Free Water Aerobic Routines
Water aerobics routines give you a low-impact alternative to many popular exercises like running or lifting weights.
Bring your speakers to the pool and blast your favorite tunes while you do a water aerobics workout. Taking your workout from the gym to the pool will give you a little vacation from the clanking of weights and buzzing of treadmills. It also gives you a low-impact workout.
Use a free water aerobics routine for inspiration to start working out in the pool. You might need a little time to become accustomed to these workouts because water provides a completely different type of resistance from regular weight training. No matter what direction you move in, water will resist you.
Whether you're injured, bored with your current routine or simply want to spend more time at the pool, a water aerobics workout will benefit your body.
Read more: List of Water Aerobic Exercises
Jillian Michaels Water Aerobics
Jillian Michaels, the renowned personal trainer and television personality, has a water aerobics workout on her website. Do each of these moves for 30 seconds before moving onto the next one.
Otter Roll: Lie on your back, hugging an inflatable ball. Float in the water with your legs straight. Roll over onto the top of the ball, the roll onto your back again.
Ball Lever: Float on your stomach, holding an inflatable ball in front of you with your arms straight. Your legs should be straight out behind you. Pull the ball in under you so that you're floating on top of the ball. Bring it back out in front of you to complete one rep.
Water Crunches: Stand in the pool, leaning your back against one of the walls of the pool. Lean back on your elbows and raise your legs up towards the surface of the water with your legs straight. Tuck your knees in towards your body and then extend your legs back out.
Pike Scull: Starting at the shallow end of the pool, lift your legs up so that your toes are out of the water. Keep your knees straight. Let your hips sag down in the water, keeping your head and toes above. Keep this "V" shape with your body and use your arms to swim down to the deep end and back.
Side Leg Raises: Stand in waist-high water and grab the wall of the pool with both hands. Raise one leg out to the side towards the surface of the water, as high as you can. Keep the knee straight. Lower the leg and then switch sides.
Read more: How Many Calories Are Burned by Water Aerobics?
ACE Fitness Water Aerobics
The American Council on Exercise, a leading authority in personal training and group fitness, developed a free water aerobics workout for you to try. There are two sets of exercises in the workout; each set has four exercises. In each of these sets you'll do three exercises for a minute each, followed by aqua running for three minutes.
Back Wall Glide: Face the wall of the pool and put your feet on the wall with your knees bent. Lean back and kick off the wall, floating on your back until you stop moving. Then, put your feet on the bottom and run back to the wall.
Chest Fly: Standing in neck-deep water, bring your arms up to shoulder-height and out to the side. Push your hands together in front of you, keeping your arms straight. Then, pull your arms apart and force them back to the sides.
Front-to-Back Shoot Out: Don't let your feet touch the ground during this exercise. Lie on the surface of the water on your back. Tuck your knees into your chest and roll forward onto your stomach. Then, kick your legs out behind you and reach your arms forward so that you're floating on your stomach.
Running: Jog through the water at a steady pace for three minutes.
Side Wall Glide: Stand next to a wall in the pool, facing it with your right side. Grab the wall with your right hand and put your feet on the wall. Kick off the wall and float on your left side for as long as you can, then put your feet on the bottom of the pool and side-shuffle back to the wall. Repeat on your left side.
Arm Scoop Up and Back: Stand in neck-deep water. With your palms facing up, bring your arms out to the sides towards the surface of the water. At the top, flip your palms so that they're facing down and press your hands back down to your sides.
Side to Side Shoot Out: Don't let your feet touch the bottom of the pool during this exercise. Floating in the water, lift your legs up and tuck your knees into your chest. Lean to the right and shoot your legs out to the left. Bring your knees back in so that your body is upright again. Then, shoot your legs out to the right and come back to center.
Running: Jog in the pool at a moderate pace for three minutes.
Aqua Jogging
Running in the pool will help you stay in shape while you're recovering from an injury because it's very low-impact. Try out this aqua jogging workout, which last for 20 minutes at varying intensities:
Minutes 1 to 3: Jog slowly up and down the pool without letting your feet touch the bottom.
Minutes 3 to 9: Pick up the pace but don't work so hard that holding a conversation would be impossible.
Minutes 9 to 12: Pick up the intensity so that holding a conversation would be difficult because you're breathing so hard.
Minutes 12 to 18: Jog with less intensity so that you're once again able to hold a conversation.
Cool down by running very slowly for the last two minute.