I do the same ones with the noodle. The instructor doesn't always have us do that one during class, so on those days I stay in the pool and do them myself afterwards. I usually do at least 3 sets of about 5 minutes each (alternate with other exercises in between).

I also do the ab crunches with the floating dumbbells. Make sure I'm in pretty deep water and then do crunches with the dumbbells out to each side. I actually find these to be harder (probably more effective) than using the noodle. The last time I did those my abs were sore for 2 days! However, seems like I did have a few back twinges after awhile.

I'm going to aquasize class tomorrow, so plan to try the dumbbell crunches again and see how I do. I can always drop back to the noodle if my back starts bothering me.

Do you do the pendulum with the noodle?

I thought the same thing (minimal impact with only 2-3 minutes or LESS). One of my instructors would only have us do 10 crunches each way, which I pretty much thought was useless (for me). That being said, a lot of the people in my class are older than me so she may not want to push them too hard.

We had an instructor that taught Thursday and Friday classes only. I absolutely loved her teaching style and she really pushed us. She would come to class with new workouts almost every week and was always coaching us about correct form. She'd give some of us harder movements that were more challenging. Unfortunately, she got into a personality conflict with the other instructor (who I don't like nearly as well). My favorite teacher ended up quitting on the spot one day. They've had multiple fill-ins ever since so it's been different, but not as challenging. I'm glad I did get to learn some of her exercises, though. I can do them on my own after class is over.

So I only made it to aquasize twice this week. Pool was closed Tuesday due to power outage, I went on Wednesday, Pool closed again Thursday due to lightning! I was able to go today and exercised for 105 minutes. Might have been a bit too much as I'm feeling pretty tired this evening. I was trying to make up for lost time, I suppose.

New instructor is a young man - university student like you mentioned. He doesn't do the exercises for long enough. He'll have us do one thing for about 20 seconds and then switch to the next one. He also ended class 10 minutes early because I think he ran out of things to do. Oh well, growing pains. I did plank variations with the noodles for about 15 minutes followed by another 15 of various crunches. I used both the noodle and the dumbbells and I paid attention to which was a better workout. I actually like both for different reasons. The dumbbells also seem to workout my arms while doing the crunches, but the noodle is easier on my neck. I think I can relax back into it better, so good to switch it up.

We don't have aquasize on Saturday, so I'll probably just workout at home. I also play disc golf, so might have a chance for a round if the weather would break for just an hour or two!

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