Top myths of water exercise
Most people find water relaxing and soothing whether it is in the bath, ocean or pool. Exercising in water has the same relaxing benefits without the strain on the joints as land exercise. There is quite a bit of confusion and misinformation about water exercise. Water exercise, like exercising on land, should be specialized and tailored to your fitness goals–don’t just sign up for a local general class and assume that it will be right for you. Len Kravitz, a well known name in exercise research, reviewed latest scientific research about the physiological effects of aquatic exercise. http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/aqua.html
Top myths about exercising in water and the scientific truths:
1. Water exercise is only for ‘old’ people who are unfit:
Study done by Mary Sanders 1993 broke participants into a younger group (28+/- 6 years) and an older group (52 +/- 6 years). Both groups did shallow water exercise 3 times a week and maintained 74-84% of their predicted heart rate. The younger group increased their cardiovascular endurance by 13.7% and the older by 8.8%. The reason for the lower increase for the older group is their lack of strength at the start of their program. The results conclude that both young and old will benefit from water exercise.
2. There isn’t enough cardio work in water
Research comparing deep water running to treadmill running in competitve runners concluded that “deep water running created physiological stimuli necessary to facilitate the maintence of running economy”. The scientific research jargon just means that if competitve runners can use deep water running as a part of their cross training and keep up their speeds up than it is definately an effective cardio training tool. In fact a study with 49 untrained women exercising 3 times a week comparing shallow water aqua exercise compared to land based work showed similar gains in aerobic fitness (Hoeger et al 1992).
One reason that this myth exists is that heart rate response does drop in water due to the hydrostatic pressure of the water BUT the training effects and increases in aerobic fitness do occur.
3. I won’t burn enough calories doing water exercise
Here is a list of number of calories burned in various activities:
Aqua exercise: 5.7-6.5 kcal per min
Aerobic dance: 6.2-6.6 kcal per min
Circuit training 5.1-6.1 kcal per min
Step aerobics 6.7-7.7 kcal per min
Running 11.4 kcal per min
(9 min mile)
Running 8 kcal per min
(11 min mile)
Walking 4.7 kcal per min
Deep water
walking 8.8 kcal per min
4. I won’t gain strength with water exercise
Eight weeks of shallow water exercise with a group of women with low fitness levels to start show an strength increase of 180% with older women in their chest!! If the main reason that you are joining water exercise is for strength gains make sure that there is enough slow movement working against the resistance of the water as well as equipment such as water gloves, bands and noodles. Water is 800 times as dense as air! |
Wellness goes beyond weight loss
