When was the last time you were staying at a resort that offered aqua fitness classes? Usually it is some sort of aqua aerobics or Zumba class. You watch with amusement and embarrassment for the participants as they awkwardly move through the water doing what looks likes very little real exercise. Before you write all water exercise off as pointless, consider the benefits of the following new water fitness trends.

AQUA YOGA
This variation of yoga often makes the practice more available to beginners, those with limitations, and injuries. The gentle support of the water allows many people the opportunity to discover ranges of motion that they might find inaccessible on land. Many people also find that there is a mind/body connection that they are able to identify as they work from pose to pose. 

Pilates In The Pool
Pilates is making a name for itself with younger fitness enthusiasts, professional athletes, and seniors alike. Pilates in the pool seems to be drawing attention from those very same groups who are looking for muscle conditioning exercises. Many Pilates classes in the pool use floating dumbbells or noodles to allow students to do many traditional Pilates moves such as plank. The instability of the water makes may exercises more challenging forcing students to pay extra attention to their breathing and posture. If you feel like you have a strong sense of core control and balance, give this class a try.

Standup Paddleboarding
Those fitness enthusiasts looking for a total body workout with a mindfulness component might enjoy standup paddleboarding. SUP is a great low impact form of exercise that uses all major muscle groups at one point or another.  One added bonus of over all improved strength from SUP is increased balance. While on the board small stabilizing muscles must constantly be contracting in order to keep you on your board. Becoming more balanced in the unstable water will make maintaining balance on land much easier.

Next time you get the opportunity to try one of these low impact workouts, give it a try. You might be surprised that they are more challenging than you think. 

If you are ready to start a training program but are not sure where to start, visit us at Truve where we can set you up with an in person or virtual training program today.

Did you know that stress combined with a sedentary jobs increases your risk of cardiovascular and metabolic disorders? Would you believe that brief moments of guided meditation and yoga at your desk can help reduce your stress?? As little as 15 minutes to be exact. 
     A recent small study including just 20 people who were taken through each of the following; a guided meditation, yoga, and allowed to continue working without interruption.
     Each intervention lasted 15 minutes and there was a day between each of the interventions. Different stress markers were tested at the baseline, during the 15 minute interventions, and 15 minutes after. Different measures were recorded such as perceived stress, blood pressure, respiration rate, heart rate, and heart rate variability. 
    Analysis of the data showed both yoga and meditation reduced perceived stress (the mental aspect) plus the effect continued after the post-intervention period. The markers for physical stress tended to return to the baseline levels with the exception of respiratory rates following chair yoga. 
    While the study was relatively small, its results conclude that there is no harm in implementing a basic 15 minute chair routine at least once a day, especially if you are in a sedentary career. More studies need to be conducted but one can assume the data suggests that the level of productivity, improved employee health, job performance, job satisfaction, and absenteeism could be positively affected by the implementation of workplace yoga and meditaiton.

The following link will provide you with a variety of chair yoga poses you can try.

http://yoga.about.com/od/yogasequences/tp/Chair-Yoga-Poses.htm