Challenge your aquatic fitness class members with a fast and furious total body cardio blast. Total Body Cardio Express is a 25-minute aqua cardio routine based on the recent video, 100 Water Exercises. The 100 exercises are remixed into five 5-minute training components that include cardio, agility, lower body, upper body and core. In the express video, each of the 100 exercises is performed for just one 32-count phrase each. Due to the fast pace of the exercises, it is recommended that you instruct the 100 Water Exercises video first to your students, so that they are familiar with the moves before taking on this fast & furious challenge.
As mentioned in the 100 Water Exercises v-blog, I decided to make a short series with the 100 exercises. Total Body Cardio Express is the first, using the same 100 exercises but remixing them into fitness training components. The exercise time was also shortened from 64-counts/30 seconds per exercise, to 32-counts/15 seconds per exercise. The remix and the shorter time add a new layer of challenge to the 100 exercises. Once your class members get familiar with the 100 Water Exercises, this shorter 25-minute aerobic blast is perfect for including in your regular aquatic fitness classes.
Remixing Exercises
The inspiration for using the same exercises in a different video was purposeful. I wanted to demonstrate to instructors that you can simplify routine creation by sticking with base moves and their variations by reusing them with a different formatting approach. In terms of fitness, the major joints of the body and their corresponding muscle actions limit the ways you can exercise with purpose and results. This is why we have our base foundational exercises as outlined in the 100 Water Exercises video and blog. The key to providing your students with fitness results is not by inventing new exercises, but rather by reusing our base moves and base move variations in different ways.
Physiological Principles and your Classes
If you certified with the Aquatic Exercise Association (AEA), you had to learn all about the principles of exercise, including adaptation, overload, progressive overload, specificity, variability and reversibility. To summarize, the principle of overload is achieved by placing a greater-than-normal demand on a body part or system, resulting in an increase in strength or function. Adaptation is the ability of a body part to adjust to this overload by increasing in strength or function. Adaptation is the reward of a regular exercise program. However, strength and function increases will eventually plateau if continued demands are not introduced. Progressive overload fulfills that requirement. This principle states that gradual increases in demand must continue for additional fitness gains. In short, as fitness professionals who lead classes, we are the kings and queens of progressive overload. If you change up your classes, you are adhering to this principle. Progressive Overload sums up my approach to Total Body Cardio Express. Gradual changes were made to the 100 exercises, by remixing the exercises into specific body parts/training components, and by changing the timing of the exercises. The principle of specificity states that adaptation is specific to the type of training stimulus. Therefore, if you want to improve core strength, you must train core muscles. This is why I reordered the exercises in the express video to target body parts and training components. As for the principle of reversibility, this sad principle states that improvements will cease and revert back to pre-training if exercise is not maintained.
Change up your Classes
As always, my favorite motto is: If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got. It is crucial to introduce gradual changes in your aquatic fitness classes. You don’t need new moves. Instead, focus on changing the order of the exercises from a previous class, or adding different variations to the exercises, or increasing or decreasing the timing ratios, or combining the exercises in different ways. These small changes represent progressive overload and will ensure continued fitness results for your class members. Woe unto the instructor who never changes their classes. They are failing their students.
Below, I talk about the original 100 Water Exercises routine and then read on for an update on upcoming videos.
UPCOMING VIDEO UPDATE
There will be a slight pause in new videos as I prepare to head to the International Aquatic Fitness & Therapy Conference (IAFTC), May 9-17. IAFTC is premier aquatic fitness conference with nearly 600 attendees, presenters and vendors from around the world. After the conference I’ll be bringing two international colleagues back with me to film 8 videos. Fitmotivation is thrilled to announce the debut of New Zealand/Mexican presenter, Maria Teresa Stone. Maria is an internationally acclaimed Zumba Fitness® presenter. She will be filming three regular aquatic fitness videos and one specially approved Aqua Zumba® video. Australian aquatic fitness expert, Claire Barker-Hemings will be joining us for another round of filming.
Upcoming Schedule:
May 19 (I hope…) – The Combo Factory: The 3rd in the series of 100 Water Exercises. The 100 exercises are paired into 2-move combos. I had a ton of fun practicing this one.
May 27 – Water Combat: Maria Teresa makes her debut with this high-energy shallow water workout that blends kickboxing and cardio.
June 4 – Aqua Restore: Claire shares a 20-minute muscle recovery program, ideal for adding into your cool downs and gentle water fitness classes.
June 11 – The HIIT Factory: The 4th in the 100 Water Exercise video series. (Maybe the last?) This full-length deep/shallow workout will feature the 100 water exercises mixed & matched into HIIT formats, including Norwegian 4x4, Ladders, Tabata, AMRAP and more.
After this hectic period, Fitmotivation welcomes yet another new video leader, Donna Boucher. Donna is a training specialist with AEA and based in Ohio. In July, another AEA Training Specialist will be returning to film more videos. Fitmotivation looks forward to welcoming back Melissa Plumeau, who will be once again making the trip from Boise to share her class ideas.
As always, Fitmotivation is your go-to resource for class creation.
