Aquatic fitness: making the water work for you.

I remember the first time I brought my Aqua Jogger (deep water buoyancy belt) to the pool. The lifeguard blew his whistle and politely salt were "no floatation devices allowed in the water." I smiled and explained that what I was wearing was not a floatation device but a fitness tool used for developing strength and cardiorespiratory fitness.

I'm sure that most lifeguards and pool operators are now familiar with water fitness equipment. The particular pool mentioned above now has a policy that allows such devices. We have come a long way toward accepting water fitness activities as a part of our pool operations. Many facilities even offer water fitness programs on a regular basis.

According to the American Fitness Association, the number of water fitness participants in 1990 had grown to over four million. A 1996 survey done by IDEA, the Association of Fitness Professionals, listed water fitness as one of the top ten appealing activities by both new and long-term fitness participants. This same survey stated that 34% of the clubs surveyed in this study programmed water fitness into their weekly schedules.

Why is water fitness growing in popularity among exercise participants? In 1990 the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) revised its position statement to recommend two days per week of resistance training. ACSM added resistance training because of its proven positive effect on health. A survey done by the Sporting Goods Manufactures Association reported that in 1995, working out with free weights was the most popular fitness activity in the US., replacing stationary cycling. This change was attributed to the increase in strength training among women. The American Sports Data, Inc. reported in its most recent survey that strength activities gained more than cardiovascular conditioning activities. Working out in the water is just like being in a strength and conditioning room only you are with a group and it is more fun!

Many of us began our water exercise classes as water "aerobic" sessions using the pool as a dance floor with choreographed steps. However, we may need to re-evaluate, re-market and re-deliver effective water exercise for its strength benefits.

As our population continues to age, we are becoming more and more concerned with our quality of life. We know how important it is to maintain independence and functionality with daily physical tasks. Functionality means purposeful, effective exercise that improves the participant's ability to perform daily tasks such as lifting, carrying children and/or groceries, etc. It doesn't help when "convenience oriented" mechanization of routine tasks requires less muscular work in our day. We can literally sit at our computers and mail order our clothes, order pizza clap on and off our lights, and use remote control devices to operate most anything! Projections for the year 2000 indicate that many jobs will demand more education and less physical work. What all this means for recreation professionals is that we need to promote exercise sessions that focus not only on cardiorespiratory activity but, also on functional muscular strength and endurance exercises. Water exercise is one of the best environments to accomplish functional, specific resistance training.

Why is Water Exercise Good for Functional Training?

There are numerous benefits that make water exercise a valuable, effective form of training for daily living. Water provides variable resistance training and also trains the core stabilizers in an upright position. Moving through the water is like lifting "liquid weight" the more force you use, the higher the resistance forces that act against you. Water's heaviness facilitates specific variable or accommodating work in a wide variety of planes. This type of dynamic muscular endurance conditioning cannot be accomplished similarly on weight machines. Although machines can help strengthen individual muscle groups, they provide stabilization for your trunk "corset" area. In contrast, the water environment allows you to strengthen muscles in a functional/upright position especially within the trunk area.

The true power of water exercise lies in its ability to provide specific resistance in an upright functional position. For example, a water exercise called the "mall walk" imitates the movement used in shopping which is brisk walking. Since shopping is one of the most popular leisure activities in our society, the exercise is very purposeful and specific to daily living activities. If participants find they can improve their shopping endurance through water exercise, they will most likely return because they are finding purpose in the exercise session. With the busy schedules participants have these days, they are holding us as recreation and fitness providers, more accountable for their improvement. If they find "purpose" and master water-specific skills for success in the session, they will come back over and over again.

Sports conditioning experts know that to improve performance, muscles must be trained with movements as close as possible to the desired movements or skills. What are the actual skills needed for improved daily living? Those that enhance proper posture. For example, does performing curl ups on the new "ab rollers" prepare the abdominals to be strong in a functional, upright position? Not really. With these curl-up exercises, the abdominals are strengthened in a forward flexed position. In the water, working the abdominals in an upright position by simply walking through the water and using its natural resistance and currents can strengthen them specifically to improve daily functioning.

Fitness professionals who have purchased strength and conditioning equipment know that a single piece of variable resistance equipment costs more than $2,000. This single piece does not work core stabilizers and usually works only one muscle group. If we purchase enough equipment to work all the muscle groups in the body, we end up spending $20,000-$30,000. I would suggest that if we see our pools as giant resistance training devices, we could save ourselves a great deal of money by encouraging participants to get their strength work-outs in the water!

The one major catch to all of this is the proper training of water exercise instructors. Many times we put lifeguards in the position of teaching water exercise when they have not had appropriate training. In order to have effective water exercise sessions, instructors need to know how to work the water using the principles of water along with understanding how all the muscle groups work. This is not an easy task and takes specific training. Training is definitely the key to a successful program. Some organizations provide more in-depth water fitness training than others. Since instructors will apply exercise science principles to the properties of water, a land-based certification is recommended for basic physiology, kinesiology and biomechanics of movement. Afterwards, instructors can pursue water-specific training to provide them with the tools to apply the science to the water environment. When investigating an instructor training program, remember to screen these organizations using the following criteria before you send them your money. This whole industry is in its infancy with certification and training of water fitness instructors.

Do your instructors need to be certified? Certification programs provide a basis for knowledge. There are also credible and effective training programs which can provide excellent instructor education. Evaluate certification and training programs carefully. In the area of water fitness, there are no nationally recognized standards. so be sure the course is based on current literature and research, which is revealing the industry's guidelines. Fitness instructors are not trained as therapists, however, many water students come to the water with orthopedic and medical problems. Your staff should take these into consideration.

Once you have a trained staff of water fitness instructors, you will begin to see the benefits of having a strong water fitness program. I know of one parks and recreation pool that has over 100 water fitness sessions per week programmed into their schedule. This can be done with some creative ideas and by linking to the community to see what the needs for water fitness are. You simply can't go wrong using your pool as a liquid resistance machine!