The scene: Los Caballeros Racquet and Sports Club in Fountain Valley, Calif.
It is late afternoon and it might seem to a passing observer that Debbie Wilson, 31, and her friend Laura McKenna, 30, are hardly doing anything vigorous in the pool, except some jumping jacks.
But submerged in water, their purple swimsuit-covered torsos are striving for balance, legs are kicking intensely, arms pushing strongly. Poolside, Raul Steckbauer, the instructor, speaks loudly enough for the dozen or so people to hear his short cues.
“Scissors!”
Moments later, “Flutter kicks!”
Welcome to the new and improved cool world of water fitness. Ditch the images of grannies doing slow-motion aerobics to Glenn Miller. Think men and women from 20 to 50 pushing resistance buoys in sportslike drills or performing a step routine to Crystal Method.
Thanks to scientific research on the benefits of water-based exercise, the creation of new resistance gadgets and gear and aggressive educational efforts from water-fitness organizations, a growing number of health clubs nationwide have either started a new water-fitness program or expanded the variety of classes, said Mary Sanders, exercise science researcher specializing in water fitness at the University of Nevada, Reno.
In contemporary classes, you might find a 25-year-old mountain bicyclist wanting to cross-train, a 30-year-old marathoner recovering from a serious ankle injury, a 47-year-old high-impact aerobics enthusiast who wants a less jarring exercise, a 53-year-old weekend warrior who seeks to improve his strength and flexibility for racquetball and golf.
Classic water-fitness classes tailored for adults, seniors and people with medical conditions are still available. Just don’t call these classes “water aerobics.”
Christine Grocki, program director at the Sporting Club at Lakeshore Towers by 24-Hour Fitness in Irvine, Calif., is one of those fitness professionals trying to break the stereotype of water fitness as strictly easy and light. Toward that end, she has given her thrice-weekly class at the club’s outdoor pool the kind of name that calls to mind Janet Evans instead of Esther Williams: HydroPower.
“It’s an advanced workout, but it can be modified to all levels,” Grocki said. “We also have a class especially for pre- and postnatal women.
“I use hand buoys–which provide resistance, webbed gloves to increase the surface area the participants move.”
Unlike water-aerobics classes of the past, the movements aren’t rigidly choreographed to a steady beat. Music is in the background to enhance, rather than to set the pace.
Grocki recommends water exercise as cross-training: “Your body can handle only so much pounding and tearing so that eventually, you either have to take days off from the gym or find a non-impact exercise alternative that includes cardiovascular as well as resistance training,” she said.
Wilson, of Fountain Valley, runs on a treadmill and rides an exercise bike regularly at her gym. But her health club doesn’t have a pool. When she got a gift certificate for a three-month workout at Los Caballeros, she jumped at the chance to take a deep-water fitness class and ended up enjoying it immensely on the first try.
“It’s wonderful,” Wilson said, after emerging from the pool. “I got my heart rate up, and I felt like I was using my muscles, especially those in the shoulders. I’m going to take it twice a week.”
For McKenna, of Westminster, Calif., the deep-water class was the perfect way to restart a regular fitness routine after a period of being sedentary. “It’s good to get back into exercise,” she said, looking exhilarated after her first class. “I thought it was going to be easy.”
It seems many others are turning to water fitness as well. Water workouts have grown 20 percent each year for the past several years partly because of the diversity of offerings, said John Spannuth, president of the United States Water Fitness Association, an industry organization. “I’ve seen sprinters trying to build explosiveness in shallow water, long-distance runners running in deep water and body builders and weight lifters working on muscle strength and muscle endurance,” he said.
Even military organizations, universities and colleges are offering fitness classes usually found only in YMCAs, community programs and health clubs.
Instructors are adapting many land exercises to water, Spannuth said.
Classes are designed to address one or a combination of specific fitness objectives such as cardiovascular conditioning, muscle strength, muscle endurance, flexibility and coordination. Health clubs that are on the ball give classes descriptive names so members can determine if a class is right for them.
“Yoga that’s all wet” and “Water T’ai Chi,” for example, target balance, flexibility and mind-body awareness.
