A gentle plunge into water aerobics

Exercising in a pool offers minimal impact on joints, maximum resistance for building strength

By Janie Nafsinger

Boom!, Dec 31, 2009

Jim Clark / Pamplin Media Group

Seth Dawson, who teaches water aerobics at the Reynolds Community Swim Center, leads the exercises from the pool’s edge so students in the water can more easily follow his movements.

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Living with a pair of bum knees, Mark Beasley doesn’t have the easiest time exercising. That’s why he works out in a swimming pool.

The 63-year-old retired engineer from Troutdale takes a water aerobics class offered two mornings a week at the Reynolds Community Swim Center in nearby Fairview. He’s found that water exercises are ideal for him – they mimic walking, running, bicycling, weight lifting and other movements but cause minimal stress on joints, thanks to the buoyancy that water provides. Also, moving around in water requires more muscle resistance than pushing against air, so it burns more calories.

“I’m not a small guy, but at the end of the class I’m tired,” says Beasley, a lifelong swimmer who started taking water aerobics last fall.

Beasley recently had knee surgery for the second time, and the water exercises have aided in his recovery, he says. They also help him lose weight – he’d dropped about 8 pounds within two months of starting water aerobics, regained the weight post-surgery, then dropped a pound his first week back in class.

“You can exercise everything else except the injured part,” Beasley says. “Last week I was limping; this week I’m not.”

The Reynolds pool – managed by Mt. Hood Aquatics, a private swim club – started water aerobics last October and produced a brochure extolling the program’s benefits for senior adults, pregnant women and people living with medical conditions or trying to lose weight. So far the class has attracted mostly retirees, says instructor Seth Dawson; in some cases, doctors have referred patients to the class.

“After surgery, the worst thing you can do is lie around,” Dawson says. “The water allows them to move freely, and studies show that just being in water is relaxing.”

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