Coach your aqua class participants how to release their fierce inner warrior. Water Combat with Maria Teresa Stone features 45-minutes of aqua kickboxing choreography. This shallow water class format requires no equipment, but webbed gloves can be used by class members for extra upper body resistance.
An international fitness educator and presenter, Maria Teresa is originally from Mexico and now based in New Zealand. A well-known presenter in the Zumba world, she played a key role in launching Zumba® in New Zealand and Australia in 2009. Since then, she has trained thousands of instructors throughout the Australasia-Pacific region. She also teaches regular aquatic fitness classes and aqua kickboxing is one of her favorites. “I love the high energy that a water combat class creates and how the choreography keeps my participants engaged,” says Maria Teresa.
Kickboxing is Ideal in the Water’s Resistance
Kickboxing in the water is perfect because of the resistance it provides. Every punch and every kick is resisted by the water’s viscosity. Aqua kickboxing is actually how I got started in aquatic fitness 27 years ago. A personal trainer and a group fitness instructor, I was asked to teach kickboxing in the pool in 1999 at the height of the Billy Blanks Taebo era. Over the years it has consistently been a favorite format in my classes. With that said, it is not easy for a novice to pick up the moves. If not instructed properly, the kicks and punches become a blur of ineffective movement. In Water Combat, Maria showcases a masterclass of kickboxing instruction by utilizing add-on choreography and lots of repetition to help class members learn the combat combinations.
Below, she talks more about Water Combat and then read on for a class summary.
Class Summary
This 45-minute aquatic fitness instructor video features a warmup, cool down and three kickboxing segments. Equipment is not required, but webbed swim gloves are ideal for maximizing the water’s resistance. Aqualogix uppers or aqua combat gloves can also be utilized.
Segment 1: Two combat combinations are introduced with lots of repetition to learn the movements, followed by add-on instruction to put them together.
Segment 2: Two more combat combinations are introduced with lots of repetition and add-on choreography.
Segment 3: And now the fun begins. All four combat combinations are added on and repeated several times to help your class members master the kickboxing choreography.
Fitmotivation extends a big thank you to Maria for sharing her passion and talents with subscribers and for filming with Fitmotivation for the first time. We have already decided that there MUST be a second time. Check out all four of Maria’s Fitmotivation videos, including her debut Aqua Zumba® video.
