After the obese or overweight person has graduated from the sitting exercises, swimming and pool fitness is a great alternative. In the water, there is much less load on the joints and bones. This greatly reduces the chance of injury and serious strain.The special properties of water can provide you with excellent benefits if you are trying to heal a back injury. Being in water provides a safe environment for working out your muscles and stretching your body. It also allows you to do more than you would on land by eliminating the constraints imposed by gravity.
A wide variety of exercises can be done in the pool or other body of water. Jumping, standing breaststrokes or arm swishes, and leg lifts and kicks are all great exercise for the obese and overweight.
Types of exercise
Exercises may be performed with or without pool equipment such as hand & feet flippers, different foam floats such as “noodles” and weights. They may also be held in different water depths, with some deep water classes providing float belts to assist exercises. Generally you don’t even need to be able to swim to participate in water exercise classes.
Water squats are great for toning your lower body as well: stand in hip-deep water with feet apart. Bend your knees and squat as low as you can comfortably manage, using the side of the pool to steady your balance if necessary (but don’t use it to support your weight or you’ll lose the effect of the exercise). Return to standing. Repeat 5-10 times.
Other benefits
- High calorie burning during and after a workout.
- Renews your energy level as it releases your stress and tension.
- Privacy of the water: if you hate the idea of jumping around a room full of people in tight gym clothes, exercising under water is a great alternative.
- Exercising in water requires you to support only 50% of your body weight, making exercises easier to perform.
- You don’t need any special equipment, although there is a variety of equipment available for increasing variety, fitness and helping with floatation if required.
- Water’s buoyancy lowers the risk of stress-related injuries that some land exercises have
- The water’s resistance against your movements results in a higher workout intensity compared to land exercises.
- A massaging effect is created when your muscles are surrounded by water.
- With indoor pools, it’s a great year-round activity; although in the hotter months it’s one of the best ways to get a total body workout without overheating.
- You’ll come out of the water looking fresher and smelling nicer than many other exercise classes: no sweat, and no wet hair!
Water exercise is commonly advocated for people with the following conditions :Arthritis ,Back pain ,Joint problems ,MS ,Soft-tissue injury ,Cardiac patients ,Obesity.
If you suffer from any of these conditions, however, you should speak to your doctor before undertaking any exercise regime.
