Community Corner
How to Tone Your Body in the Pool
Instructors at Braemar Country Club share water exercise techniques that not only help tone the body, but also heal.
This week we met up with Aqua Flex 'N Stretch founder Deborah Goldberger and Aquatic Sparks founder Melanie Sparks to learn about water exercise at the Braemar Country Club. The instructors teach all over the valley and Los Angeles area. They have been a team for three years and both were brought to water exercise as a result of ailments of their own.
Goldberger is a breast cancer survivor that made her fibromyalgia disappear through water exercise. Sparks was on dialysis for several years and suffered a stroke. She sought water exercise to get her strength back.
Water is a much more comfortable alternative for those with bodies that cannot handle the high impact of strenuous exercise on land. According to Goldberger, water resistance is 18 times greater than resistance on land. Water adds buoyancy, which creates less of an impact, but greater force when the body is pushing against the water. This still helps maintain bone density, but minimizes risk of injury.
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As you will see in the accompanying video, the instructors have provided a few tips that you can do in your own pool or local recreational center. Every exercise in the video can be done without equipment, but for a greater resistance you can add resistance weights.
Sparks is a water exercise program designer and an Aquatic Exercise Association (AEA) ambassador. Sparks and Goldberger are both certified with the AEA and the Arthritis Foundation Aquatic Program. Goldberger holds a membership with the AEA, IDEA Health and Fitness Association and the Aquatic Therapy and Rehabilitation Institute.
