The Benefit of Water-Workouts

The best thing to hit the beach in years has less to do with Pamela Anderson running on the sand in slow motion (and in a red bikini) and more to do with the health-benefits of simply getting in the water. I want to share with you some of the benefits of an ocean water-workout. This includes salt water, waves, currents, and sea air - all functioning together under the guise of physical activity -- with the chief benefit being repair and rejuvenation of your aching muscles and overall physiology.

Don't believe me? According to an article posted on www.poolspaliving.com , "... walking one mile in the water provides a workout similar to walking two miles on land, burning up to twice the calories in the same amount of time. And the body's buoyancy in water reduces impact on joints and provides a lower risk of injury..."

That's probably not news to those of you who already swim, but for the rest of you land-animals, a water-workout will tone you up and slim you down quicker than you ever thought possible. Performing physical activity in the water has a variety of different terms attached to it: water-workout, water walking, hydrotherapy, water-based resistance training and even thalassotherapy. No matter what you call it, they all rely on the idea of water immersion and resistance. Simply because the water's density creates resistance against your body, which in turn makes the muscles work harder which leads to a wide range of benefits that includes toning your muscles, improving your cardio-vascular system and losing weight. In fact whatever you do in the water, the activity pretty much forces the muscles to work harder --- so in effect "underwater exercise" is - according to poolspaliving.com - ".... almost like working out with weights. No matter how you move, you always have that resistance; the harder you work against it, the harder it pushes back..." Water workouts help develop muscle endurance and strength.

I can only tell you what works for me -- and what works for me is based on my own research and also the trial and error of working out. My water-workouts focus on water-jogging (anaerobic activity) coupled with water-resistance training (swimming and muscle-tension). My 3-day-a-week water-workout schedule looks like this:
Monday: For starters, a one-mile run at low tide in the water (but no deeper than your ankle). I run a half mile "up" and a half mile "back". This balances out any variations in the sand surface I'm running on/in.
Wednesday: Same 1 mile run as above but this time I move out a little deeper so I am running at about knee-deep in the ocean. This increases the degree of difficulty and resistance .
Friday: I go out at waist deep for my water-based jog/run. Again, the deeper you go the more resistance you will encounter.

On Monday and Friday -- after my run -- I move out to a level in the water at least chest-deep, where I do between 300-500 horizontal and vertical "lat spreads" with my outstretched arms. You want to open/close or raise/lower your arms at a steady pace. The water creates the resistance. The trick here is to keep your arms under the water. You may find it more comfortable to stay in shallower water and kneel down to keep fully immersed. You'll notice the "burn" after about a 100 repetitions or so. On Wednesday I try to do at least a 200 yard swim with my head above water which works the deltoid muscles and also your lats.

Keep in mid that the deeper the water, the slower you find yourself running. Guess what -- that's the point! You need to work harder to compensate and that's where the benefits of the water-workout come in. If you stay focused you can do your water-work-out in about an hour or less. You may be thinking , "I'm at the beach anyway, what's the rush?" But the point is you need to get your heart beat pumping. Over time I have increased to a 2 mile beach run. The distance you run may vary. Be smart and set goals. Go for shorter distances at first. The thing to remember is to run in the water and vary how deep the water is.

Although this water-workout can be done in a swimming pool, I find that working out in the ocean gives me the added benefit of salt water. In fact, the whole new-age spin of thalassotherapy is nothing more than recognizing the treatment of disease by exposure of patients to ocean air and by bathing in the ocean. Bruce E. Becker, M.D. -- clinical professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington -- points out that, "...Just sitting in hot water up to your neck aids cardiovascular health..."

As I get older, it takes longer to recuperate from a workout. Many aches and pains that I used to attribute to heavy lifting of weights or other physical exertion I now understand can be early warning signs of arthritis or bursitis. Soaking, swimming and walking in the ocean not only provides me with relief from such aches and pains but the water-workout also maintains or increases my joint movement. According to Becker, "....While soaking in the water the muscles relax, the blood flow increases throughout the body, thus facilitating movement and enhancing mobility..."

And that's not a bad combination no matter what age you are.