Deep or Shallow Aerobic Blast

Tuesday, July 11 2023

The summer heat is on and especially excessive in some areas. Why risk heat stress when you can stay cool in the pool and still get in your cardio and muscle conditioning?  Liquid Intensity with Ronnie Miller is a 45-minute water aerobics workout that can be enjoyed in both deep and shallow water. Simple to follow, this pool workout challenges the entire body in the water’s resistance, while also providing some calorie-burning cardio. 

BEAT THE HEAT
Exercising outdoors during excessive heat warnings is unwise. The Poolfit app is now in its fourth summer season and garnering a strong fan following from people who want to beat the heat but still enjoy challenging workouts. If you are looking for some cool cardio, Liquid Intensity is a great way to get in your aerobic training without the sweat and misery. The teaching style in this video should look familiar to subscribers as this instructional style has been used in many of the cardio workouts. 

CARDIO STRATEGY
Liquid Intensity features pyramid choreography that showcases repetition reduction. Reducing repetitions is a strategy for increasing intensity in a water aerobic workout. For example, if you teach four moves for 16 repetitions of each and then reduce repetitions to 8 moves of each, then 4, then 2 and finally 1, you will increase intensity because the body has to expend more energy to change moves more frequently.  The overall effect is like a rollercoaster picking up speed as you start flying through the moves. 

WORKOUT-AT-A-GLANCE
Liquid Intensity is a 45-minute pool workout that includes a warm-up, cool down and 7 exercise segments. Each exercise segment follows the example above by featuring four moves, first taught for 16 reps, then 8, then 4 and then the final cut. Each segment then concludes with a 1-minute intensity drill based on a higher intensity version of the fourth move. Below, Ronnie shares more insight into her inspiration for creating Liquid Intensity.

WHY LIQUID INTENSITY?
By Ronnie Miller
Liquid Intensity will take you back to the good old days of cardio training. What do I mean by that? No HIIT training here. Have fun as we add on each move and then take it back to the top.  And then get ready for a fun surge of intensity at the end of each segment. No equipment is needed for this workout. We will be using the water’s resistance, which is the best equipment ever. Liquid Intensity is a steady state cardio workout that can be done in both deep and shallow water. Steady state cardio is doing any aerobic activity that can be sustained for an extended time at a relatively fixed intensity. There are many benefits for including a steady state cardio program as a part of your normal exercise routine. Steady state cardio not only helps you lose weight, but also helps increase your overall stamina. My overall inspiration for Liquid Intensity was to help instructors who do not have access to enough equipment and/or quality equipment. Sometimes it is important to remind exercise participants of the power of the water’s resistance.

Poolfit extends a big thank you to Ronnie for sharing her 25+ years’ experience as an instructor with subscribers. Stay tuned, a couple more videos with Ronnie will be posting in the coming weeks. 

Author: Mark Grevelding is the founder of Fitmotivation. He is also a training specialist and consultant with the Aquatic Exercise Association’s (AEA). Mark has been active in the fitness industry for 22 years as a group fitness instructor, personal trainer, international presenter and a continuing education provider for AEA, AFAA & ACE.