Aqua jogging?

[FannyBawz]

Just curious…. Is it effective? I’m too scared to run because of past injuries. I work my ass off at aquafit and do much more strenuous exercise that is probably intended. Has anybody tried aqua jogging? I think it might be the magical thing for me…. I love exercising in water and want to get into decent shape before I start actually running! Anybody?

A couple of people do it at my local pool. One bobs along with a noodle for about 45 minutes. The other is much more serious and wears a weighted belt. She can no longer jog outdoors because of a knee injury, so runs in the water and seems to find it effective.

Effective in what way? It sounds like you'd enjoy it, so then that is more likely to lead to you doing it consistently, so that sounds effective in doing exercise you enjoy and will stick to. If you have other specific goals it may or may not be effective depending on what they are and how much it fits with them. It wouldn't be effective for my goals but I imagine they're not the same. The best exercise for you is the one you enjoy.

Well I think ideally, I’d like to get to a point where I had the fitness and confidence to run on land. But in my heart of hearts I just thinking running is very hard on the joints and think it’s a good compromise?

Yeah I want the belt! Go big or go home! 😂

@RayKray effective as in beneficial exercise without straining the joints. I gave it a try, without the belt, and it's hard work!

I've done it when injured. It can be a good workout (because of the resistance from the water), but is quite boring so it's more fun to do it as interval sessions with bursts of high intensity. The belt is not weighted, it's a float to help you stay upright so you can do a proper jogging motion - it's possible to do it without, but harder work and you end up leaning forwards more. I went to a class once and they recommended treating it more like a marching motion rather than being exactly like running. So you are pumping your arms and legs more sort of up and down and not expecting to actually move forwards very quickly.

Oh and I also found I couldn't work hard enough doing it to get out of breath, so perhaps it was not as effective aerobic exercise for me as something like using an eliptical trainer or rowing machine might have been. But it was marginally less boring than those things, and pleasanter to be in the water than in a sweaty gym, so overall worth it.

Thanks @BarnacleBeasley

think I’ll give it a go 💪💪💪