{"id":2060,"date":"2009-06-16T04:41:57","date_gmt":"2009-06-16T02:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=2060"},"modified":"2015-02-15T00:35:27","modified_gmt":"2015-02-15T05:35:27","slug":"water-workouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/water-workouts\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Workouts"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was a kid, I was definitely no athlete. That didn’t keep me from being dragooned into my high school’s swim team, however. My older sister – who graduated\u00a0just before I showed up\u00a0– had been a star,\u00a0and I was expected to uphold the Pratt family honor.<\/p>\n

Not!<\/p>\n

Ok, I wasn’t a total boat anchor, but let’s just say Vanessa’s swimming fins were\u00a0a little\u00a0too big for me to fill. Nonetheless, the team practices dramatically improved my cardiovascular fitness…although I didn’t realize just how much until the semester fitness tests were given in gym class.\u00a0 I surprised myself (and probably everyone else – including the teachers) by\u00a0finishing waaay ahead of\u00a0the rest of the class\u00a0in the\u00a0dreaded “6 minute run” (I was a non-runner, yet finished only 1\/4 lap shy of completing a full mile in the allotted time – without actually trying very hard).<\/p>\n

So yes, swimming can get you into awesome condition…but don’t take my word for it – just ask Dara Torres.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, it’s not necessary to\u00a0perform\u00a0all those\u00a0grueling, and seemingly endless laps to\u00a0get the benefits of working out in the water\u00a0– which this LA Times article affirms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Aqua aerobics, or aquatic fitness, is no longer the domain of people recovering from injuries, trying to exercise despite limited abilities or struggling with chronic conditions such as arthritis.<\/p>\n

Pool workouts are hot, especially group exercise classes. The latest ones incorporate Pilates, kickboxing and strength training, targeting all muscle groups and building endurance.<\/p>\n

“Working out in the water is excellent cross-training,” says Julie Seamster, an aquatic fitness instructor at California Family Fitness in Sacramento. “On land you’re using gravity, but in water you’re using the water’s properties — it’s heavier than air, and you have resistance in all directions.”<\/p>\n

Water also provides bones and joints with a break from constant pounding — a big boon for those who run or play sports such as soccer, volleyball and basketball. “You can exercise at a high intensity with zero impact,” says Niecia Staggs, a masters swim coach at Equinox.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the whole thing: there are some great workout tips from 4 different aquatic trainers; which you can use to devise a whole body water workout without breaking a sweat…or having to endure a stuffy, crowded gym.\u00a0 The workouts look\u00a0like a\u00a0lot more\u00a0fun than those old swim team practices, too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a kid, I was definitely no athlete. That didn’t keep me from being dragooned into my high school’s swim team, however. My older sister – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,14,28],"tags":[154,156,320,455,1035,1753,1785],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8839,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions\/8839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}