PRO TIP
Everybody into the Pool
It’ s summer. If you want to do more than splash around, here are some water workout tips for you.
BY STEVE KAUFMAN | ILLUSTRATION BY ADAM KLEINERT
To the fitness instruction world, you’ re a“ health seeker.”
If you’ re anywhere from your late 30s through your 50s, and you’ re seeking to get back in the gym or the pool, you’ re categorized.( Clearly, that age category is bendable – from the 20-something who’ s rehabbing a sports injury to the senior looking to stay active.)
You’ re anxious, enthusiastic, unboundingly willing – and, left to your own devices, you’ ll probably overdo it. Or you’ ll run out of steam, get discouraged and quit.
Give yourself an A for intentions, but probably a D + for results.
Swimming has become perhaps the most popular form of fitness workout. After all, you already know how to swim, don’ t you? Most people do.
“ Actually, a lot of people come in and think they know how to swim, but they really don’ t,” said Adam Johnson, senior aquatics director at the Northeast Family YMCA in Lyndon in Louisville.“ People get in the water, and if they don’ t know what they’ re doing, they’ ll spend about 10 minutes in there and get tired, get discouraged and never come back.”
So, if you’ re thinking of starting a swimmingfor-health program this summer, start by acknowledging you might not be that strong a swimmer.
The problem, said Johnson, is breathing.“ The cardiovascular effort in swimming is different than that of running or cycling, because you have to hold your breath for certain lengths of time. So you do one length of the pool and you’ re out of breath. We get that a lot.”
It’ s not uncommon for triathletes – runners and cyclists in good condition – to come into the water and be blown away by how quickly they become out of breath.
“ People of a certain age who get into a pool and get tired after a lap blame it on age or weight or condition or some joint issue, when often it’ s simply that they’ re swimming wrong,” Johnson said.“ Their technique or breathing or something is wrong, and always has been.”
There’ s swim instruction, of course. But there are also other pool activities that produce some of the same benefits.
Aquafit classes, which may include weights, cycling, running or just aerobic exercises, provide a lot of the same benefits as swimming, without the need for technique. Classes are also aligned for age, strength, conditioning or personal goals.
“ Aquafit classes range from beginner to some pretty tough advanced classes,” Johnson said.
The secrets of all water exercise are buoyancy and resistance.“ Water is 900 times more dense than air, so moving your body through water takes that much more energy,” he explained.
Water weights are lighter, easier to manage and buoyant. But instead of a regular weight resisting being lifted, the flotation weight resists being pushed down into the water. But they work the arms and shoulders, all the same muscle groups as“ land” weights.
Buoyant“ noodles” are amazing devices in the pool, said Johnson.“ You can float around on a noodle, and when you suspend your body in the pool, you can more easily engage your legs in the workout.”
Even doing a vigorous standing or runningin-place activity in the water takes the weight and pressure off your joints.
Also, aquafit workouts are generally in group situations, which promotes social interaction, especially important for the elderly.
“ So you see, water exercise doesn’ t have to be swimming laps, like a lot of people think,” Johnson said.
GETTING STARTED
“ It’ s tough to ask for help,” said Adam Johnson, senior aquatics director at the Northeast Family YMCA in Lyndon in Louisville.“ At the( YMCA), we try to foster that nurturing environment.”
Johnson suggests a frank conversation with a fitness instructor, during which you ask questions and spend 15 minutes having your swimming stroke and technique evaluated.
38 EXTOL SPORTS / MAY 2017