Get ready for a splashy ladder fitness challenge. Ladders is a 55-minute pool workout that features high intensity cardio and muscular endurance targeting all the major muscle groups. Each of the seven ladders includes 4-minutes of high intensity exercise, followed by two minutes of recovery that includes core training, muscular flexibility and joint mobility. Enjoy this pool workout in either deep or shallow water. A flotation belt is required for deep water. Handheld equipment is optional in the two upper body ladders.
Inspired by some of my other videos where I have included a segment that featured ladder timing, I have wanted to do a full video of ladders for a while. Originally, I had planned a deep-water video with ladder timing. However, when I started practicing in the pool, I found myself using many of the moves and variations from the 100 Water Exercise series. Consequently, this caused me to change course, as often happens when I start practicing routines. Instead, Ladders became a dual depth workout that can be enjoyed in both deep and shallow water. We filmed the video entirely in shallow water because the underwater camera is closer and provides better visuals of the exercises being performed.
Additionally, I stuck with the 100 list and so Ladders essentially became the 5th video in the 100 Water Exercises series.
Ladder Timing
Ladder timing is simple and straight forward, making routine design easy. Picture a ladder or an inverted pyramid and then imagine ascending timing that goes up one side and descending timing that goes down the other side. In Ladders, the timing used to go up is 15, 30, and 45 seconds, with the top of the ladder (peak intensity) being 60 seconds, and then back down 45, 30 and 15 seconds. You could flip it and make it a traditional pyramid with descending time going up starting at 60 seconds and peaking at 15 seconds, with ascending time going down.
Work & Recovery Timing
Each Ladder in the workout is 6 minutes long and begins with 4 minutes of continuous high intensity cardio, followed by 2 minutes of recovery. This longer duration of high intensity is a challenge. Many of the interval and HIIT videos on Poolfit have much shorter high intensity work durations. For example, Tabata is a popular format that features 20 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of recovery. The work periods in Ladders push your body to adapt to longer periods of high intensity than it is used to. But change is always a good thing.
Longer work times require longer recovery times so that you can refill your gas tank to go into the next 4-minute period with all-out intensity. The bonus of having a longer recovery time allowed me to sneak in some movement medicine in the form of core training, dynamic flexibility and joint mobility. As I have said many times in these blogs, those fitness components are just as important as cardio and muscular endurance.
Watch the video below for more insights into Ladders and then read on for a summary of the workout.
Workout Summary
This 55-minute pool workout includes a warmup, cool down and seven 6-minute ladders. The seven ladders are divided into two upper body, two lower body, two core and one cardio ladder in the middle to bring the workout to peak intensity. The exercises in the two upper body ladders were adjusted to allow for the use of handheld equipment, including foam dumbbells and the Aqualogix drag bells. However, equipment in these two ladders is optional and you can use just the water’s resistance. Recently, I posted a couple of social media videos about the foam dumbbells that stirred up some controversy and a lot of comments. A few of the comments were from Poolfit subscribers saying they would like more of the foam dumbbells in the videos. Ask and you shall receive.
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