Aqua-fitness classes, or water aerobic, provide cardiovascular conditioning and whole-body muscle toning.

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Why is swimming a good low-impact exercise?

Aqua-fitness classes, or water aerobic, provide cardiovascular conditioning and whole-body muscle toning.

A great option for people who like water, but dislike doing laps, and who like class settings, but cannot withstand the high-impact aerobic classes. Water aerobics adds the fluid resistance of water to movements you would perform in daily activities, such as walking, or in on-land athletic training, such as jumping. It is, therefore, functional training that is very useful for building lower body strength. Enroll in a class, or perform some basic moves on your own: start in water that comes to about the bottom of your ribcage, and jog around the pool, incorporating kicks, jumping jacks, strides and knee lifts. Once you are warmed up, gently stretch your leg, hip and lower back muscles. Then, again job around the pool and perform your jumps and strides more quickly, exaggerating the movements. To mix things up a bit, try a tuck jump: from a standing position with your knees and ankles together, pull your knees to you chest. Or, perform a frog jump: begin with your toes, knees and thighs slightly turned out. Bend your arms in a diamond shape, with your fists close to your chest. Push your arms down to your hips while lifting your legs up and into a diamond shape. Then, return to the starting position.

   

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