Those looking for an energetic resistance workout via the water need not look further. In Northport, water aerobics classes are offered year-round and can be used as a low-impact activity that strengthens muscles, making it suitable for adults of all ages.
Kathy Holstrom-Baker teaches adult co-ed water aerobic classes at the Northport Highlands pool every Monday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. The workout focuses on water resistance to strengthen muscles and is easy on your joints. Participants exercise to their own ability and camaraderie amongst others in the class is formed in the process.
Holstrom-Baker just celebrated one year of teaching her water aerobics class, also known as the “Wave Makers,” in April. On average, she said she’ll have anywhere between 8-13 students each week. Students range in ages, from some people in their 30s to seniors in their retirement years. One of the oldest students that Holstrom-Baker had in her class was in their 80s, so the exercises can be adapted to be useful for most age groups.
“It’s been quite a success… The students really give me good feedback, and they really enjoy the exercise and especially enjoy the music. It can be as intense as they like or as easy as they like,” Holstrom-Baker said. “Some instructors teach from the pool side, but I really enjoy the exercise, so I get in the pool also and I create a music set every week that kind of goes along with the exercise. There’s even some people who choose to sit in the hot tub just to hear the music and not participate in the class, so the music is quite a draw for a lot of people.”
The first 20 minutes of the class is focused on cardio and trying to get the heart rate up, which involves walking back and forth across the pool. Holstrom-Baker said students do this by adjusting their speed and raising their legs higher, similar to marching. The water provides natural resistance, and people can utilize gloves called “webs” to create even more resistance by pushing through the water. Music helps to set the pace while traversing across the pool for 3-5 minutes during the warm-up, and that time gives everyone a chance to visit and converse as they walk beside each other in the water.
“It’s a lot of good camaraderie and we do some exercises that allow for conversation, so it’s just a really fun class,” she said. “I have a lot of loyal followers. The community is a transient community. People go away in the wintertime so that class does shrink a little bit in the winter, but it gets a lot busier again in the summer.”
After the warm up, the class will focus on exercising specific body groups. With arms and shoulder exercises, students will sometimes use different flotation devices like pool noodles and dumbbells to create more resistance. Various leg and glute exercises to strengthen hip flexors, quadriceps, and hamstrings come next in the class.
Although Holstrom-Baker enjoys most movement routines in the water, she said one of her favorite exercises in the class is called the “escape.” Students attempt to do a pushup, lifting themselves up and out of the edge of the pool, simulating an escape. She said she will gauge what the starting point is for new students, giving them alternative exercises until they can build up to where the rest of the class is. If people can’t manage to lift themselves out of the pool to perform an “escape,” they can modify the movement and make accommodations by pushing up off the side of the wall instead.
“We do that for 30 seconds and it builds upper body strength,” she said. “We do three sets of those throughout the class. The students jokingly hate the escape, but at the same time, tell me how much it has improved their strength.”
For seniors participating in the “escape,” the exercise could especially be helpful as it builds both upper and lower body strength. In instances of someone falling down on the floor, that upper body strength could help with pushing yourself up and getting help.
“It also helps with flexibility. When you’re in the pool, you can really have a greater range of motion of say, your hips, your shoulders, your waist — being able to use your spine, flexing and bending — it really improves flexibility,” she added. “And of course, your cardiovascular health, so it’s a really good exercise that doesn’t harm your joints, which a lot of seniors experience.”
Holstrom-Baker said she also very much enjoys the “cross country skiing” exercise in the pool. Participants stay in place in the water, but are moving their body as if they are cross country skiing, with both arms and leg movements alternating for a whole body workout.
Northport resident Linda Prentice has been a student in Kathy’s class since it first began a year ago, however, she’s participated in water aerobics for at least 10 years now. Besides her love for the water, she said she prefers water aerobics as it is ultimately easier than some exercise routines on land.
“You can do things in the water you cannot do on land, so it’s great,” Prentice said. “The water protects you from impact, so it’s good for people that have problems with their joints, knees, hips, ankles and things like that… Kathy is always bringing in new exercises, but she always says, because she knows our class is mixed, that if it hurts, stop. If you don’t want to do this, don’t do it, or modify it, do something different, just keep moving. She always says, ‘keep moving,’ so I think that’s great for seniors or really anybody who’s concerned that they might have an injury.”
Classes are $10 and are offered year-round. For more information, contact Northport Highlands at 231-386-9900.
