The total body under water is the latest fitness trend. It helps your heart rate and muscles building. Underwater workout often performs in health and rehabilitation centers. It helps age old people to exercise comfortably to relieve arthritic joints. It is also a restart way of workout for people who had injury or surgery. Because when the joint cannot cope with regular exercise toward gravity, underwater work can help.

During strength session, muscles resistance by push-ups or body weight may trigger muscle protein structure. Later it helps to build lean muscle mass and boost metabolism.

What is Underwater workout?

Underwater body workout is very refreshing, and you will not feel the sweatiness during this workout. Consider hydrating yourself at constant intervals even you are underwater.

One more important point to notice is you need to warm up before starting underwater. You can do the stretching outside of the water pool. Warm up is necessary if the pool water is colder than room temperature. You can do slight cardio warm-up in water, such as gentle jog and breaststroke.

Who Can Do The Underwater Workout?

All age people who are comfortable with water can do underwater exercise. Earlier water exercise introduced for older people for joints pain and healing injuries. Recently, water workout has gain popularity from all ages individual as it gives many benefits for health.

Best Exercises for Underwater Workout

For the underwater workout, you can do speed, strength activity. Even if you don’t know the swimming, then also you can do water exercise. Nowadays aqua training became a buzzword in fitness. Even water resistance training has shown effective than heavy metal lifting workout. Here are the useful underwater workouts.

Underwater Handstand

Doing a handstand underwater is effortless and can be fun as compared to doing on land. If you have a pool or lake around you can do this workout.

Stand underwater which should have at least 4 feet depth of water.
By flipping upside down sink your body in water.
Put your hand firmly on the pool bottom.
Slowly move your legs straight upward. It should be out of the water and point toward toes.
Try balancing yourself with your abs to keep yourself up.
Hold this pose for 5 seconds according to your convenience. Keep your feet together, toes pointed and get back to starting point.
Keep looking upward instead of looking at the bottom. It will help to balance the body more straight.
Repeat this workout ten times.

Medicine Ball Sprint Underwater

Hold a 12lb medicine ball and walk underwater in the shallow part of your pool.
Walk with the ball towards the deep end.
As you enter inside of the water and start running, try to hold your breath. Use the ball as a weight to carry.
You can run for 5 to 10 seconds. If you are comfortable with holding breath for longer, you can increase the time.
Again hold the ball and start running back toward shallow.
If you feel like breathing, anytime, you can drop the ball and go back upward to breathe air.
Do this work out for three times.

Underwater Jumps (Each Leg)

Perform underwater jumps in the pool’s shallow end. Make sure you are well grounded while doing this workout.
Now with a jump, stand up straight and start moving forward with right leg. Keep your body upright.
Try to keep the balance as you go down and inhale.
Specifically by using your foot heel push up and get back to starting form by as you exhale.
Do this work out for 20 times for each leg.
You can use a water noodle for balancing and dumbbells for additional weights.

Squats Underwater

Do the squats in the shallow end of the water pool in standing position.
You can use any free weight for this workout (you can hold 3 – 4-pound weight).
To begin with squat, bend your knees and stand straight. As you stand, move your shoulders and hand upward with holding weight.
You can squat down as much as you feel comfortable. Do it slowly and repeat.

High Knee Sprints Underwater

High knee sprints underwater can burn 300 calories and build flexibility and fitness. It works same like running on land. It helps to relieve the joint’s stress while producing body resistance. It helps to enhance the challenging run underwater.

Your underwater sprints can differ from 20 minutes to 1 hour. It depends on your fitness level.

Run in water from one end to another end.
Lift your knees with each step while your arm moves ahead and back at 90-degree angle.
There is one difference in water sprinting that your hands remain open rather than cupped with thumbs up.
You can run as you do on land but take longer steps.
Make sure to balance an upward position without bending forward.
Warm up and calm down after 5 – 10 minutes of running underwater.

Challenges for underwater sprinting

You should know good swimming to perform challenging and active run.

You will need a specific weight belt to balance upright posture.

Tread Underwater

This workout involves engaging all muscles group as you float. Try to swim for 3 minutes. Tread water considered an essential component of swimming.

While treading, let your body stay in the upright pose.
If you are not in a vertical position, technically it is not treading but swimming.
You should go forward to achieve lift and thumbs up.
Breath slowly, it will help to reduce exhaustion and increase energy level.
Let your torso remain motionless as your legs and hands keep you floating.
Rotate your hands slowly keep your little fingers facing when your arms move backward and forward. Push the water from your way.
You can move your legs fast in circular motion. Even you can try flutter kick or frog kick. It helps to drive your body upside, counteracting gravity.
You can also try the rotator kick, in which you need to move legs in a different direction.
Time is important. As you kick out one leg, the other leg should come in.
It may difficult, but once you start a regular practice, you can master in it.

Knee-to-chest exercise

This workout helps to stretch and strengthen legs, hips and lower back muscles.

To perform this exercise stands on one leg.
Move another leg forward and slightly bend it.
Let your one hand lose straight while another hand should be holding poolside.

Dips Underwater

This workout target chest, triceps, back, and shoulders muscles.

To do this workout put your palms flat on poolside.
Make your arm straight and do some hop and rise according to your convenience.
Let this position remain for a few seconds.
Put your elbows close to your body.
Drop yourself until your elbows set 90-degree angles.
Make sure your feet should not touch the bottom.
Up and down yourself for 10 – 20 repeats.

Arm Curls

The arm curls underwater help to strengthens biceps and triceps.

To perform this workout stand on feet lightly turned out and stretched more extensive to make shoulders slightly submerged.
Place your arm so that palm faces your chest.
It should be some inches away from fingertips.
Next, stretch your arm out to sides.
Your arm should position like a parallel to bottom and palm should face front. Close your arm to finish one rep.
Repeat this workout for 20 times.

Pool Plank

Doing planks on land is well known for core strengthening. If your upper body is not strong enough to do the plank, it may get difficult to hold it for long. Even if you stay, you will get abdomen pain. But underwater that all problem changes. The push and pull of water increase the core challenge.

Stand on the pool bottom to perform plank underwater.
Hold a water log upright in both hands.
Squeeze the log straight down in the water and bend forward till your body move in even incline position. Make sure your head remains out of the water.
Try to hold this pose for 1 – 2 minutes.

Underwater Cycling

To perform this exercise, you will need waterproof cycle or bike.
Usually, you will get it in your underwater workout session.
This cycle doesn’t have speed adjustment, so no need to worry about maintaining the pace.
This workout is simple; you need to sit on cycle and keep your feet on pedals.
Pedal into the water. You need to do pedaling from start to end by using all core muscles.
It is perfect to recover from injury because water has 0 gravity.
This exercise sustains body weight and helps obese people with muscles problem.
The cycling exercise helps to increase blood flow to muscles and reduce the feeling of body stress.
Continuing with this workout can provide more flexibility and muscles relaxation.

Benefits of Total Body Underwater Workout

The workout is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. Regular exercise helps to raise energy levels, weight loss and make you happy about your appearance.Â There are many kinds of a workout, but the underwater workout is the best option during summer. Underwater exercise provides excellent benefits such as

Water Workout Allows The Minimum Impact

Running is an excellent workout, but it can be difficult for your joints as you age or you have any previous injury. The lightness of water decreases the harmful impact. Water exercise raises your heart rate with minimal chance of injury. It also provides fast recovery for muscles and joint injury which prevent jumping or running.

Enhanced Resistance

Underwater workout helps to burn more calories than extreme cardio exercise. Water helps to provide extra resistance in the body and make you comfortable for weight training and cardio workout. The body resistance can boost a notable number of muscles growths. The excellent thing about this exercise is you can modify the strength by using various pose or strokes. It will let you customize your workout practicing many sets of weights.

Advanced Mobility

If you are experiencing lower mobility because of previous injury or age, water workout can help you. It will make you productive and reduce you injury trauma. As you do regular exercise, your joints strengthen, and you will improve the ability to move comfortably. It will add a significant change to your lifestyle, and you will experience more mobility on land and water.

Naturally Refreshing

Workout on land may exhaust you, and you will become restless. But the underwater workout is beneficial to your body. The water temperature is lesser than human body temperature. So, while exercising in water if you become tired or sweat, you will not require breaks because you are already in the cold water. The water will calm down your increasing temperature, and you will enjoy the workout.

Excellent Balance

Underwater workout benefits your weaker muscles. As you increase your strength, your body will get better stabilize. It also restores your damaged tissues which give an excellent balance while swimming and standing on the ground.

Overall Body Workout

Yes, water exercise benefits to improve overall body strength. As you try the above work on a regular basis, you will notice a significant change in your whole body. No matter what exercise you do, but it will gain some resistance from water. It will boost oxygenation and muscles growth. With strength, you will also get muscles tone, definition and mass in your whole body.

Improves Mental Health

Water workout promotes mental health. Swimming can enhance mood in men and women. It helps to reduce anxiety in people with fibromyalgia. Even there are specific exercises for the pregnant woman which allows mother and unborn baby to relax. It makes an overall positive effect on mental health. Water workout can create an excellent family connection in disable people.

Tips To Follow While Underwater Workout

Stay in waist-high water and don’t go more in-depth if you don’t know swimming. So you can firmly stand in water bottom and let your leg muscles balance your weight.
During underwater workout wear water shoes and webbed gloves. Choose the gloves made of neoprene. It helps to gain traction and strengthen arm movements. You can easily find it in sports accessories stores or on online sites.
Drink plenty of water before and after an underwater workout. You may get dehydration in the pool also. It depends on your health and fitness level.
Before beginning workout, you need to pass the underwater swim test. Learn to balance the stroke, so that you can swim fast in less time. In case if you slip and drop in water, you should be able to swim comfortably and come upward.
Learn to hold breath underwater for specific situation otherwise; you will risk your life.

The underwater workout is an excellent choice for physical and mental health. Keep practicing water workout for staying more active. Don’t forget to take your doctor or expert advice if you have pain or injury.

Total Body Underwater Workout : Best Exercises for Underwater Workout