Are you looking to mix up your fitness routine? Have you given much thought to pool exercises? Whether you are looking to start something new or you are looking for a workout program that will be easier on your joints, similar to my Easy 30 min Swim Workout, these easy pool exercises will be just what you need!
Swim workouts and pool exercises are a great way to add new dimensions to your fitness routine. These types of workouts are full of benefits and not the negatives that sometimes come from your typical non water exercises.
Easy Pool Exercises – The Trick to Losing Weight with Joint Pain
Easy pool exercises are ideal for anyone that needs a fitness program with less impact. Some people who could benefit from swim workouts are those with arthritis or joint issues, pregnant women, anyone with balance issues, anyone who suffers from chronic pain, those who are new to working out, etc.
Do You Need Any Special Equipment for These Easy Pool Exercises?
In addition to swimwear, you should have the following equipment available for your water workouts (Amazon affiliate links):
Which Swim Workouts are Best?
Here is a list of some really great easy pool exercises for you and some of the benefits that you will get from them.
Water offers heavier resistance than air, which means that your muscles are more engaged and you are burning more calories than if you were doing typical workouts. Also worth noting is that the buoyancy of the water provides support for your joints and muscles, which means that with each workout, your strength and flexibility is increasing and improving.
Freestyle Swimming
Freestyle swimming is a great exercise in itself. For beginners it is a great way to get started. Swimming freestyle at an easy, medium or hard pace for 25 to 50 yards at a time can provide great benefits.
Walking in Water
Walking in water may seem like it just an easy thing to do, but the reality is, walking in water is a great exercise! Here is a great walking in water workout routine for you to try out:
Starting in waist deep water, stand tall with good posture and walk heel to toe while engaging your core. Continue walking like this for 10 minutes.
Once you get more comfortable with this exercise, you may be interested in adding weight with ankle/wrist weights to add resistance.
Back Wall Glide
The back wall glide is a great way to work your core and activate the muscles in your back and lower body. Here is how to do a back wall glide:
Facing the pool ledge, press your feet into the wall with your knees tucked into your chest. Push off from the wall and float as far as possible. Stand up, walk to the pool edge again and repeat the process. Do this exercise for 10 minutes.
Jumping Jacks
We all remember jumping jacks from when we were kids, right? These are the same, except in water!
Again, the water provides great resistance, which means that this exercise, when done in water, provides more muscle building and calorie burning benefits than on land.
Stand in chest deep water and do 8-12 reps, 2 times.
Leg Kicks
Leg kicks are a great exercise for your core and your legs. If you are new to leg kicks, here is a little description of how to do them.
Hold onto a kickboard and kick your legs while moving throughout the pool.
There are several different kick types that you can choose:
- Flutter kicks
- Breastroke kicks
- Scissor kicks
Do each kick for 2-3 minutes.
Those exercises will give you a great start to using the pool for weight loss workouts.
