Aquatic Exercise is as broad a term as is Exercise itself. It contains aqua aerobic, aquatic muscle strength and conditioning and aquatic fitness. Aquatic cross fitness just like cross fitness on land can mix and match all types of exercise, interventions and/or equipment and can be applied in water or on combined land and water terrain. It is traditionally higher in intensity and if one can follow it can have greater benefits in fitness, health and weight management. 

 

Aquatic Exercise is often used interchangeably with the term aquatic fitness although exercise may not only aim in fitness but also in the improvement of daily functional capacity. Exercise by definition is any activity requiring physical effort, carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness. It has been used by coaches, trainers, physical therapists, rehabilitation specialists, occupational therapists and many more to improve both physical and emotional/mental health. What differentiates exercise from aquatic exercise is the submersion of man under the weightless environment of water, thus reducing the impact and load that gravity normally places on it. Buoyancy, the level of submersion, the hydrostatic pressure, the variablility in temperature and other principles of water are actually what can change the stimulus of Exercise, which is further manipulated by trainers and practicitoners and trainers according to needs and goals.  Some types of aquatic exercise are the following: swimming, water walking, water jogging,  deep water jogging, aqua aerobic exercises, water weight and resistance training, exercising by the use of the side of the pool, use of kick boards and resistance bands, or even just staying afloat on the water without doing anything. Also, all aquatic modalities that are lately gaining great popularity such as Aqua Pilates, Aqua Yoga, Aqua Zumba fall under the umbrella  of aquatic exercise using their guidelines for fitness and improved functional capacity and can all be incorporated in a course designed to improve fitness and benefit health. The benefit of aquatic exercise, is in the improvement of the level of physical fitness and functional capacity leading to the unsurmountable and known benefits that exercise has upon on health in and out of water. Immersion in water and the aquatic intervention in exercise gains popularity because  of its low-impact on the joints and bones and so it is frequently used by kinetically deprived individuals, older people suffering from athritis or for rehabilitation following injury. 

 

Aquatic exercise can be taught individually or in groups as long as water safety measures are in place and a lifeguard is always on duty. Aquatic Exercise is well represented by the internationally renowned non-profit “Aquatic Exercise Association” (AEA) based in Florida which holds a very valuable annual conference promoting the advances in Aquatic Exercise http://www.aeawave.com/. AEA plays also a leading role in continuing and online education by certifying Aquatic Professionals as well as offering many opportunities for growth and evolution in both theory and practice. In Europe, various organizations offer aquatic exercise training. The “Swimming Teachers' Associaton” (STA) http://www.sta.co.uk/ is another non-profit, internationally renowned organization (since 1932), tutoring for Aquacise and other aquatic certifications which AHF currently represents in Athens.