Summer offers the opportunity for cross training, and water
aerobics is a good summer sport to try. We all swim the laps in the
pool, but another way to exercise if you like the water, is to use
water weights to hold in your hand while you walk across the
shallow end.
Summer offers the opportunity for cross training, and water aerobics is a good summer sport to try. We all swim the laps in the pool, but another way to exercise if you like the water, is to use water weights to hold in your hand while you walk across the shallow end.
Water weights can be purchased at any sporting goods store. But, if you cut up a used pool straw, the multicolored Styrofoam toy, these work as well. Arms get a good work out in the pool.
Swing your arms in a circle like a windmill. Make a full circular motion with both arms. Start small. Hold your arms out to the side. Circle forward 10 times. Circle backwards 10 more times. Now, put you arms out, palms out, the back of your hands facing your thighs. Lift your arms, elbows bent as though you were lifting weights in a gym. The water offers a resistance that helps shape muscles so you’ll look good in that suit.
Another great way to get fit in the summer is swimming laps. When training for the Treasure Island Triathlon, I could only make it six times across an Olympic sized pool. By the end of 14 weeks, I was up to 60 laps!
This was in preparation for swimming a half-mile in the ocean. Your laps could be in whichever stroke you feel most comfortable. These summer months, it is fun to do the backstroke, looking up at the mostly blue, and sometimes cloud-dotted sky.
Whether free style, breaststroke, butterfly, sidestroke or backstroke, the important thing is, you are moving your body.
When I was pregnant with my eldest daughter, I swam in the high school pool. These laps helped ensure my muscles, and I suffered no damage to my ligaments or back.
Always check with your doc first before starting any new exercise program. I learned to take it easy. My doctor simply warned me not to swim after my water had broken. Once when I did 50 laps, I had Braxton Hick contractions, so doc said to pull back to 25 or so.
As with any sport, it is important to stretch after about 20 minutes or so of exercising. This releases the endorphins in your body that make us feel so good after we exercise. So after working out for about 20 minutes, do some simple stretches in the shallow end of the pool. Hold on to the side of the pool. Lift your legs, one at a time. The water resistance is amazing. Again, always swim and work out with a friend. Never swim alone.
Sit on the pool stairs and stretch your legs out in front of you. Point your toes. Flex your feet. Next, hold onto the pool wall and, bending your back, carefully put your head down to the pool’s edge. Hold for 20 seconds. Holding the pool’s edge with your left hand, bend at the knee and lift you heel to your thigh. Hold your foot to your thigh with your right hand. Reverse.
Raise your arms to the sky in thanks for the lovely weather we have for being a mermaid or merman in the pool. Lower your arms gently and again give all your cares away to the water. Enjoy our independence and freedom. Become a little tadpole and learn to enjoy that water again.
Whether with your children in a friend’s pool, checking out the times for a public swim at the pool in Morgan Hill, or in our lakes and ocean, take a few laps and ease into the water world. I always begin and end my swim entirely under water. I feel warmly enveloped, as though a baby in her mother’s womb. All of my cares and stresses of the day of swept away on the surface of life’s water.
Enjoy. Be safe. Swim with a friend. Stay cool and exercise in the water for a little summer splash.
