you, “Oh, that was a workout.” 

As our health-conscious population lives longer and longer, I think aqua, with it’s ability to surround and support our aging bodies while we keep them operational is more important. Get those bodies in the water. Try it, you’ll like it.