Water workouts: low-impact exercises can generate high-grade benefits

TIRED of your usual workout routine? The 30 minutes spent on the treadmill listening to the latest tunes on your iPod, the dreaded rounds of jumping jacks, sit-ups and arm curls that are followed by a 20-minute power jog. In the midst of the blazing summer heat, it's probably hard to believe that you can change your regular workout regimen and stay cool at the same time.

Believe it. Step out of the old and take a plunge into the new with aquatic exercise. Often referred to as aquatics, water workouts are low-impact fitness activities that just about anyone can do and gain benefits.

More than simply swimming a couple of laps, much of the exercises that are done in the pool are similar to those done in your typical aerobics class, or those done in your own personal workout at home. "You can do a variety of different activities in the water, from conventional resistance-type moves to leg lifts and arms curls," says Dr. Cedric X. Bryant, chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise. "Really, there are virtually a limitless number of activities and exercise movements that you can do in the water."

Generally an aquatic workout is done in shallow water--waist to chest deep--in a vertical position. So you don't necessarily have to know how to swim to take part in an aquatic class. While fitness experts say much of the benefits from an aquatic workout are similar to land-based fitness activities, there are a number of added benefits to this type of workout program.

Easy on your bones, joints and muscles

Depending on the depth of the water, your body weight is significantly reduced in the pool because of lessened gravitational forces, according to the Aquatic Exercise Association. For example, when immersed in water that reaches your neck, your body weight is reduced by about 90 percent and you become buoyant. So instead of landing on a hard surface with 100 percent of your body weight, when in water, it's like landing with only 10 percent of your body's weight. This buoyancy helps reduce stress on weight-bearing joints, bones and muscles. "Water aerobics is great because the buoyancy of the water and your own body weight [provide the workout]," says Eddie Carrington, fitness expert and certified personal trainer for Bally Total Fitness.

Since water workouts are gentle on joints, bones and muscles, fitness experts often recommend it for pregnant women, the elderly, people who suffer with arthritis and even people who have been leading a relatively sedentary lifestyle.

Good cardio-workout

"It's also considered a [good] cardiovascular workout because you are moving the entire time. Classes are typically given 45 minutes to an hour," says Carrington. "In order to get a cardiovascular workout, you work out 20 to 60 minutes of repetitious movement," he says.

It is important to monitor your intensity during a water workout. Compared to land-based exercises, submergence in water reduces your heart rate. But fitness experts say monitoring your heart rate when in the pool is not a good way to measure your exercise intensity. "Your heart rate monitor might say that your heart rate is only 120 beats per minute when it's really 133 or 134 beats per minute," says Dr. Bryant. "So you might perceive, 'Well, in order to get my target zone, I've got to exercise harder,' which can cause you to exercise at a higher intensity than your body really requires."

To monitor exercise intensity, use the "talk test." Experts say that you should be able to carry on a conversation and not feel terribly out of breath. "At the bottom end of that scale, if you can be excessively chatty, you're probably not exercising quite hard enough," says Dr. Bryant.

Strengthens muscles and increases flexibility

Water offers greater resistance than a traditional resistance workout on land. Since the water is surrounding just about every area of your body, whenever you move in the pool, you constantly encounter resistance with every drag and pull of the water against you. In order for muscles to become developed and toned, they must work against resistance. Fitness experts say that muscles work in pairs (i.e., biceps and triceps and quadriceps and hamstrings), but when on land, you usually have to reposition your body adequately to work both muscles of the pair. Due to the added natural resistance that the water creates, you are targeting and working both muscle groups that function as muscle pairs.

Excellent cross-training alternative

"[A water workout] is different because you don't always want to have the body doing the same thing over and over again," says Carrington. Fitness experts say your body can reach a plateau with an exercise program if you don't introduce other workouts to your routine. Fitness experts say you don't have to replace water aerobics with your regular workout routine, you can simply add it to your routine. If possible, work out two to three times per week in the pool and supplement that workout with some land-based activities for another two to three times per week, fitness experts suggest. While it's low-impact, you still get the benefits you'd enjoy if you were doing a land-based workout.