Step into the water and get ready to release your inner warrior. Water Combat with Maria Teresa Stone is a powerful 45-minute aqua kickboxing experience where rhythm meets precision and energy meets control. This shallow water workout requires no equipment, but webbed gloves are ideal 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.
Why Kickboxing in the Water?
The water is an optimal environment for kickboxing because of the resistance it provides. Every strike and every kick is resisted by the water’s viscosity. Aqua kickboxing is how I got started with water 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 acquaint participants with the combat combinations.
Below, she talks more about Water Combat and then read on for a workout summary.
Workout Summary
This 45-minute water exercise video features a warmup, three exercise segments and concludes with dynamic stretching. Equipment is not required, but webbed swim gloves or other aqua boxing gloves would be ideal for maximizing the water’s resistance.
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 for mastery of the kickboxing content.
Poolfit extends a big thank you to Maria for sharing her passion and talents with subscribers and for filming with Poolfit for the first time. We have already decided that there MUST be a second time. Check out all four of Maria’s Poolfit videos, including her debut Aqua Zumba® video.
