Water Walking Week 4 Wrap Up

Image : fotosearch.com

Week 4 done and dusted - 5 days each day between 45min to 1 hour with a mixture of normal water walking and deep water exercise.

Thursday and Friday mornings were a struggle for me - both to get to the pool and at the pool, I have been very, very tired as my hubby has been away, plus it has been muggy and hot at night, hence I was lucky to get more than 3 hours continuous sleep each night this week. Thursday my legs were so heavy in the water, I got cramp in my toes and just had to really motivate myself. Friday was not much better and each day on leaving the pool I didn't have the "UP" I usually feel. In fact Thursday I needed a nap and Friday I left work at lunch time as I was just emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted.

But even with this, I still feel good that I went each day. It would have been easy on Friday to just not go given the way I felt the day before, but I did go because I made a commitment, and I know if I give in to excuses this early on, it will become too easy to do it again later.

I also did some research into Deep Water Exercise and came up with the following in case you have been thinking about hopping in the pool yourself.

Deep Water Exercise provides a cardiovascular workout equal to or better than comparable dry land activities, with a reduced heart rate. Due to the combined buoyancy of the water and the wet vest or belt, gravitational pull is reduced tremendously. This decreased pull is believed to the main factor in the reduced heart rate, consequently the heart does not have to work as hard to produce an excellent workout. Another reason for the decreased heart rate is increased venous return. The pressure of the water is greater on the extremities thus, more blood is available to be pumped by the heart. Emphasis is on moving at one's individual pace at a preferred level of intensity within a comfortable range of motion.