Exercising is an important part of every person’s life because it helps people maintain their weight and live a healthy life. If you do not exercise, you should begin to do so immediately. Exercising helps to get your heart pumping, which helps to burn fat from your body. Exercising should include any activity that is considered a cardio work out. A cardio work out will make your heart work extra hard to pump blood throughout the body, which helps the body lose weight. An excellent cardio work out, used by millions of people each day across the country, is to swim. Swimming gets the heart rate going and is fun to do all while losing weight.
Aquatic exercises are used by kids, adults, seniors and people rehabbing any injuries in their body. Of the groups of people who use aquatic exercises to lose weight, senior citizens are the most active group to do so. Head to your local senior center or community center that has a pool and you will see quite a handful of senior citizens swimming in the pool for exercise each day. They either swim on their own during open swim or take various swimming classes to stay healthy or to loosen up their limbs while under the water.
Aquatic exercises, for all ages, are not only used for losing weight but also to strengthen the muscles in a person’s legs, thighs, buttocks and abdomen. There is less stress placed on a person’s joints when exercising in water, which makes it easier to move around and do some exercises that might not be able to be completed out of water. If you exercise in water that comes up to your neck, your body is only supporting 10 percent of your body weight. When you are exercising in water, if you feel any of the following signs of fatigue, let a lifeguard or therapist know:
- Trouble catching your breath or short of breath
- Faint, lightheaded, or dizzy
- Nausea
- Red faced or the feeling of being flushed
- Pain or pressure in the chest or upper body
- Weakness or suddenly feel tired
- Pounding heart or irregular heart beat
- Confusion or loss of sense of direction
If you are looking to get the most out of your aquatic exercise then you should work out at your target heart rate. You can figure out your target heart rate by doing the following:
- Subtract your age from 220
- Then subtract your Resting Heart Rate
- Multiply this number by .6
- Then add your Resting Heart Rate
- Multiply the result from step 2 by .8
- Add your Resting Heart Rate
There are various types of aquatic exercises for people of all ages and all experiences. If you are a beginner, you will want to use beginner exercises. The next step up is intermediate and the last level is advanced. No one should begin using advanced workouts right off the bat. Slowly work your way to the top.