The above video preview is for Aquatic Frisbee Challenge, which posted 7/25/16
Think back through memories of summer fun and one of the most celebrated pastimes is tossing a Frisbee on the beach and in the water. The Frisbee, a symbol of feel-good summer recreation and some serious sporting activities is now known for something else – a killer aqua workout.
Sharing her newly produced DVD, Aquatic Frisbee Challenge, with Fitmotivation video subscribers (Premium plan), Mushi Harush, an aquatic fitness expert from Israel, has proven that you don’t need fancy, expensive equipment for a pool workout. Dig out your Frisbee, hop in and discover aqua athleticism at its best.
The history of the Frisbee originated from flying pie plates. The brand name - “Frisbee” – comes from the Frisbie Pie Company, founded in 1871 in New Haven, CT. However, the man credited with the discovery and the marketing of the modern-day flying disc is Fred Morrison. According to Wikipedia, in 1938 he and his future wife, Lucile, were offered 25 cents for a cake pan they were tossing back and forth on the beach in New Haven, CT.
Upon figuring out that they could buy a cake pan for 5 cents and sell it for a quarter, a business soon started. Ultimately, Morrison developed prototypes for plastic flying discs and eventually sold the rights to Wham-O. Wham-O gave the discs the trade name, Frisbee, after learning that is what Northeastern college students called the flying discs. The Frisbie Pie Company supplied pies to Yale University and the students had been tossing around pie plates for years and calling this craze – Frisbee.
Now fast-forward to 2016 and we have a new Frisbee craze – Aquatic Frisbee Challenge. Make no mistake; this workout is very athletic and very challenging and like all fitness activities, options and modifications will need to be provided in your classes. “In the DVD, I start out with a list of safety precautions,” says Mushi. She highly recommends that everyone review this list before proceeding.
The Aquatic Frisbee Challenge video separates the workout into seven sections that include: warm-up, upper body, core & more, lower body, wall exercises, partner work and stretching/relaxation. These segments can be performed together as one workout/class or separated and done as optional activities at the end of a regular class. Of course, this all depends on how many Frisbees you have available for use, which ultimately depends on how many you or your facility can afford to purchase.
Please keep in mind the importance and need for a good-quality Frisbee. According to Mushi, the Frisbee should be larger sized and flexible. “Don’t buy the cheapest,” cautions Mushi. Wanting to test this myself, I placed two Frisbee orders through Amazon. Hoping to score a deal, I ordered a package of 6 Gamecraft Flying Discs (9-inch) for just $12.79. Thinking this was too good to be true, I then ordered one Discraft Ultra Sport Disc (10.5 inch) for $8.66 – which seemed to have the qualities Mushi recommended – larger and flexible.
Sure enough, the cheaper discs were hard (nonflexible) and too small for my larger sized hands and feet. These harder plastic discs would easily crack. The more expensive disc ($8.66) was absolutely perfect for the exercises in the video. It is large enough and bends with flexibility. And yes, I know this because I got in the pool and SMOKED my legs and abs doing this workout.
As is always the issue, if your facility does not have a budget for new equipment or your class sizes are too big to supply everyone with a Frisbee, please consider buying just a few Frisbees and including them in a class as a circuit station.
The important thing here is too be creative in both use and exercise selection. According to Mushi, the best part of using a Frisbee as a fitness tool is the versatility. “Gloves and foam dumbbells can work upper body, but the Frisbee can also work lower body, core, balance, agility and more,” she says. Mushi gives credit for her inspiration for the Frisbee workout to Outi Kokko-Ropponen, a Finnish Aqua Expert. “I saw the Frisbee work from her first in Finland and then I developed more exercises.”
Mushi is the founder and owner of the Israeli Aquatic Exercise Center. She has been an international AEA Training Specialist since 1994. Aquatic Frisbee Challenge is the first DVD Mushi has produced. I enjoyed watching Mushi in this DVD because she is natural and motivational in front of the camera. And I want to give her and her team a shout-out for the quality of this DVD production. This video is gorgeously filmed. Congrats and credit for this DVD production go to Einat Meiri-Vatner, an AEA instructor and co chairman of the Israeli Aquatic Exercise Center, as well as Tomer Avni and Gershon Waldman for their superb work on cameras. And of course credit must be given to the amazing performance of the students – Eynat Ferenc and Liat Ezagury – both AEA certified instructors.
The full video, Aquatic Frisbee Challenge, is now streaming at Fitmotivation.com in the Premium Pro Plan. If you are currently a subscriber in the Basic Pro Plan and want to watch the video all you have to do is go to Account Settings and switch plans. You can switch for as long or as little as you want. Your billing will be automatically adjusted on next renewal date.
If you would rather purchase the DVD – you can purchase online at AEA’s AKWA Shop – or through the Israeli Aquatic Exercise Center’s website.
BIG THANKS to Mushi Harush for sharing this amazing workout. You are a light in the aquatic world!