Emma's Exercise Experiments - Aquafit

Swimming is one of my favourite exercises, I love being in the water. I've tried Aquafit before too. Years ago, my friend Jane and I would throw ourselves into vigorous aqua aerobics and then go for pizza. Good times!

No pizza this time but I'm still looking forward to it. I signed up for 4 weeks of Aquafit at my local pool. £6.40 for 45 minutes.

We did the Aquafit in the diving pool. They raise the floor so the water is only shoulder height. The pool noodles and foam weights were at the ready and Louise, our instructor, was busy sorting out the music. It's a popular exercise with about 20 participants each session.

The exercise was perfect for someone with delicate knees such as myself. Non weight bearing but still quite hard work. After a short warm up Louise led us through various exercises under the water. Some focusing on legs, some on twisting and some on arms. She always gave harder alternatives for those wanting to push themselves more. It was great to be moving in the water to music (synchronised swimming next maybe?!) and it felt really good to be exercising properly again after my knee injury.

My favourite part was always the foam weights. It's really difficult to move fast holding them and you can feel how hard you have to work your arms. Louise instructed us in lots of moves each using different arm muscles. I could hardly move my arms after the sessions. It was great!

Each session went really quickly. Warm up followed by general exercises. Then foam weight exercises and pool noodle work. A few stretches at the end to finish off and it was time to hit the showers. The 4 times I went varied some in what exercises we did but were similar enough that there weren't too many new moves to learn. I liked how the music (faster dance versions of old disco hits mostly) made you want to speed up as you moved and kept you going. Trying to do aquafit whilst also trying to sing along to a pumped up version of I Will Survive was one of the best exercise moments I've had. I loved it.

Aquafit is a great exercise to do if you want to improve your mobility, get fit and exercise in hot weather without getting sweaty! I really enjoyed it.


Previously on Emma's Exercise Experiments:

Gym 

Yoga

Bootcamp

Boxing 

Pilates

Tai Chi 

Pokemon Go