Jenness Reeve – An Aquarobics Class

 Read more from Jenness here.

It is often more motivating and fun to join an exercise class and share a few laughs with like-minded or like-bodied souls.

If aqua classes are available at a pool near you I would strongly recommend trying out a class (if you haven’t exercised for some time or have any health issues please check first with your doctor).

Ideally you should be in water up to just below mid chest. This allows for wonderful buoyancy and also the need to squat, keeping your shoulders below water for arm exercises. However, almost any pool will do, I don’t recommend the sea during the winter, just too cold for my liking!

The water shouldn’t feel too warm, it isn’t safe to exercise aerobically in water that is too warm (the reason for this will be covered in my next column ‘Principles of Water Exercise’. Personally I like 28 degrees or even a little chillier so that I have to ‘work’ to get warm.

Once you have tried a class you will find you are left with a wonderful feeling, tired but somewhat exhilarated, and once a week just won’t be enough. I recommend three times a week of aqua and other forms of exercise in between times.

An aqua exercise class should contain a series of components preferably in this order:

• A short warm-up to ‘alert’ the joints and your heart that more is to come

• An aerobic section

• Endurance exercises to target specific groups of muscles

• Stretching

• Relaxation.

There should be a fun element to any class and you should always be able to speak even at the height of the aerobic session, if you can’t ‘babble while you bubble’ then your heart will be working too hard. I will explain why, along with other principles of working out in water next time.

If you can’t find any aqua classes to join but have access to a pool I have a series of exercises for each section of a class. You can choose, mix and match, but try and keep them in the order recommended above – warm-up. aerobic, endurance, stretch, relaxation.

These exercises are easy and you can do them alone or with a group of friends. Certain exercises will have provisos, e.g. knee or hip replacement may mean an exercise is modified or excluded but doesn’t mean you can’t exercise in the water.

Please always check with your doctor before embarking on any exercise regime.

Next time I will talk about the ‘Principles of Water Exercise’ and after that will come the exercises themselves.