By healthiergang writer , certified personal trainer and athlete ().
Exercises In The Water To Tone
The importance of physical activity in water for toning the body was already recognized in theancient Rome: diving into the thermal waters and practicing a moderate activity of movement in waters of different temperatures was in fact considered of great importance for the health of the body.
Today water gymnastics, born from the adaptation of rehabilitation exercises, has become in effect one sport, practicable at any age, alone or with the help of trained instructors, which has water as a fundamental component, of course: this, however, without the need to know how to swim, as physical activity takes place in shallow water , or that never exceeds the immersion (standing) of the shoulders.
Why water?
It is the ideal environment to carry out physical activity, indeed it can be said that it is the real sports tool: the Archimedes' principle, it should be remembered, says that a body immersed in a liquid receives a thrust from the bottom upwards equal to the weight of the displaced liquid.
Therefore it is possible in the water to make considerable efforts with significantly less effort than the same efforts made out of the water, with considerable relief for ligaments and joints, and also for the back, because the water acts as a valid support for the spine.
Not only that, but the friction of the water and the resistance it opposes to each movement (12 times greater than that opposed by the air) allows you to do training exercises that are also qualitatively very effective, which increase in intensity as they love it increases. the speed of execution of the movement and that they continue even when you return to the rest position (Viscose reaction).
Since, as we have said, the lower weight of our body in the water allows us to do very demanding exercises with less effort than the same ones done on land, it is natural that water gymnastics is absolutely suitable for all ages and physical conditions, therefore also for example a children, elderly, women in pregnancy.
I benefits are cardiovascular, muscle, circulators, as well as guaranteeing a real increase in one's level of flexibility.
The Best To Practice
Let's go see some of the esercizi more effective!
#1 Begin the heating walking in the water, start with water at the ankles up to get water at the calves, for a total of 10 minutes.
#2 Race on the spot: with the water at stomach height, start running on the spot, taking care to raise your toes and force on the sole to move the water. Do about 50 repetitions.
#3 Race in place 2 : continue with the ride on the spot taking care this time of throw one leg back and then the other, repeating for about 30 repetitions.
#4 Knee high : still run in place, but alternately bringing the knees up to chest height, for about 50 repetitions.
#5 Saltelli : open and close the legs while jumping; the most trained can do it even in high water. Perform 5 sets of 10 repetitions.
# 6 Cross hops : always hopping open your legs but, in closing phase, cross them alternating forward the left and then the right. Do 3 sets of 10 repetitions each.
#7 Arms: with the water up to the neck, arms at your sides, bring them up to shoulder height, taking care to keep the palms facing upwards when the arms rise, and downwards when they descend, so that the movement you become more tiring by taking advantage of the friction produced by the water with the movement. Perform 4 sets of 10 repetitions.
#8 High arms at shoulder height, palms facing up, alternately bend your arms until you bring your hand to the corresponding shoulder. Try to accentuate the friction between palms and water as much as possible to increase the work on the muscles of the arms.
#9 Arms outstretched on the sides of the shoulders, clenched fists, water behind, rotate the arms clockwise and then counterclockwise, doing 50 repetitions in each direction.
#10 abdominal : for this exercise it is not necessary to stay in particularly high water, but it is necessary that the feet do not touch the bottom. You can lean on a buoy, or on the edge of the pool if you are in the pool. While sitting with your legs extended, open and close your legs, taking care to work only the abdominal muscles. Repeat 20/30 times.
#11 The same exercise but this time with the knees bent, to be repeated 30 times
The effectiveness and difficulty of these exercises can be modulated with gods weights, even very light, to hold in the hand or to tie on the wrists and ankles
Exercises With Tablet
there then some exercises to be done with the help of the pool tablet, but for this a certain swimming experience is necessarily required, as it must be performed having a certain familiarity with two of the 4 swimming styles, the freestyle and rana.
#1 The first exercise is essentially about one dissolution of the legs performed by leaning on the board with the arms, so that this face as a support while only the legs will move along the tub; executed in this way 8/12 pools (which in a 25 meter long pool will correspond to 200/300 meters), alternating lo freestyle "kick" style to that of the breaststroke kick, in this case also involving the muscles in the exercise buttocks.
#2 The second exercise involves the abdominals: with the help of the board (but also without it) kept along the abdomen sit in the water with your back to the direction you are traveling and, legs at 90 degrees, go to the opposite bank with only the strength of the legs, which will be moved quickly contracting the abdominals to the maximum. Go back down the lane in the same position but with the frog movement, this will also work on the inner thigh muscles.
Done?
Finally, cool down lying on your stomach in the "dead" position, if you can with your eyes closed. The slightly wavy movement of the water will complete your sense of total relaxation.
Other Exercises
The disciplines developed starting from water aerobics and which have water as their common denominator are now so many, here are some that seemed less known and very interesting to me.
Acquabox
With the help of a punching bag and gloves, it is a Fit Boxing in all respects but practiced in the water: kicks and punches are slowed down by the resistance it opposes to your blows, but this is precisely what makes the muscle work and the resulting in very effective toning. Furthermore, working in water serves to contain the production of lactic acid in the phases following training, increases the cardiovascular level thanks to intense work (which also takes place to the rhythm of music), develops the muscles of the legs and arms and tones the muscles of the core (abdominal, back, buttocks).
Acquastep
With the help of a step fixed to suction cups at the bottom of the tank and water at least 120 cm high, it is very useful for toning the lower limbs (it also works on drainage and therefore is also useful for working on solving some problems of accumulation of cellulite, where it is not advanced), but also makes the abdominals work a lot, which help to maintain the correct posture in the water during the exercises
Acquarap
A very useful gymnastics carried out with the help of special elastic bands and which makes the muscles work in isometria, therefore with a prolonged contraction of the muscles.
Acquarunning
A variant of water aerobics consists of running in the water with the help of the conveyor belt.
Fear
It is yoga to be practiced in water (the word derives from the union of the words water and yoga).
Tai Chi
Tai Chi that takes place in water, and which alternates the classic movements of Tai Chi with rest phases consisting of stretching. Also used very effectively for the rehabilitation of patients with joint disabilities. It also regulates the psychophysical balance
Good workout!
