Get Inspired: Build your fitness in the swimming pool

Swimming exercises boost your fitness while being kind to your joints

Now is as good a time as ever to ease yourself into your local swimming pool and try these four Get Inspired exercise challenges.

Choose from pool running, flutter-kicking, jumping or balancing. Better still, work your way through all four and see how your fitness and confidence in the water improves.

Go on, make a splash!

The pool running challenge

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Get Inspired: Pool-running challenge, part one of a series of four

Goal

The first challenge is to walk and then run powerfully through the water at the shallow end of the swimming pool.

The three elements of the pool running challenge are a great way to get moving in the pool – even if you cannot swim.

You will tone your legs, glutes and abdominal muscles as you work against the resistance of the water without risking an impact injury.

Start slowly, simply walking through the water and building up to a breadth. Increase your distance to 10 breadths before trying the energy-sapping side steps. Once you can complete 10 breadths of the pool have a go at running. It’s a tiring business so take things gently at first before reaching the target.

Step 1

Standing in waist-height water, walk across the width of the swimming pool. Focus your energies on driving your legs through the water. You’ll soon discover that this is not like walking normally in the park – much more effort is required. It’s great for your muscles and kind to your joints.

Step 2

Once you have mastered walking through water, vary your workout by side-stepping from one side of the pool to the other, again with the water at waist height. You will feel this exercise work the muscles in your legs and groin. Gradually, add a spring to your step to work those thigh muscles all the more.

Step 3

For those with a good level of fitness, try running across the breadth of the pool, using your arms to help drive you forward. You’ll no doubt be quickly out of breath so take it easy at first. Build up to being able to maintain a fast pace for the duration of the breadth and gradually increase to being able to do 10 breadths at top speed.

Next steps

The fitness you’ll have built up by walking and running in the pool will serve you well in your swimming or running outdoors. If you have an injury that prevents you running outdoors, you might like to get hold of a buoyancy belt so that you can move in to the deep end and practise ‘aqua running’ without your feet touching the floor of the pool.

The flutter-kick challenge

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Get Inspired: Pool exercise two in a series of four.

Goal

Here’s a challenge you can do in your local swimming pool that will strengthen your quads and calves and will work your groin and stomach muscles too.

There are three stages: begin by lying on your back and kicking your legs out in front of you in the water. Next flip over and, holding the edge of the pool and facing forward, kick your legs out …

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