Q: What is Fitness? Calisthenics? Swim Fitness?

FITNESS

Fitness comprises four important points in your daily life:

1. Nutrition
2. Muscle Conditioning, Toning or Resistance Training
3. Cardio or Endurance Training for your body’s strongest muscle – your heart muscle
4. Flexibility.

And while many have sought water exercise for the prevention of injuries
and for the low impact exercise, an important element often overlooked
both for land and water exercise is the fourth key to fitness –
flexibility. It is critical to stretch and add flexibility to your body.
Great athletes often excel at a sport not necessarily because of their
strength but because of their flexibility and added agility in an active
competition. Flexibility is the one item that can prevent injuries and
yet all too often we only stretch once during a workout. For our
training programs for instructors who wish to pass our Level II
Achievement Program with the EZ Swimmer®, we always request no less than
two distinct stretching sessions for each class session of swim
fitness. Water Exercise is Not for Wimps Remember water exercise
is not for wimps. Elite athletes have always known the great benefits of
water exercise. The tri-athletes are typically most challenged with the
water component, however, they often say it is the most rewarding for
both endurance and flexibility. No other exercise offers better
flexibility training than water exercise.

CALISTHENICS

The EZ Swimmer® excels at providing calisthenics right in the water. Calisthenics is derived from two Greek words meaning strength plus beauty. Remember learning floor exercises such as sit-ups, push-ups, tricep dips, etc? Well, you know those exercises work. In floor exercises, the resistance for your muscle is your own body weight. Essentially, the EZ Swimmer® is the ultimate resistance tool for the swimming pool – providing resistance through added buoyancy, displacement of the water, and most importantly, utilizing your own body weight for resistance training. Look closely at the Olympics’ gymnastic routines and you will note these athletes use calisthenics for their muscle toning; they rely upon their own body weight for fitness.

 SWIM FITNESS

 Swim fitness is the ultimate exercise routine. It is basically cardio
plus toning. While swim fitness may mean water aerobics with both
resistance and aerobic training incorporated within a class, it may also
mean exercising with the EZ Swimmer®. This includes toning your
muscles, increasing your heart rate with the Seated Balance™, or using
the Cuddle Core to kick and build your leg muscles and increase your
heart rate. This process of adding calisthenics with the EZ Swimmer to
your regular water fitness routine is like adding strength training to
land exercises.