Aquafit - just for older ladies ?

Started in my 20s, now in my 50s it’s still my favourite class. Problem is it’s so full of older ladies and newbies, I can’t get in. I don’t begrudge them but I wish they would put more on. 💪

I've just started going to one at my local health & leisure club. I'm early 40s and wasn't far off half the age of most of the other ladies. Lots of flowery cosies and swim caps (although some were more like shower caps ).
Ah well - I enjoyed it and so did my arthritic knees that can no longer cope with Military Fitness Bootcamps.
I think the time of day doesn't help; ours are all mid-morning session, so rule out the 9-5 workers and the stay at home mums as there's no crêche.

Ah thanks @ItsNotNormalLove, and thanks @vxa2 for the thread it's definitely sparked an interest in me

Our leisure centre runs a separate class for older and disabled people and there’s a fairly big age range even at that. Lots of younger people at the other aqua fit class.

Sounds great! I'd love to try it, but do you have to be able to swim because I can't.

To be honest though it wasn't much of a work out, and I'm very unfit

It can be. A lot depends on the teacher and slso how hard you push yourself. It is also possible to do not much more than the bare minimum.

I used to go with a mate who was 24. Didn't see a single swim cap.

I did a few classes to try it out and I'm in my 30s. It was mainly older women but I certainly didn't get any weird looks or feel out of place or anything. To be honest though it wasn't much of a work out, and I'm very unfit. So I do think it would be best suited to older people who are mobility challenged. But why not try it out.

if you don’t want to get your hair wet, you shouldn’t be at aqua.

Was saying this to another class member the other day, who was relating how a woman in another class they were in had complain about getting splashed.

I'm not sure everyone has had the memo that aqua = water = getting wet.

Aquaerobics is so popular at our gym, that management decided a few weeks ago to open up all 3 lanes to enable 30 of us to participate.
Our new instructor, has said if you don’t want to get your hair wet, you shouldn’t be at aqua. It’s great to seeing older members who’s mobility had deteriorated over lockdown, really benefitting and enjoying the classes.

I did aqua in my forties when very overweight and I loved it. Most of the ladies were in their 60s or 70s but there were a few nearer my age and a few older men, too.

Our teacher used to give us options to make it easier/harder and I did get a few death stares when I jumped up high and splashed the hair of the ladies near me.

Agree with deeper water. If you are a strong swimmers and there's a deep-water class near you, that's the best. They don't do them at our pool, sadly.

It depends which session you go to st my pool. Yep, weekday daytime tends to see older people there, but by no means exclusively. Weekends and evening sessions see more younger people and men.

Similar with us, though it's a long time since I did a daytime class. It also depends on the teacher. We occasionally have a sub who is fab, but very hard work, where as the normal teachers are a bit easier (though my triceps and legs were still knackered after last night's class.)

I used to go in my early twenties and loved it - I am far too uncoordinated for normal gym classes, but no one could see my mistakes in the pool. Its much harder work than you think, and you can make it harder by being in the deeper part of the pool as well

Sounds like You'd fit in at our classes, OP, assuming you like the very loud music.

Absolutely not although it will depend a lot on the instructor and the group. I know a couple of aqua instructors that teach a very high energy class, one does it HIIT style.

Definitely give it a try.

I love aquafit!

Daytime classes are probably more older ladies but the one I go to in the evenings is 90% people my age (early 20s)

I went in my twenties! Loved it!

My main form of exercise when I was in my early 30s was aqua. I had two small children and there was a class at 8pm which was the only one I could go to. A few older women but mostly my age. We used to drive home afterwards in our bathrobes with wet hair in turbans, straight into a hot shower and into bed. It was our version of a spa experience. I really miss the camaraderie of that class.
I lost 3 stone that year.

In my pool it looks like it’s for old or really unfit ladies. Not sure why, maybe the time of day.

I joined an evening one locally for a couple of weeks when I was in my 30s. I was the youngest by 30/40 years. I stopped going because they kept complaining loudly to the instructor that he was going too fast and many of them simply refused to do some of the exercises they didn't like (which is fine if they couldn't couldn't do them for physical reasons but they could - they just didn't like them!). They kept telling the instructor what they wanted to do which got annoying as they mostly wanted to only talk.

I've only ever seen older people, possibly due to the time of day my local one is on. I wouldn't let that stop me!