Throw yourself in the deep end for a different form of training.
What is deep water running?
Deep-water running involves every major muscle group and is equivalent to cross-country skiing, making it a major kilojoule burner. Depending on your effort and intensity, you can blaze your way through 2500kJ in a solid, hour-long session.
It's called deep-water running for a reason. Shallow water just won't cut it, so head to your nearest Olympic-sized pool for information on class times. You can also practise in the deep end of your own pool, but it's advisable to get some professional tips on correct technique first. People with bad backs find deep water a godsend. Maintain the vertical position of deep-water running: the horizontal orientation of swimming doesn't hold the same benefits for bad backs.
Deep sea running review
A super-cool workout that promises to fight fat, tone muscles and build stamina, all without breaking a sweat? Sign me up, I say, as I strap a flotation belt around my ribcage and slide into the pool for my first lesson in deep-water running. From the sidelines, it looks a bit like ducks on the pond. All calm and unruffled on the surface but, boy, is there a lot of action going on under the water.
Instructor Ann Lear remains on terra firma as she takes us through our paces. With the earnest, slow-motion deliberation of an astronaut, I force my limbs to assume a wide-legged jogging motion, which looks a bit like someone riding a broad-seated bike while doing breaststroke. "You won't feel like you're getting a workout because you're not puffing, and you're not getting the usual cues - like being tired and sweaty," Ann says. "But wait and see, you'll go home and have a sleep."
We try out lots of different moves: a regular jog, sprinting in designated zones, some aqua aerobic-style kicks and twists, and even a patch or two of dog paddle. Good technique involves remaining upright, though. People who do a lot of swimming can be tempted, as I was, to relax forward into a horizontal swimming posture, but this does not give the same benefits that are at the core of deep-water running.
Water is 17 times denser than air, which gives it transformative properties. In the deep, kickboards can morph into dumbbells, and pool toys into fitness aids. And it's true: at no time do I approach the panting, gasping point of collapse that typically accompanies the average workout. Ann says there are scientific reasons for this - to do with reduced heart rates, increased stroke volumes and altered venous blood flow around the body - but her explanation of the mechanics is beyond me. What most people will appreciate is that unlike an aqua aerobics session, which often takes place in waist-high water, deep-water running occurs in that part of the pool where even your toes can't touch the bottom.
The positioning of the flotation belt keeps your head high and dry, while the rest of your body faces resistance on all sides, forcing opposing muscles to work equally and constantly. This offers a great cardiovascular, as well as strength-training workout for "all the gain and none of the pain", as aficionados point out. And because the water offers a no-impact environment, people with injuries can maintain their fitness levels during the healing process. I later confess, sheepishly, that I'd come to the class expecting it to be a doddle designed for senior citizens.
But I emerge from the pool with wrinkled fingers, a raging thirst and my preconceptions in tatters, particularly when the hip-looking guy in front of me peels off his flotation vest to reveal a pierced nipple. "No, it's not just for the blue-rinse set," Ann says, adding that one of her recent classes hosted both a nine-year-old and a 90-year-old.Professional athletes also dip their toes in the water. "We also get the Broncos and the Bears and any other animal you can think of come here for cross-training," she says.
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