Walking is the most used and necessary exercise on the planet,

• It is important for maintaining function.
• Almost everything we do during daily activities involves walking of some kind.
• Walking helps maintain quality in life.
• As the population ages, keeping moving insures a longer period of independence for those people who like to live alone and look after themselves.

Each day starts with some form of walking or shuffling as soon as the feet hit the floor when getting out of bed and, although a variety of other body biomechanics and forms of mechanical travel can be used throughout the day, there is always the necessity to walk in between locations before going back to bed.

Walking is one of life’s first individual challenges.  After learning to crawl, standing and taking a step is the first movement a baby accomplishes alone in an upright position. This is the start of something big – a high point from which to move on throughout life.  Walking is a movement that needs to be protected and enjoyed. Fitness Experts agree that walking is one of the best exercises that can dramatically improve physical health and reduce the risk of premature death.  Walking is key to independence.

Unfortunately as we age we tend to forget the importance of maintaining a good stride length for balance and postural integrity to help maintain good health and remain injury free. One only has to look around to see bad walking habits that can lead to joint problems or be an accident just waiting to happen.

For example:

• People who walk with the toes turned out (the duck walk) or pigeon-toed could be headed for knee or hip surgery.
• People who never pick up their feet, who tend to scuff along the ground, are candidates for a fall.
• Those who walk with their head forward or looking down end up with rounded shoulders and bad posture.
• Then there are those who forget (or have already forgotten) to swing their arms to balance the leg movement.

Fear of Falling:

One of the main reasons people develop poor walking habits is because they are afraid they are going to fall. As stride length decreases the muscles in the legs are affected. A shuffling pattern emerges which prevents the foot from clearing the ground safely, the knees often remain in a bent position in an attempt to counter-balance the smaller movement and the arm swing often becomes non-existent placing the body into imbalance and ready for a fall. 

Research has shown that fear of falling is equal between someone who has already fallen and those who have not yet fallen. Unfortunately this fear increases the chances that they will fall sooner or later and many times the fall happens around or close to home where the terrain is familiar.

According to a new Center of Disease Control (CDC) study published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), an estimated 234,000 people ages 15 and older were treated in U.S. emergency departments (ED) in 2008 for injuries that occurred in bathrooms. Four out of 5 of these injuries were caused by falls—which can have especially serious consequences for older adults.

In 2010, the overall rate of nonfatal fall injury episodes for which a health-care professional was contacted was 43 per 1,000 population. Persons aged ≥75 years had the highest rate (115).  (Ref CDC  www.cdc.gov)

Walking in the water:

Although very unique to land walking – walking in the water yields the same functional benefits as land walking (if performed correctly).

GENERAL EXERCISE vs ATHLETIC RUNNING  PROGRAMS

We all know that commitment to an exercise regime is the key to a healthy lifestyle and that there are more benefits than risks for choosing to exercise on a regular basis. At one time Aquatic Exercise was considered to be of lesser intensity than land exercise, more suitable for a slower, older generation and definitely only for women.  One of the reasons for this thought process was that water was not being used at it greatest potential and exercise testing was limited to placing land exercisers into the water and replicating land exercise testing. This was like testing apples against oranges and did not work.

Today the picture has changed dramatically. Research testing has changed to working with skilled water participants.  Testing takes into consideration the many properties of water and the fact that the arms as well as the legs are key to optimal performance.  Results show that all levels of programming and training may be facilitated with aquatic fitness.  Water exercise can be used to increase strength and intensity by working against the variable resistances of water or using buoyancy to relax and rejuvenate the body.  Water helps to decrease pain in overworked or worn out joints allowing longer and more productive workouts.  All components of fitness can be trained safely in the water with results comparable to, or better than, land.  In fact, since water is 14 times more resistant than air, if an exerciser puts as much effort into a workout in the water as he/she would on land the work out will be more productive and results can be seen faster.

PUMP UP YOUR CLASSES WITH WATER RUNNING

In locker rooms throughout North America you hear men and women bemoaning the fact that they can’t run anymore due to the wear and tear land running places on the lower body.  This provides a great opportunity for the Instructor to advertise the benefits of water  training and add new members to classes.  Not only does the running itself provide functional exercise; but, there are breakdown exercises that target smaller muscle groups that can be added into the program to develop good form.

An aquatic running program may attract a new clientele to your pool. Running is most often associated with a more intense workout so this might appeal to a specific group of athletes (like members of running clubs) as a means of cross training. Basically anyone can learn to run and the best place to start or to balance a program is in the water. Water training may prevent injuries and therefore provide the athlete with more time to train and more years to enjoy their sport. Also, people who run or want to work more intense generally associate aquatic exercise with the older adult and rehabilitation programs so calling a program aquatic running certainly will bring a new clientele to the program (usually younger and wanting to become more fit).

WATER TRAINING BENEFITS EVERYONE

 FROM THE ELITE ATHLETE, THE WEEKEND WARRIOR THROUGH

 TO THE REGULAR PARTICIPANT

• Most athletes experience one or more injuries over the course of their career.  Water exercise is an excellent non-impact medium for recovery and rehabilitation, while maintaining high endurance.
• All athletes are often subject to “overtraining”. Water offers an excellent mode of cross training in a three dimensional environment.
• Where there are issues of decreased flexibility, especially in the lower back and hamstrings, deep water training helps to increase conditioning and flexibility to ALL parts of the body, especially the “core”.
• During severe or inclement weather (heat or cold) when outdoor activities are restricted, water sports movement allows participants to maintain or even increase their endurance levels (increase VO2 max).
• The increased resistance (three dimensional) of water may effectively target train  and tone muscle weak or inflexible groups without causing undue stress in the joints.
• Water Sports Exercise in a small group gives the participants the opportunity to establish group and individual goals in a competitive setting.

Water Training is beneficial because it:

• Decreases muscle soreness due to the massage properties of the water and consequently will speed up recovery time because the water massages the muscles and depletes blood lactate levels (which is the cause muscle soreness)
• Increases core stability because the abdominals are constantly & dynamically engaged (when in good posture and form) throughout an entire program
• Improves static and dynamic balance (but you must train this to improve this)
• Provides natural muscular balance (the weak muscles are naturally  strengthened and the tight muscles stretched because of water’s buoyancy.
• May easily work to overload the musculature but you will need equipment and progression. Most programs fail because Instructors teach the same old routine. The body becomes efficient because the body knows the exercises. WaterART recommends varying the program so that the body is not efficient. There are many ways to train CV (even with running) or muscular strength ( so use a variety of exercises and progressions). Also water exercise design requires more intervals of training (go hard the go easy intensity, go fast then go slower to maintain range of motion and technique). In other words,  a program can’t just be forward running  for 30 minutes otherwise the muscles fatigue prior to the breathing (and the benefits are quickly lost). Another reason to do intervals, (either CV then muscle sets or hard CV then easy CV), is that the muscles get cold when tired or worn out.
• Helps to increase flexibility and range of motion especially the tight muscle groups such as the hamstrings, hip flexors, adductors, pectorals, and erector spinae (low back). This is the key reason runner’s get injured. They simply don’t have a balanced body unless they stretch. The buoyancy of water assists upwards motion so often stretching standing is more popular than laying down on the floor ( which is best when land training). In water, stretching may be performed with a more active range of motion and/or stationary stretching because both techniques are equally effective.
• Can easily extend training duration. It is often a lot easier (for new to exercise people) to do 45 minute duration in water as compared to 45 minute run on land.
• Water is a great medium for training explosive power or plyometrics, speed and more high intensity or ballistic movements because there is the cushioning effect of buoyancy for protection of the joints & ligaments. We can choose to load the body 50% of the body weight or completely unload the body 0 % vertical impact or stress.
• May provide natural relief from sweating and/or overheating especially in the hot and/or humid months of the year.
• Provides new training stimulus or gives variety for the day to day drudgery of training (adaptation provides 30% more efficiency). The more you cross train your body – the better the body is trained.
• Check out the WaterART Fitness Speciality Certifications