H2O Core HIITs with Melissa Plumeau is a 45-minute pool workout that alternates high intensity intervals with total body core strength and can be performed in both deep and shallow water. Skip the equipment and challenge yourself with nothing more than the water’s resistance. The combination of high intensity intervals and strength will help improve your overall stamina and muscular endurance.
Pool Workout-at-a-Glance
This 45-minute water exercise video includes a very short warm-up, six exercise segments and a cool down. The exercise segments include four 3-minute high intensity interval training (HIIT) segments, alternated with three 8-minute strength segments that target total body strength. There is no equipment required in the total body strength segments. The water’s resistance is the best equipment you can have because submerged resistance (without added equipment) targets muscles on both sides of the joint. This pool workout can be enjoyed in both deep and shallow water. Below, Melissa explains the workout structure in more detail and describes how post COVID restrictions were the inspiration for creating this dual depth water workout.
H2O Core HIITs Inspiration
By Melissa Plumeau
H2O Core HIIT is the result of the post-COVID era. Not only was space limited in the pool, but we were encouraged to use as minimal equipment as possible, plus keep class time to a maximum of 45 minutes. At the time, I was teaching a 7 am shallow water class that required registration for the limited “social distancing” availability. Yet each morning, the deep end of the pool would fill up with non-registered students hoping to participate.
To meet the needs of as many students as possible, I started to design the class for dual depth participation. Additionally, due to post COVID guidelines, I used as little equipment as possible. But hey, when you have water do you need anything else?
Initially, I kept the format simple. One three-minute round of cardio, followed by strength intervals to target upper body and core (round 1), lower body and core (round II), and finally total strength (round III). This was the original class format that I taught to instructors at the International Aquatic Fitness and Therapy Conference in 2023.
Each block included flour moves resulting in a workout that I titled “1-2-3- CORE.”
- Single arm, single leg, or opposite arm/leg. exercise 1 & 3)
- Bilateral arms/legs
- Power
- Core Move
After some guidance from Mark (Thank you!), the class was redesigned to what you see here. Still retaining the initial strength blocks, the cardio blocks took on a whole new challenge, not just physically, but mentally as well.
I hope you all enjoy the strategy. It is simple, yet effective and always a class favorite.
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Poolfit extends thanks and gratitude to Melissa for sharing her class favorite with subscribers. Stay tuned for more videos with Melissa posting this fall.