Why are shoes and water exercise mitts so very important – well they help you to balance, stand tall and optimize your training benefits. So many people miss the many benefits of water exercise and simply wear a bathing suit – but this is not a swim class. We are working vertical balance, posture and core strength. Let’s review some tips to dress for success.
Why Do You Need Shoes in the water ?
Unlike swimming, aquatic fitness is vertical exercise where resistive training helps participants become and remain sufficiently fit to enjoy their daily activities. Because of our generally vertical position, posture and good body alignment are the cornerstones of fitness. Shoes provide more stability and traction for an upright stance when moving through water. They provide protection by reducing impact when rebounding in shallow water. The shoe also creates a larger surface area of “push” to create additional resistance whether in shallow and/or deep water exercise programs.
How can we encourage wearing shoes?
Talk it up or make a handout for your participants. WaterART has many PDF download on our WP member website or general information website. Just ask me and I am happy to email this information so that you may post and circulate this information.
Let’s Examine a few reasons Aquatic Fitness shoes should be required in the pool.
#1 Safety: An Instructor’s or Trainer’s first priority in any program is safety both in and out of the pool! Shoes help prevent accidental slips and falls on the deck, in the shower and in the pool. How many of your clients are elderly? Imagine the serious consequence of falling and breaking a bone for an elderly client! Even your younger clients may badly sprain a joint should they slip or fall.
Shoes are important because clients need more stability training. Stability and balance training are inherently linked. The better balanced and more stable a person is, the more comfortable, successful and happy they will be in your programs.
#2 Protection for the feet.
Shoes help prevent infection. Walking barefoot in a pool, shower area or dressing room creates the opportunity for picking up irritating conditions like Athlete’s Foot or Plantar Warts. These are often difficult to heal and may be painful.
The rough and smooth areas of a pool floor present the potential for injury as participants perform travel patterns and other mobility exercises. Shoes help protect clients from stubbing their toes, scraping their heels, or even cutting their feet on a raised edge.
Diabetes is a common medical condition found in aquatic participants since many come to exercise in the comfort and relative privacy of water. Diabetics need to take special care of their feet and should follow the general rule that shoes are worn at all times to prevent injury.
Protecting the joints. Although water is a low-impact medium for an effective workout; there is always some impact which travels through the ankles, knees, hips, and low back with every rebound step. Those with joint issues often prefer working in a transitional depth to reduce impact on their joints. However, at this depth they may not be strong enough to push the extra volume of water and get a good workout. Instead, wearing shoes provides the option to move to shallower water. They can now work in a more beneficial depth providing added protection against impact.
#3 Helping Clients gain the most results from their workout! Shoes can help increase traction which translates into increased speed, force, power and caloric expenditure. Extra speed and power generate a higher intensity workout. Those focusing on weight management will gain “more downward resistance” because they will engage more lower body muscles which in turn burn more calories. Especially advanced clients will be able to challenge their musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems much more effectively.
#4 Show professionalism! We are the leaders and role models for our clients. We need to be professional and safe ourselves. Instructors and trainers need to wear aquatic fitness shoes and encourage others to do the same. If we do not take care of our own bodies, how can we expect clients to listen to us as we offer advice on how they should take care of themselves?
Other notes on Shoes……
How long should the shoe last?
A lot depends on their care. Air and pool temperature as well as the content (chlorine, saline etc) of the pool water can affect their life span. Of course the biggest factor is how often they are used during the week. Ideally they should be rinsed out each time after pool use, just as with bathing suits, mitts and other aquatic clothing. They should also be dried correctly – preferably in an open air space. Left in a locker or the trunk of a car, they will not dry out quickly enough and material rot or mould can set in.
What is the best depth for shoes? Both in shallow or deep-water, shoes will increase resistance on the lower limbs. They increase the surface area of the foot as it travels through the water resulting in increased drag on the legs, with greater muscle conditioning and cardiovascular results. In deep water, some shoes (such as Crocs) “float”. The user has to work to “anchor down” their feet against this buoyancy. The result is better core conditioning (abdominals and low back), and increased hip/leg strength.
What type of shoe is best?On land, shoes are a must for successful workouts, whereas in the water, most individuals do not realize the same need to “dress for success”. When choosing an aqua shoe, cost is often a factor.
Technology and research has increased considerably over the past 20 years and specific aqua shoes are now available for both instructors and participants. There is a wide variety of shoes to choose from and the criterion must be: “How do you wish to use them”?
Instructors should wear a sports shoe if teaching on deck for protection against impact and slipping. These shoes must stand up to more wear and tear but, most importantly, be supportive to the foot and ankle. There are several makes of “aerobic” style shoes as well as athletic sandals that are specifically designed for this type of dual deck/water use.
The regular participant who stays in the water throughout the program should (minimally) wear an aquatic sock in the water. There are many more choices from the slip-on beach shoe through to Sports sandal or the instructor shoe previously mentioned. Once a client has experienced wearing shoes for the water workout, their value as a fitness aid becomes obvious, and it doesn’t take long before they upgrade to a better quality shoe.
