Water Aerobics

I know I said that I wanted to try out new workouts/exercises, and I am sorry it has taken me so long to blog about them.  I have tried several different types in the last couple weeks. I want to start off with water aerobics.

A lot of people have the misconception that water aerobics is for elderly people. I have had that misconception before. Why do people think that? Well truth is that there are a lot of elderly people who do water aerobics. I will tell you why.  When you workout in water you take a lot of tension off your muscles and joints.  Once when I watched a movie about training for a marathon, one of the athlete's broke her foot. She couldn't run for several weeks, but she was able to run in the water because it took a lot of the weight off of the foot.  Basically anything you can do on land you can do in water, without straining your body as much.

Who can do water aerobics?

Young people

Old people

Heck even the boys from 1D can (for all you One Direction lovers out there)

And you can do water aerobics if you are pregnant.

You can take a water aerobics class or do it on your own. You can use equipment or just use your body.  Of course you need to have water (haha) but there are options for that as well.

Outdoor pool

Above ground pool

Indoor pool

or the ocean

I have never taken a water aerobics class. I did it on my own in my pool.  I found several places online with water aerobics tutorials.  Here is a link to a few ideas for a pool workout. 

Water aerobics has a lot of health benefits. As I mentioned before the water takes off stress from your body. In fact, it takes off 90% of your body weight. You can find more benefits here.


I am not a swimmer. I am not a very good swimmer. I had some near death experiences in water as a young child so for a long time I was hesitant to swim around in the water.  Don't get me wrong, I know how to swim.  But I am not a very confident swimmer.

We have a pool where we live and my kids love to swim. Since summer started we have been at the pool every day. I decided to take that time at the pool and improve my swimming. I also decided to try out some water aerobics. Let me just tell you that swimming is exhausting, and I have woken up sore every morning. It may not tone you but swimming definitely works your muscles.

I want to share with you some of the exercises I have been doing in the pool.  We don't have a very deep pool. The deepest it gets is 4 1/2 feet deep.  One thing I do is walk or run around the pool.  It is really hard and you don't go very fast. I will lift my legs as high as I can as I am walking.

Another thing I do is the wave maker. You are in the water and hold on the side of the pool with one hand and the other is under the water against the wall. You kick your feet back (together) like a dolphin. It really works your legs.

I try to do laps around the pool. My arms get tired really fast doing that. Sometimes I doggie paddle around the pool. Other times I swim under water. I haven't done any aerobics with noodles or water weights. I just try to find exercises I can do with my body.

Even though I have woken up really sore every day after going to the pool, I feel a difference in my body. I am not toning it by swimming but I do feel like I am thinning out in places. I also feel like I am working muscles that I don't work when I run or weight lift.

I will definitely add more water aerobics into my routine this summer.