One of the most popular ways to stay fit is by running on a regular basis. However, running is also an activity that is high-impact. This means that it’s possible for you to experience injuries to your lower body as a result of running. This doesn’t mean that running doesn’t provide benefits, but rather that change and variety to your running routine could be of benefit to you.
One way you can make this happen is with aqua jogging.
Aqua Jogging: What Is It?
Aqua jogging combines running with swimming. This exercise can help you to build your cardiovascular endurance. You can also develop your running form, in the water. This helps in reducing the wear and tear experienced by the body when running normally on roads.
Aqua jogging has another name as well – deep water running. You can do aqua jogging throughout the year. In the winter season, you can practice in an indoor pool, and in the summer season, you can use your fibreglass pool. If your fibreglass pool is equipped with a pool heater, then you’ll be able to practice aqua jogging in it throughout the year.
You can consider joining an aqua jogging class, but this is an exercise you can perform alone at home as well. Run in place while you’re in your pool, or even run laps around the length of the pool, while you’re inside it.
Who Should Do Aqua Jogging?
Aqua jogging can be practised by anyone. Elderly people can enjoy this exercise. They’ll be able to work on their cardiovascular endurance without worrying about their joints getting hurt. Just doing aqua jogging twice a week is enough to build strength, improve blood pressure and benefit the body composition.
Runners who are injured can try aqua jogging as well. If you want to do an activity that is low-impact, whether you’re injured or not, then try aqua jogging. It’s been seen that exercises that are swimming-based help in rejuvenating muscle fibres that were caused by an injury.
Even pregnant women can practice aqua jogging. It was seen through a study that pregnant women who did water aerobics asked for fewer painkillers during labour.
Professional runners also practice aqua jogging. They could want to supplement their training program, or they could be recovering from an injury. For beginner runners, combining traditional running with aqua jogging can help the body acclimatize to the new exercise routines.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Aqua Jogging?
When you practice aqua jogging, you’ll be placing less friction on the joints in your body. Aqua jogging can also help you improve your strength, posture and form, and also benefit the cardiovascular system.
This is how aqua jogging can help you:
- Low Impact Exercise
When you exercise in the water, the impact that comes from hitting surfaces that are hard goes away. If you were running on asphalt or even concrete, the impact would be greater on your feet. As stress is reduced in the joints, the risk of injury to the body is also reduced.
- Building Strength
You should know that water has density. This water density adds resistance when you do aqua jogging. The Arthritis Foundation says that water can provide up to twelve times the resistance that air provides. This can help in building the muscles.
You’ll be able to strengthen and tone your muscles as well. As water is denser, it is also harder to move through. This means your body will be working harder to cover the same amount of distance. So you’ll be burning more calories while also building your strength.
- Run At Your Own Pace
You can negatively affect your mental health by being hyper-focused on a vigorous training routine. This could end up affecting your pace, as well as the performance’s outcome. However, when you exercise in water, you know that you’ll be pushing against the water. Not only will you be exerting yourself more, but the pressure to finish your run within a set amount of time will also go away.
- Managing Weight
Aqua jogging is essentially an aerobic activity. It’s similar to resistance training. You’ll be able to burn calories as well as fat, while also maintaining your weight. Aqua jogging can help in weight loss as well, as you’ll be able to tone the muscles in your body more.
What Equipment Do You Need?
Instead of running shoes, you’ll be needing water goggles. But there are also unique accessories that can help you make the most of your aqua jogging experience. If you’re a beginner, then you’ll only need the basic accessories to get started. These include a swimsuit, goggles as well as a swimming cap.
Once you’re more familiar with aqua jogging, consider getting belts as well. You can clip your belt around your waist in order to increase buoyancy while you’re in the water. As a result, you’ll be better able to focus on your posture. You’ll be able to move better while keeping your head afloat. If you’re more experienced with aqua jogging, then you can add water weights to your routine. With water weights on, you’ll need to fight through greater resistance. As a result, you can strengthen your muscles even more.
Remember that before you start aqua jogging, you’ll need to warm up first. A simple five to ten minutes warming up session is more than enough to prepare your body for the upcoming exercise. Once you’re in the water, practice multiple kinds of jogging and running. You could start off with a cadence run, and then do a few sets of sprinting exercises.
To bring your tempo down, do water walking for some time. Then follow this up with another cadence run. Then jog through the water, such that you’re running laps inside the pool. If you have a large enough pool built by a Perth pool builder, you could enjoy solid exercise by aqua jogging.
Conclusion
Aqua jogging is a way for you to improve your cardiovascular function, build strength and endurance, and all this while doing low-impact exercise. Everyone from the elderly to pregnant women can participate in aqua jogging. If you want to add variety to your training routine while also improving your physical endurance and strength, then aqua jogging could be perfect for you.
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