Let the games begin! Motivate your class members unleash their inner athlete and compete in 8 Olympic events. Aqua Olympics is a dual depth aquatic fitness class that is instructed with a Tabata template and playlist.
OLYMPIC REQUEST
The Olympic Games begin on July 26 and now is the perfect time to start planning your Olympic themed water fitness classes. Honestly, the Olympiad wasn’t even on my radar because I have been crazy busy this summer. However, a subscriber emailed me last month and asked if I could create a video with an Olympic theme. Ironically, this is the same subscriber who emailed me last year and asked if I could do a video with an alphabet theme. Well, we all know what happened with that request. Therefore, I decided to take on the Olympic challenge. Thank you, Theresa, for your content suggestions.
TABATA STYLE
Given that my summer schedule was jam-packed, I only had a few days to pull the content together. Typically, I prefer weeks to work on new video content. Brainstorming a simple approach, I decided a Tabata workout would work best. Tabata templates feature 8 rounds. Each 4-minute round includes 8 exercises performed at high intensity for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds of rest. For this template I selected four exercises per round, with each performed twice. This seemed perfect because every Olympic athlete deserves a second chance to perform better. Now, the only thing left was to select the 8 Olympic events to fill up the 8 Tabata rounds. To do this, I cued up the Google machine and found a list of all the events being offered in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. Feel free to browse this list if there are other events you prefer to showcase.
Watch Mark talk more about the template and then read on for a description of all 8 Olympic events selected for the video.
AQUATIC FITNESS CLASS-AT-A-GLANCE
Aqua Olympics features a warm-up, cool down and 8 Olympic events. The difficult part was selecting events that I felt comfortable creating water exercises for. In a Tabata workout, there is very little time to demo an exercise and only 20 seconds to perform it. Therefore, the exercises in a Tabata workout are best kept simple, but high intensity. This video was filmed and intended for shallow water. But upon completion of the routine, I tested it in deep water. All the exercises worked perfectly except three. Minor modifications for those are cued and explained in the video above.
8 OLYMPIC EVENTS
Swimming: Dive in and compete in the breaststroke, butterfly and flutter kick competitions.
Hockey: Time to head to the ice rink for some hockey action. Offense to defense, these water exercises pump up the heartrate.
Gymnastics: The games now shift to the gymnasium and primetime competition. Get ready to compete in four events, balance beam, floor exercise, parallel bars and uneven bars.
Boxing: Now it is off to the boxing ring for some hook shots, upper cuts, jabs and knockout punches. Boxing moves in the water are ideal for upper body toning.
Trampoline: The pool floor becomes a trampoline for this high intensity event. Be prepared to be judged on tuck jumps, straddle jumps, frog jumps and your jump height.
Karate: The games now switch to the karate competition area. Get ready to compete in front karate kicks, side karate kicks, rear karate kicks, and the finale – the triple kick.
Cycling: Have a pool noodle ready for the cycling events. Any Dollar Store noodle will do. The noodle is used for straddling, reclining and leaning on. The competitions include one leg cycling, reclined cycling, uphill biking and sprints.
Athletics: The Olympic Games conclude with the track and field events. The competitions include hurdles, triple jump, long jump and the 100-meter sprint.
THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT
Needless to say, I had a blast practicing this video. I liked the workout so much; I am still doing it myself in the pool two weeks after filming it. Like Aqua Alphabet, I think instructors can have lots of fun with this. Needing a medal for the video photos, I was surprised at how many affordable options there are for purchasing bulk medals on Amazon. Having medals on hand could be a fun way to bring the 2024 Olympic Games to your classes.
Light the torch and unleash the Olympic motto: Faster, higher, stronger – Together.