The Health Benefits of Water Aerobics

Are you looking for a new activity to get some exercise and enjoyment into your routine? It can be hard to stick to an exercise routine. Fitness clubs see a consistent retention rate of only around 70%, and that’s just the people who joined! If you’re looking for a fun way to get your body moving that you’ll actually stick to, look no further. Water aerobics are becoming more and more popular, and they’re great for all age groups!

Let’s talk about them.

The Top 8 Benefits of Water Aerobics

Water aerobics is a fun, easy way to get your body moving. It consists of being submerged, usually about waist deep, in water and moving your body in various ways to take on the water’s resistance.

Water aerobics is a healthy mix of cardiovascular and muscular training, and it puts your whole body to work! What are the benefits, and why should you get started with water aerobics as soon as possible? Well, there are plenty of reasons, but here are just a few of them.

1. Cardiovascular Health

Water aerobics is an excellent way to get into shape. You’re moving your whole body, and if you’re in deep enough water, you’re never fully at rest! Even treading water keeps your heart rate elevated.

Cardiovascular health is absolutely critical to overall health, especially for older populations.

Keeping your heart healthy is crucial to living a long, healthy life. 1 out of every 4 deaths in the US are linked to heart disease, so cardio work is important! Luckily, water aerobics is a great way to keep your heart in good health!

2. Joint Health

Unfortunately, it’s the sad truth that over 30% of adults aged 45-64 have some joint pain. There are many factors involved in this, but continuous stress on certain joints will usually lead to chronic pain.

Water aerobics is a joint-friendly sport with very low impact. Runners can just as easily get the same cardiovascular benefits, and lifters can easily get the same strength benefits. However, this comes at a potentially greater risk to their joint health than with underwater exercise.

When you’re in the water, all you need to do to move is push water out of your way. You aren’t forcefully thrusting heavy weights over your head or putting pressure on your ankles with every step.

3. Muscular Endurance

Any activity you do in the water comes with muscular endurance. Your body will adapt to keeping your head above the water for longer periods of time, which can easily lead to a decrease in muscular pain over time!

Lower repetitions with higher weight will make you stronger more quickly, but lower-intensity sustained motions will increase your physical endurance dramatically.

4. Weight Loss

This is an obvious one, but you may not realize to what extent! Water aerobics can burn between 500 and 1000 calories per hour! Compare that to walking, which will only get you between 210 and 360!

Water aerobics is ranked as one of the highest calorie-burning exercises out there, right next to lap swimming! But, as anybody who has done them will know, water aerobics are more fun!

5. Increased Flexibility and Mobility

When you’re underwater, every movement you make has more resistance than you’re used to when you just move on land.

This gives your body resistance in directions it isn’t yet adapted to, which will make you more flexible over time.

Some of the movements in water aerobic workouts will force you to move into positions your body isn’t yet used to, which will in turn lead to greater flexibility.

6. Interaction

New forms of social interaction are always a great addition to anybody’s life. If you’re doing water aerobics in a public facility, you’ll get to meet new people and have some great new experiences.

If you have an at-home water aerobic facility, doing these activities with friends or family is just as enjoyable as taking classes, and it’s a great way to strengthen bonds and get healthy together!

The best part is, almost anybody can do them! If you’re able to remain standing in water or safely submerged, you can do water aerobics in some form! This makes it an excellent, family-friendly activity that can bring multiple generations into the fun!

7. Cooling Effect

Exercising, in general, increases your body temperature, makes you sweat, and makes you feel uncomfortable due to the heat.

If you’ve never worked out in the summer sun before, everybody knows what it was like to play tag outside for too long as a kid on summer vacation. Who wants that?

Well, take that out of your mind when it comes to water aerobics!

There is no better exercise to do in the middle of the summer for those who don’t like getting too sweaty.

8. Enjoyment

This is honestly the most important one. Nothing beats the benefit of having your own leisure on your own time.

Leisure and exercise have huge benefits for your mental health, too! Water aerobics can improve your sleep, reduce your anxiety or depression, increase your focus, and even lower your cortisol levels, making it an excellent stress reliever!

Even without all those relieving benefits, it’s still very enjoyable! Once you develop a normal habit and see how easy it is on your body, you’ll fall in love!

Get Started Today!

Water aerobics is a safe, fun, and healthy way to get some quality activity into your life.

If you’re interested in using a pool at your home, check out the latest trends and get what you need for your aerobic adventures today!