The Main Idea

A physical therapist explains why exercising in water works so well for your body

By Kimberly Olsen, edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

Why Regular Exercise is Good But Can Be Hard

Regular exercise helps you in lots of ways – it helps you stay at a healthy weight, keeps your heart strong, and helps you sleep better. But for many people, normal types of exercise like walking, running, and lifting weights can be really hard because of pain, feeling weak, trouble moving around, or being scared of falling down.

Why Water Exercise is So Great

Exercising in water is an amazing way to get fit because water makes everything easier on your body. Here’s how:

Water Holds You Up (Buoyancy): When you stand in water that comes up to your waist, the water holds up half of your body weight. This makes exercise much easier on your body. It takes a lot of pressure off your joints (like your knees and hips) and bones.

Water Supports You: Water helps people who have trouble balancing. The water moving around you during your workout also makes balancing harder, which is actually good exercise. The more the water moves, the harder it is to balance and the better workout you get.

Water Makes You Work Harder (Resistance): Water is thick and slows down your movements, which makes your muscles work harder. This makes water exercise great for building strength. Since there’s less stress on your joints, people can exercise longer and do more repetitions.

All these benefits make water exercise perfect for anyone who got hurt playing sports and needs to get their movement, strength, and endurance back.

Five Important Things to Know Before You Get in the Pool

1. Water Exercise Can Be Done Many Different Ways

Water exercise has lots of different options for people at almost any fitness level. You can do easy things like walking in water, or harder things like running in deep water or swimming.

Most standing exercises are done in water that comes up to your waist or chest. These exercises help you move better, balance better, and get stronger. You can make the workout harder by moving faster, moving your arms and legs farther, or using special equipment like webbed gloves, paddles, pool noodles, or resistance bands.

2. You Don’t Need to Know How to Swim

It’s a good idea to know basic swimming or water safety if you’re going to be around water, but water exercise doesn’t always mean swimming. You can use the shallow end of any pool or lake, since for most of the movements, you just need to be able to stand up in the water.

3. Water Temperature Matters

Cooler water (82–88 degrees) is usually best for harder workouts or for people who get too hot easily, like pregnant women, people who are overweight, or people with multiple sclerosis. Warmer water (84–92 degrees) is better for people with arthritis, fibromyalgia, or pain, and for people who are frail or weak.

4. Know What Your Body Can Handle

Since exercising in water is easier, people can often exercise for longer periods of time. This means the workouts can be more intense and you might move your body in bigger ways, which could make you overdo it. You might feel more tired than you expect after a water workout.

5. Try Group Classes to Make It More Fun

Group water exercise classes are a great way to meet people, make friends, get support, stay accountable, and stay motivated to keep exercising. The teachers usually have special training in how to exercise in water. They can help you change exercises to make them work better for you if you need it.

Extra Equipment to Make Your Water Workout Better

If you want to make your water workout harder, you can use special equipment like:

Foam Dumbbells: These are light when you’re not in water, but they’re hard to push through water, which makes your muscles work harder. They come in different levels of difficulty.

Water Weights: These strap onto your ankles or wrists to make arm and leg exercises harder.

Hand Paddles and Resistance Gloves: These help make your strength training better.

Buoyancy Belt: This keeps your head above water in the deep end while keeping your hands free. You can run, lift weights, and do other exercises without having to worry about staying afloat.

The Bottom Line

People often like working out in water more than working out on land. When they’re not in pain or scared of falling and they’re having fun, it makes them want to exercise more often. You can even get a great workout without getting your hair wet!

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