Drag Equipment

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Gloves       Paddles

Aqualogix       Aqua-Ohm

I’m a big fan of drag equipment. Drag equipment increases the drag forces of the water by increasing the surface area and creating turbulence. The resistance is in every direction – up, down, side to side – so you can work both pairs of opposing muscles and you don’t have to get into any special positions to do so. The movement of the arms with drag equipment feels natural.

The most popular piece of drag equipment is webbed gloves. They are made of either fabric or neoprene. I prefer the fabric gloves, such as the ones made by Hydro-Fit, because you can adjust the resistance easily by making a fist, slicing or opening up the hand. It is harder to make a fist with the neoprene gloves.

Gloves increase the surface area of the hand and therefore increase the resistance for upper body exercises. But you can also scull with the gloves to help you stabilize, which is particularly helpful in deep water.

Paddles are another type of drag equipment. Paddles have fan blades that you can open or close to adjust the amount of resistance. They can be held in the freehold position, much the way you would hold a dumbbell, or you can use the hand brace position. Make sure you keep the wrist neutral rather than flexing and extending. Paddles will sink to the bottom of the pool so they are best used in shallow water.

Freehold position     Braced position

Aqualogix bells have fins on the edges which create turbulence in addition to adding drag resistance. They are an excellent tool for a strength training class. They float so that you can use then in either shallow or deep water. In deep water you will want to use a stabilizing leg movement, such as a jog, a jumping jack or a cross-country ski, while performing your upper body exercises.

The Aqua Ohm is a new piece of equipment that was invented by an aquatic physical therapist. Stretch it full length and you can put one foot in the handle and use it for lower body exercises. Fold it in half and you can use it for upper body exercises. It comes with a chart showing the different exercises you can do with it.

All drag equipment can be used in a stable squat or lunge stance in shallow water allowing you to focus on  moving it powerfully through the water to increase strength. You can challenge the core by making your stance less stable. Try standing with the feet next to each other, which gives you a narrow base of support. Progress to a tandem stance, with one foot directly in front of the other. Finally try the exercises standing on one foot.

For a sample of exercises and lesson plans using drag equipment, see my book Water Fitness Progressions. The book can be ordered from Human Kinetics (the publisher) or from Amazon.com. Just click on whichever source you wish to order from and the link will take you there.

Chris Book Cover    IMG_4509

See you in the pool!

Chris Alexander

Pool equipment / water fitness

Why Do You Need Continuing Education?

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I attended the International Aquatic Fitness Conference recently where I earned 26 continuing education credits. That’s a lot of time spent in swimming pools and lectures! I’m a huge believer in continuing education. When I first started teaching water fitness I had one great lesson plan. Without continuing education I might still be stuck with that one lesson plan. Continuing education is invaluable for giving you new ideas to keep your classes fresh.

All presenters have their own unique styles. Some of my favorite presenters are pictured here. Ruth Sova is the founder of the Aquatic Exercise Association. After she got AEA going, she left to start the Aquatic Therapy and Rehab Institute (ATRI). Performing Ai Chi with Ruth and Jun Konno, who invented Ai Chi, first thing in the morning was one of the pleasures of the conference. Mark Grevelding is known for his choreography, which has evolved over the years as he is now working mostly with seniors. The international presenters, such as Elson dos Santos have unique high energy techniques. Terri Mitchell had a workshop on stretching which filled up as soon as conference registration opened, so I was not able to get in. Lucky for me, she is coming to this area for a MAAP event in September. I love hearing about the latest research in fitness, so I always sign up for a lecture by Len Kravitz when I attend a conference. He is an author, educator working with graduate students, researcher and exercise scientist at the University of New Mexico. When you attend continuing education you come away with new choreography, new teaching techniques, and new research which makes you a better instructor.

You can also learn about new kinds of equipment that is available for water fitness. Lynda Huey used Aqualogix bells and fins in her class on post rehab fitness. The bells offered excellent drag resistance. The fins were surprisingly easy to put on and use. You might also learn new ways to use old pieces of equipment. Marietta Mehanni used kickboards in a totally new and creative way in her session.

AquapoleOne piece of equipment that I was curious about is the AquaPole. It has a heavy base that anchors the pole in the water. We used the pole to perform suspended exercises in Brown and Johnson’s AquaPole Strength and Toning class, but you can also attach resistance bands or a boxing bag to it. I may never have the opportunity to use the equipment again, but it was fun to try it out.

Networking is another reason to attend continuing education. At IAFC we got to meet people from all over the world, not only the presenters, but also the delegates. The first question we always asked each other was “what is your name” and the second one was “where are you from.” At the end of each class, all the participants gathered at the edge of the pool for a photo with the presenter.

IAFC had a Marketplace where you could buy music, equipment, swim suits, T-shirts, shampoo for getting the chlorine out of your hair and lots of other things. I got to meet the person who invented the Aqua-Ohm, a piece of drag equipment we recently got at Oak Point Recreation Center where I teach classes. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Ruth Sova had a copy of my book, Water Fitness Progressions, at the ATRI booth. She said it was an excellent book, which is high praise indeed, coming from her!

It is my hope that fitness instructors will take advantage of opportunities to get continuing education. Dallas Mania is coming to the Fairmont Hotel in August, and MAAP is hosting Terri Mitchell in September. For more information on these events, check out the MAAP website at www.maapdfw.com

See you in the pool!

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Chris Alexander

continuing education / water fitness

Buoyant Equipment: Dumbbells

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markgrevelding_mug   Foam dumbbells

Nearly every pool has foam dumbbells and participants love to use them! In some places they use dumbbells for every class. Often they grab the largest dumbbells available. Is this a good thing?

The Metroplex Association of Aquatic Professionals hosted Mark Grevelding at a Continuing Education Training on April 21. One of his workshops was a Noodle & Buoy Circuit.  Mark discussed exercise safety with dumbbells. He says that the main thing people do with dumbbells is push them forward and plunge them down.

Every time you submerge foam dumbbells under water, your shoulder stabilizers contract. When you push dumbbells forward you are using them like drag equipment. Your latissimus dorsi and lower trapezius contract isometrically to hold the dumbbells under the water. You get some work for the targeted muscle groups (chest and triceps), but these are not the muscle groups that get most of the work. Plunging the dumbbells down uses the shoulder stabilizers and works the triceps. It is easy to see that too much of this will put undue stress on the shoulders, which can lead to a shoulder injury.

Not only do some people use the dumbbells for every workout, but they also select the largest dumbbells available. They may not be able to keep the shoulders neutral with equipment this buoyant, so the shoulders are elevated. They may not be able to control the dumbbells without throwing their body weight into the exercise. They may have to reduce the range of motion as a result of this loss of control. It is easy to see that too much of this will put undue stress on the shoulders, which can lead to a shoulder injury.

So what are foam dumbbells good for? Well, I’d love to show you some pictures of exercises with the dumbbells, but when I Googled pictures of water exercises with foam dumbbells, all they had were pictures of pushing them forward and plunging them down! So you’ll have to use your imagination. Choose a size that you can manipulate while keeping the shoulders relaxed and the spine in neutral alignment. Relax your shoulders and fingers between each set. Use the dumbbells for only part of a class.

  1. Chest. In a lunge position, lean forward 45 degrees and perform a chest fly, like clapping your hands, or a chest press, pushing at an angle toward the floor.
  2. Lats. In an upright lunge position, perform a lat pull-down, like jumping jacks arms.
  3. Triceps. In a squat or lunge position, with elbows by the waist, perform a triceps extension. Or plunge the dumbbells down at the sides.
  4. Squats and lunges. Hold the dumbbells down at your sides while you perform these exercises to add resistance as you lower the body toward the floor.
  5. Calf raises. Hold the dumbbells down at your sides while you rise up on your toes to add resistance as you lower your heels back to the floor.
  6. Plank and side plank. Hold both dumbbells directly under the shoulders for the plank and one dumbbell directly under the shoulder for a side plank.

There are a lot of muscle groups missing from this list, like the upper back, shoulders and biceps. That’s because foam dumbbells only add resistance when you are pushing them toward the pool floor. The buoyant dumbbells want to float to the surface of the water, which means there is no resistance for any exercise that involves lifting them. Another thing missing from this list is using the buoyant dumbbells for support in a suspended position. When the body is suspended from dumbbells held in the hands or placed under the arms, the shoulders are unacceptably loaded, the tendons are pinched, and nerve damage may occur in the arm pits (Ivens and Holder, Do No Harm, 2011).

The bottom line is that foam dumbbells are a lot of fun and they offer some good resistance for a limited number of exercises. For more information on using dumbbells, including a chart showing which muscles are being trained with various exercises using buoyant equipment, see my new book Water Fitness Progressions. The book also contains lesson plans using dumbbells for both shallow water and deep water classes. The book can be ordered from Human Kinetics (the publisher) or from Amazon.com. Just click on whichever source you wish to order from and the link will take you there.

Mark Grevelding wrote about my book in his Blog. Check out his post at https://fitmotivation.com/blog

See you in the pool!

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Chris Alexander

 

Uncategorized

More about Noodles

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Noodles from Book   Noodle Hydrofit

Noodles are popular in water fitness. Often we think of using noodles for support during suspended exercises in shallow water. Of course we can do those same exercises without a noodle in deep water because we are already supported by a deep water belt. In both shallow and deep water noodles can also be used as a piece of buoyant resistance equipment. Buoyant means that the equipment floats toward the water’s surface. Buoyant equipment is only offering resistance when you are plunging it toward the pool floor.

The colorful noodles available at most pools do not offer a great deal of resistance making them ideal for beginners and for whenever you plan to do many repetitions of an exercise.  When greater resistance is desired, some people tie the noodle in a knotNoodle Knot to increase its surface area. I am not a big fan of that because it makes the noodle curly and useless for any other purpose. A better option is to use the larger more dense foam noodles available from Hydro-Fit. You can also progress to using foam dumbbells instead of noodles.

Since the resistance of a noodle occurs only when you are plunging it toward the pool floor, you need to be aware that you can only work one muscle of a muscle pair with this equipment. Hold the noodle in both hands with the palms facing up and perform an arm curl. You might think you are training the biceps, because that is what you would be training with weighted dumbbells in the gym. But the noodle wants to float to the surface anyway, so you are not using the biceps at all. Pull the noodle down toward the floor as if you are lowering weighted dumbbells and you are using the triceps, because the noodle is resisting that downward movement. Since the “arm curl” works the triceps, I prefer to turn the palms down (which puts less stress on the fingers), press the noodle toward the floor and call the exercise a “triceps extension.” The triceps contract concentrically in this exercise. If you slow down the noodle’s flotation toward the surface of the water, the triceps work eccentrically. If you wish to work the biceps, you may need to use a different kind of equipment.

Noodle resistance exercises can be performed with the noodle held in both hands (make sure the hands are shoulder distance apart), with the noodle held in one hand, and with the noodle under one foot. Some examples of strength training exercises you can do in shallow water with the noodles are:

  1. The chest press is shown in the Hydro-Fit drawing above. The exerciser is performing a rocking horse along with the chest press.
  2. The lat-pull down is being demonstrated by the instructor on the deck. The noodle is held in one hand extended to the side and is pressed down toward the floor.
  3. The squat is shown in the picture with a Hydro-Fit noodle. The noodle is being held down with the hands while the squat is performed, resisting the downward phase of the squat.

Shallow-water exercises with noodles need to be modified for deep water. For example, you cannot perform a rocking horse in deep water. However, you can do a chest press while leaning forward 45 degrees. A flutter kick in this position may help you stabilize while focusing on the pectoral muscles of the chest. Jog while performing the lat pull-down. The noodle will force you to travel sideways creating a challenge for the core muscles to maintain neutral posture while the lats are being trained. You cannot do squats in deep water, but you can place the noodle under one foot and perform a standing leg press.

For a chart showing which muscles are being trained with various exercises using buoyant equipment, see my new book Water Fitness Progressions. The book also contains lesson plans using noodles for both shallow water and deep water classes. The book can be ordered from Human Kinetics (the publisher) or from Amazon.com. Just click on whichever source you wish to order from and the link will take you there. Another resource for exercises with noodles is The Noodle Workout which is available from Hydro-Fit. Click on the Hydro-Fit link to order the booklet.

Have fun with your noodles! See you in the pool!

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Chris Alexander

 

deep water / Pool equipment / Pool noodles / shallow water / water fitness

Water Fitness Progressions

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fullsizeoutput_1e57   I like my class participants. Over the years I’ve heard about their families, their pets, their challenges, and which of my playlists they like. They are more than just class participants, they are friends. I want them to get a good, safe, effective workout every time they come to my class. I don’t want to bore them with the same old routines. I want to challenge them to progress in their levels of fitness. I want to help them make their hearts stronger, to give them an opportunity to improve their muscular endurance, to challenge them mentally, and I want them to have fun doing it.

This means I have to keep learning. That’s why I attend conferences, workshops, and webinars and read water fitness books and articles. One of the things I’ve been looking for is a system for offering progressions. One system that I learned about is periodization. It’s a training tool used by athletes to help them be in the best possible shape during the most challenging season of their sport. Periodization divides the year into 4 seasons, Preseason, Transition Season, Peak Fitness Season and Active Recovery. Why not use this tool to train for the sport of daily living?

My experiments with periodization have become the basis for my new book, Water Fitness Progressions, which has just been published.

Chris Book Cover

Each season has its own focus. In the Preseason we focus on improving posture, performing the exercises with good form, increasing range of motion, doing low intensity intervals, and using the properties of water to create overload. In the Transition Season we improve the quality of our movement by paying attention to how the arms and legs move the water, increase interval training to moderate intensity, and add equipment to sessions of strength training. In Peak Fitness Season we focus on increasing power, performing high intensity interval training (HIIT) and using both concentric and eccentric muscle actions in our strength training with equipment. In Active Recovery we give our bodies a chance to repair any microtrauma that may have occurred during the previous months. We do light cardio-respiratory training, core strength training and have fun activities such as games or relay races to provide a mental break.

The book explains how to do all of this, complete with lesson plans. Each interval lesson plan has 3 versions, a low intensity version, a moderate intensity version and a high intensity (HIIT) version. There are strength training lesson plans using various properties of the water, using buoyant and drag equipment, and focusing on eccentric muscle actions. There is also a section of fun activities.

Thanks to the American College of Sports Medicine, the Aquatic Exercise Association, Pauline Ivens and Stephanie Thielen, who all provided some of the ideas used in this book. My special thanks goes to my water fitness classes, who are my inspiration. The book can be ordered from Human Kinetics (the publisher) or from Amazon.com. Just click on whichever source you wish to order from and the link will take you there.

See you in the pool!

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Chris Alexander

choreography / deep water / Good Posture / Pool equipment / shallow water / water fitness