Contents:
- Medical Video: Water Exercise, Basic Walking (Aquatic Therapy) - Ask Doctor Jo
- The benefits of walking in water
- How to do it?
- Running as usual
- For those of you who want to increase the weight of exercise, you can do this
Medical Video: Water Exercise, Basic Walking (Aquatic Therapy) - Ask Doctor Jo
When you swim in a public swimming pool, have you ever seen some people who are busy walking up and down the pool? Well, it turns out walking in water is not an arbitrary activity. Walking in water is even recommended for some people to overcome health problems. For those of you who can't swim, walking in a swimming pool can provide health benefits. What are the benefits of walking in a swimming pool?
The benefits of walking in water
Reported in the Arthritis Foundation, walking in a swimming pool is suitable for those of you who have joint problems and minimize muscle soreness. Lori Sherlock, an assistant lecturer from West Virginia University in the United States said that walking on water is a good therapy and exercise for people with:
- Joint pain or joint damage
- Movement limitations (as recovery therapy. For example therapy is moving the muscles of the legs)
- Only recovered from injury
- Have bone problems and need exercise low impact
When you walk in water, this condition is different from walking on land. There is resistance between your muscles and water pressure. This makes the muscles work harder to move. Although it makes you work harder, but this condition does not give a big burden to the joints and bones (low impact) You are in trouble. Because, buoyancy from water reduces pressure on your joints and bones. The movement of walking in this water trains your joints and muscles to become active again as before without giving them the risk of major injury.
Especially if you run at the temperature of the pool water that tends to be warm, this can help soothe the pain in your joints, bones, and muscles.
Not only for joint and muscle disorders that you experience, the benefits of walking on water can also improve the fitness of the heart and blood vessels such as the benefits of regular walking on land. When you walk in water you will need more energy to fight water pressure. The heart will be trained harder to channel oxygen throughout the body.
In addition, walking in water also trains the body's balance. When you try to walk in the water, the pool water is not still. There will be waves that can get your body carried to the right or left side. It is in this position that the strength of the body is needed and also the balance of the body to keep moving towards your goal.
The benefits of walking in water which is no less important is to burn more calories than usual walking. Walking on water requires more effort than walking on land. This condition certainly makes walking in water more calories.
According to Dr. Robert Wildre, a physiologist and head of sports rehabilitation at the University of Virginia, water is 800 times denser than air, so this will burn more calories and build more muscle in every movement in water.
For those of you who want to burn calories with water sports, but can not swim, you can start training on foot in this water.
How to do it?
To get the benefits of walking on water, you need to stand up perfectly to walk in the pool. Choose a pool with a minimum height at your waist, not too shallow. Let all your feet move fully submerged under water and resist the pressure of the pool water.The deeper the pool, the more resistance you have to face when walking.
How to do it is quite easy, you only need to walk as usual. Or, in some cases doctors recommend certain movements that patients can do when experiencing joint and muscle disorders.
Running as usual
The position of the body when walking in the water is a straight back and shoulders upright. This straight back requires your abdominal muscles to fight water pressure when moving forward.
For the position of the foot, step as usual with the heel stepping on the pool floor first, then the toes touch the pool floor. In each step, lift your knees higher to involve the abdominal muscles again.
Also swing your hands while walking under water. If you are used to walking 30 minutes on land, you can try walking in water for 15 minutes.
Walking forward is not the only movement that can be done to walk in a pool. You can also try walking backwards and walking sideways. Walking sideways involves more thigh strength than when walking forward or backward.
For those of you who want to increase the weight of exercise, you can do this
To adjust the intensity of your workout walking in water, you can add weight to your ankles and walk at a higher speed. Walk as fast as you can for 30-60 seconds. After walking fast, lower the speed by walking slower for one minute.
After passing one minute, walk again with the maximum speed you can, then reduce the walking speed again for one minute. Do this cycle repeatedly until four times or until you feel really tired.
While doing foot movements like the one above, swing your arms like when walking in water. Or spread your arms sideways to add weight when walking. So the more energy you have to spend to walk in the water.
