The benefits of walking in water for your health

When you swim in a public swimming pool, have you ever seen some people who are busy walking back and forth in the pool? Well, it turns out that walking in water is not an activity carelessly. Walking in water is even highly recommended for some people dealing with health problems. For those of you who can't swim, walking in the pool can also provide health benefits. What are the benefits of walking in the pool?

Benefits of walking in water

Reported in the Arthritis Foundation, walking in the swimming pool is suitable for those of you who have joint problems and minimizes muscle pain. Lori Sherlock, an assistant lecturer at West Virginia University in the United States says that walking on water is a great therapy and exercise for people with:

Joint pain or damaged joints
Limitation of movement (as recovery therapy. For example, while therapy is moving the muscles in the legs)
Just recovering from injury
Has bone problems and needs exercise low impact

When you walk in water, this is different from walking on land. There is resistance between your muscles and the pressure of the water. This makes the muscles work harder to move. Even though it makes you work harder, it doesn't put a lot of strain on your joints and bones (low impact) You are in trouble. This is because the buoyancy of the water reduces the pressure on your joints and bones. This motion of walking in water trains your joints and muscles to return to their original activity without risking great injury.

Especially if you walk in a pool that tends to be warm, this can help soothe pain in your joints, bones and muscles.

Not only for joint and muscle disorders that you experience, the benefits of walking in water can also improve heart and blood vessel fitness like the benefits of walking on land. When you walk on water you will need more energy to fight the pressure of the water. The heart will be trained harder to deliver oxygen throughout the body.

In addition, walking on water also trains body balance. When you try to walk in the water, the pool water doesn't stay still. There will be waves that allow your body to be carried to the right or left. It is in this position that it takes strength to hold and balance the body in order to continue moving towards your goal.

The benefit of walking in water that is no less important is that it burns more calories than the usual walk. Walking on water requires more effort than walking on land. This condition certainly makes walking in the water burn more calories.

According to dr. Robert Wildre, a physiologist and head of exercise rehabilitation at the University of Virginia, says water is 800 times denser than air, so it burns more calories and builds more muscle with every movement of water.

For those of you who want to burn calories with water sports, but are not yet able to swim, you can start training by walking in this water.

How to do it?

To get the benefits of walking in water, you need to stand perfectly straight for swimming in the pool. Choose a pool that is at least waist high, not too shallow. Let all of your leg movements be fully submerged under the water and resist the pressure of the pool water. The deeper the pool, the more resistance you will have to face as you walk.

How to do it is quite easy, you only need to walk as usual. Or, in some cases doctors suggest certain movements that patients can do when experiencing joint and muscle disorders.

Walk as usual

The position of the body when walking in the water is straight back and shoulders straight. With a straight back this requires that your abdominal muscles will resist the pressure of the water as you move forward.

For the position of the feet, step as usual with your heels on the pool floor first, then your toes touch the pool floor. With each step, lift your knees higher as well to engage your abdominal muscles again.

Also swing your hands while walking underwater. If you are accustomed to walking 30 minutes on land, you can try walking on water for 15 minutes.

Walking forward is not the only move one can make for pool walking. You can also try walking backwards and walking sideways. Sideways involve more thigh strength than walking forwards or backwards.

For those of you who want to increase your exercise weight, you can do this

To adjust the intensity of your exercise walking in the 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, slow down by walking more slowly for one minute.

After one minute has passed, walk again at the maximum speed you can, then reduce your walking speed for another minute. Repeat this cycle up to four times or until you feel really tired.

While doing the leg movements as above, swing your arms as if walking on water. Or stretch your arms to the sides to increase the load as you walk. So the more energy you have to spend walking in the water.