Deep-water exercise usually takes place in a swimming pool, and involves a few important pieces of equipment to enhance your workout. Aquatics facilities offer group classes led by a fitness instructor who choreographs exercise sequences, often set to music. Facilities have some basic equipment on the deck, but buy your own if you work out often, or frequent different pools.
Basics
Deep-water exercise offers an impact-free workout regardless of your age or physical abilities. Flexibility and range-of-motion exercises help people with arthritis or other conditions. Aerobic and strength building workouts improve cardiovascular health and tone your entire body. Athletes retain fitness levels by working out in the pool while they recover from injuries sustained from high-impact exercise.
Function
Deep-water exercise equipment keeps you safe and increases the efficacy of your time spent exercising in the pool. You might not enjoy swimming or feel confident in deep water, but flotation aids keep deep-water exercise within your comfort zone. Staying upright in the water is as important as staying afloat, and specialized equipment stabilizes you to move around freely. You work against water's density to make movements, and adding resistance equipment to your workout increases how hard you work in the pool.
Examples
Buoyancy vests and belts keep you upright and floating at the water's surface. Belts secure the devices and keep them from slipping as you move around. Specialized exercise gloves catch the water and increase the resistance you encounter when you move your hand through it. Pool shoes or water aerobics shoes make walking on the surface of the pool safer, and some add resistance when you perform leg exercises underwater. Flat kickboards are useful tools to perform strength-building exercises, as are water dumbbells, made out of foam. The dumbbells are lightweight, and you use them underwater to push against and pull past water's resistance on your movements. Advanced deep-water exercises make use of ankle weights that add difficulty to water running workouts, among other examples.
Considerations
Overloading muscles using leg weights etc. might cause injury if you are not very fit. Using moderate levels of resistance from kickboards or water dumbbells is a safer option. Always check with your physician or physical therapist before doing deep-water exercise if you have a health condition or if you suffered an injury and are now recovering from it.
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