Great work out for larger above ground pools!

HardmanP

So, I just started MFP this week, and I can't bring myself to run, job, do arobics in this crazy heat. It's almost 100 degrees around my part of the world, and frankly, I know I would probably quit, if I couldn't find something I liked to do as far as excersize is concerned.

This year we had purchased one of those above ground 18' ft pools. this one is about 4ft high. really a good all around back yard pool for the family. Never could I have imagined what a wonderful excersize goldmine is sitting in my back yard..

I used to think of water work outs and aerobics for and I know his is so stereo typical and bad, but for the old ladies, and those with joint problems. Not saying it's not great for that, but little did I know how much I could really do in my pool in the back yard.

It's my first week, but man it seems to be really helping.

I wanted to share my routine, becuase I know there are others out there with these pools in their back yard. Not sure how well this would work with a 12 ft. or smaller, and 14 ft my be pushing it for the whole routine, but it sure can be modified.


ok, so here it is:

Run with most of your body under water around by the walls of the pool. Keep you head above of course so you can breath. When the water starts to pick up and make it a little easier, (trust me there will stll be plenty of resistance) turn around and go in the same direction you were going and run backwards.
do this for about (2 min) - warm up.

Go ahead and stretch in the pool

Now, there may still be a whirlpool kind of swirling in your pool. I run against this for 5 minues. I may switch it up to running backwards and then forwards again. I say 5 minutes, but I really don't have a set time frame here.. Once the water is moving pretty fast, that is whe you turn around

only, dont run - SWIM! and swim hard, and fast against the current! You have litterally just created your own at home resistance pool.. TRY not to lose ground, however if you generated a pretty good whirl pool, you may loose some ground, that is ok, just swim, and swim, and fast and hard, you should be abe to keep this up longer than you actually might think.. when it starts to get easier, or you can see that you are actually starting to gain ground go ahead and put your feet down

Start Running again!!! You should be going the opposite way than you were the last time..

repeat the above for as long as you want your man work out to be, I usually do this min. 30 minutes upwards of 50 minutes.

When I am done, or if I feel I just need to change it up in the middle, I never stop moving, never. but I may do under water jumping jacks, in a 4 ft pool, they are slightly modified, I have to crounch down a bit to try and keep my chest a little below the water to help add resistance..

then I finish by doing crunches in the pool.
These are kind of hard to explain and may or may not be done in your pool depending upon what kind of pool you have.
we have a good strong metal frame so I hold on to the sides. If you dont, maybe you can use your ladder.

basically, I float on my belly, make sure my legs go straight out behind me.
instead of using my arms, I use my legs, stomach and back t bring my legs forward and curl them up into my chest against the side o the pool. I mayhave tobarly touch off, but I try to mostly use my body to bring my legs then back out to the starting positon.

this seems to give me a good stomach and back work out. I love it.
do these in reps of 10. sometimes I will actually start out my work out with one set of these and some sideways ones, which I will explain next. I try to do at least 3 reps before getting out of the pool.

Now for my sidways crunches.

when I am done with the ones listed above, I cross my legs at the ankles. I go from floating on my stomach still, legs straight bach, and I bend my legs and bring them to one side, then back to center, then to the other side - this counts as one rep.. again, I try to aim for 3 sets of 10 reps.

I am sure there is a lot more that can be added.

If you have read this far, you are in for the best part!! You will be shocked by the ammount of calories you burn!!! I have so much fun doing this work out, it's crazy!

You can add to this work out with water weights and move your arms while running up and down, and forward and back in while running to help give your arms a better work out as well. Right now, I am just using a pool noodle which seems to do a good job of it.

Worked out on Wednesday for an hour with my good friend, MFP says if you are doing the above at a vigorous pace, which I was, I burned just over 900 calories in an hour! that's insane to me!

Trust me, you may be having fun, and not sweating becuase you are in your nice cool pool, but you if you are not used to it, you will feel it when you get out of the pool!

I ddn't spell check, or proof read, so I forgive me for any spelling errors..

HardmanP

I just looked up and realized how long this post is! Eek! so worth it though!