Train yourself to the water! The aquatic environment offers advantages!

2 October, 2013

Initially water was used to drink, wash, cook ... Centuries later it has been used voluntarily and consciously to recreate and recreate activities that involve movement for the practice of physical activity and the improvement of health. Now it's a fitness space where you can develop a total workout or use it as a complement to your routine.

Specifically, in the field of physical activity and sport, the human being has conquered the aquatic environment, and is able to use it to create positive adaptations with regard to the improvement of physical condition, Motive learning or the recovery of pathologies of various organic systems.
Fitness in the aquatic environment has many possibilities focused on promoting sports habits and the development of conditional skills, as it allows us to apply intense workout burdens with a very moderate injury risk derived from mechanical benefits.
Principles and characteristics
The aquatic environment has characteristics and principles that make it a mechanically adequate and comfortable space to practice physical activity, because it allows to acquire and improve the conditional capacities.
First of all, because it offers resistance to movement. Water creates resistance to body movement due to the viscosity it has. This workload can be modified depending on the length of the lever, the surface of contact with the water or the speed of the movement.
Another useful principle of water is inertia, because it allows us to take advantage of the force that is exercised to move a resting body, as well as stop it or change the direction of movement. It is also suitable for working different muscular groups in the water.
Third, we have the balance, the strength of the body to maintain body alignment. Water allows us to adopt very different positions, so that we can cause many stimuli on the groups that maintain the position, such as the abdomen.
Another principle that offers advantages in the water is that of action / reaction. After an action there is an equal reaction in the opposite direction. When we make a movement with a part of the body in the pool, there is a force that moves it towards the opposite direction. This allows working opposite muscle groups with the same movement.
In addition, there is an increase in surface area in the water. That is, the contact surface gives rise to the possibility of increasing the intensity of the work.
The floating principle also allows us to work better. In the water we are subjected to two opposing forces, that of gravity, which brings us closer to the bottom, and the vertical, which moves us to the surface. Most people tend to float, depending on body size, density, pulmonary capacity, and amount of fat.
Finally, we will also take advantage of hydrostatic pressure. In the water there is a slight pressure that holds the body and can be very beneficial for the work of physical activity in populations with special needs or in rehabilitation. In addition, it stabilizes the joints, which favors proprioceptive works and circulatory improvement.
What can I improve on water?
These concepts, organized properly, facilitate the possibility of working the different conditional capacities such as strength, resistance or speed.
In the case of the force, this capacity can be trained taking advantage of the resistance of the water, the inertia of the movement and the effect of action / reaction through different angles of movement according to the muscular segment that is wanted to work. We will use different materials with specific surfaces and various rhythms of execution.
Resistance ability allows continued physical effort, and to train it, continuous movements that work in the cardiovascular system, such as the four styles or specific exercises such as skippings or jumps, need to be done.
If we want to improve in speed, we will train with anaerobic resistance, that is, with movements as fast as possible at a certain time or with certain repetitions in the shortest possible time.
In order to work on water flexibility, techniques such as stretching are used, the purpose of which is to elongate the muscles, give mobility to the different segments and at the same time avoid injuries.
As complete as the room
There is a tendency to believe that training in water has limitations to achieve aesthetic or physical fitness goals. That's why work in this environment is used with programs related to swimming learning, health improvement, injury recovery or the preparation of sports tests. Nothing farther from that. Swimming training can achieve the same results as training in the fitness rooms, only the variables we have described need to use properly. You can do it with integral water training or as a complement to your fitness training or your favorite directed activities.

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