Stephanie Thielen is back with another “Body Pump style” class in the water. Preformatted and designed to deliver results, this pool workout targets chest, back, biceps, triceps, legs and core with the water’s resistance.
Poolfit is very excited to welcome Stephanie back to filming after a 6-year hiatus. She had taken time off to pursue her credentials to become a school teacher. However, she is instructing fitness classes again and can travel to Florida to film in the the summer. Ready S.E.T. Go Vol. 2 remains one of the most popular videos on Poolfit. Therefore, another volume of this pool workout was a must.
Below, Stephanie explains the workout and the magic behind the S.E.T format.
READY S.E.T. LET’S GO AGAIN!
By Stephanie Thielen
Ready S.E.T. Go is a predesigned workout that focuses on muscular strength and endurance. Strength and endurance are two of the five health-related components of physical fitness.
- Cardiovascular endurance: the ability to perform exercises and activities at moderate-to-vigorous intensities for a prolonged period of time.
- Muscular strength: how much force your muscles can exert.
- Muscular endurance: the ability of your muscles to sustain exercise and daily activities.
- Flexibility: the ability to move muscles and joints through a full range of motion.
- Body composition: your body’s ratio of fat mass to fat-free mass.
All five components of physical fitness are equally important. Having a well-rounded exercise program has been shown to improve your health in many areas, such as reducing the risk of chronic disease, improving your mental well-being and supporting healthy aging.
The Ready S.E.T. Go series focuses on engaging and activating muscles for improved strength and performance and is an excellent program to add to your weekly water fitness program.
WHAT IS S.E.T.?
S.E.T is the acronym for Strength and Endurance Training. The Ready S.E.T. Go format is designed to ensure a well-rounded muscular focused workout. Improvements in muscular strength help you move and lift heavier objects with ease, which can make day-to-day tasks much easier. Building muscular endurance is important for longer duration activities as it allows you to withstand exercises or activities for longer without getting fatigued.
It is important to prioritize strength training of all major muscle groups of the upper, middle, and lower body. It is common to have muscular imbalances due to how we move our body in our work and daily activities. Ready S.E.T. Go! was not designed to address specific imbalances, however it does include equal time spent training the major muscle groups for a balanced workout. These muscle groups include chest, legs, triceps, back, biceps and core.
WORKOUT-AT-A-GLANCE
This workout uses music phrasing for timing.
32 counts of music = 15 seconds
64 counts of music = 30 seconds
Every S.E.T. is formatted as such:
2 strength exercises for 4 sets. Each exercise is performed for 32 counts of music, making each set 64 counts total.
Strength 1: 32 counts
Strength 2: 32 counts
2 endurance exercises for 4 sets. Each exercise is performed for 32 counts of music, making each set 64 counts total.
Endurance 1: 32 counts
Endurance 2: 32 counts
Total time for each muscle group is approximately 4 minutes.
S.E.T order: chest, legs, triceps, back, legs, biceps, core
EXERCISE SELECTION
Strength and endurance exercises can look the same, but there are distinct differences. Exercise is generally separated into aerobic (cardio)/endurance and power/strength activities.
Strength exercises are typically performed at a high load for a short duration.
Endurance exercises are typically performed against a relatively low load over a long duration.
LAND VS WATER TRAINING
Muscular focused workouts on land are not the same as working out in the aquatic environment. Gravity is the primary force affecting movement on land, while buoyancy, drag, viscosity and other unique properties require adaptations to create an effective exercise program. To distinguish between muscular strength and muscular endurance, the Ready S.E.T. Go series uses simple aquatic training principles such as hand positioning, various tempos, impact options, and acceleration to make the water work for improved muscular gains.
MUSCULAR STRENGTH
- Impact: grounded/anchored
- Hand positions: various hand positions increase or decrease resistance intensity.
- Exercise set up and execution: bring awareness and attention to body alignment, core activation, and proper range of motion.
- Tempo: combination of ½ water tempo and water tempo.
- Single movement pattern: focus is on the targeted muscle group.
MUSCULAR ENDURANCE
- Impact: mostly Level I, with various exercises implementing Level II and Level III
- Tempo: mostly water tempo with land tempo used sparingly
- Acceleration: push harder against the water or against the pool bottom
- Combination movement pattern: focus is on the targeted muscle group with the addition of a secondary muscle pattern to enhance the endurance phase of the workout.
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Poolfit extends a big “Thank you” and “Welcome back” to Stephanie. Good news! Three more videos with her will be posting this fall. Watch a fun behind-the-scenes look at her filming production below.
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