Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 21, 1992 TAG: 9201210126
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF DeBELL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
WATER WORKOUT
IT'S 10:30 on a Monday morning, and your reporter is standing in the shallow end of the Roanoke YMCA swimming pool, waving his arms in the air and trying to ignore the silent screaming in his shoulders.He is being introduced to water aerobics, which is supposed to be wonderful exercise. He wonders why something so wonderful hurts so much.
About a dozen other people are in the pool with him. They seem to know what they're doing, though it's a little hard to be sure because your reporter is too nearsighted to make them out clearly. His glasses are resting on a poolside bleacher seat instead of the bridge of his nose.
As it turned out, he could have left the glasses on. There was very little splashing.
There wasn't much pain, either, except for those pesky arm exercises. Water aerobics turned out to be both fun and a way of working out without all the sweat and pounding of land exercise.
YMCA instructor Mary Pimlott, like her counterparts at other water-aerobics facilities in the Roanoke Valley, adapts her routine to the class. On this morning that means a regimen suitable for people who've seen a bit of life and suffered some of its physical cruelties.
One arrived on a walker, another on a cane. Some were recovering from back surgery. One was partially paralyzed. Arthritis was no stranger to the group.
A younger crowd is attracted to the Y's twice-weekly evening classes. They work out to faster music - mostly from the 1960s, as opposed to the '40s and '50s - and they like their exercises more strenuous.
Either way, it's a solid workout. Water protects joints and limbs against the effects of gravity through its buoyancy, while at the same time providing enough resistance to tone muscles and build cardiovascular capacity.
Still, Pimlott said, people tend to be skeptical. That kind of hacks her off, because she knows the value of exercise doesn't have to be measured in sweat.
"People think of water as being a sissy sport, but it's not," the 30-year-old Denver native said. "If you're serious about it you can definitely get a good workout. And unless you try it, you shouldn't put it down."
A check with fitness centers in the Roanoke Valley turned up water-exercise programs at the Central YMCA, the YWCA of the Roanoke Valley (both Salem and Roanoke centers), the Roanoke Athletic Club, LancerLot Family Fitness Club, New Fitness and the Salem Fitness Center. Memberships generally are required, though Salem Fitness Center will sell a visitor's pass for $5 per visit.
Attendance is voluntary and tends to fluctuate, so it's hard to say how many people are doing water exercise in the valley. It's easily in the hundreds, however. Audrey Wheaton, associate director of the YWCA of the Roanoke Valley, said there are 75 enrollees at its Salem center alone.
Programs may be called Aquasize, Aquamotion, Swimnastics (deep-water exercise), Aqua Aerobics (the term used at both Roanoke Athletic Club and the YWCA of the Roanoke Valley) or other names.
Typical exercises include jogging, jumping jacks and various stretches of both upper and lower body; in other words, many of the same movements that are used in land aerobics, but done in the water and therefore subject to its effects.
"Water walking," a version that involves walking to music around the perimeter of the pool, is favored over all other sports by members of The YWCA of the USA.
"The resistance of the water provides a very thorough workout which is both aerobic and strength-building," said Dr. Alpha Alexander, the organization's director of health promotions and sports. "There aren't too many workouts [that] achieve both goals simultaneously."
Susie Grist, education coordinator for Carilion Occupational Health Services, said body weight is only 25 percent of normal in chest-high water. That means much less stress on joints and limbs and therefore a much lower risk of injury. By contrast, she said, running on land can slam a leg joint with three to eight times the body's weight.
Despite the lessened stress, Grist said, a water workout can burn as many calories as a land session of equal length.
"I'm a true believer," she said.
Cynthia Eckstein Edmunds, director of exercise development at the Roanoke Athletic Club, said the typical hourlong workout starts with a warmup and then moves to cardiovascular work. The next section is devoted to strengthening isolated muscle groups, and the session ends with stretching and a cool-down period.
Weights, flotation boards and other tools sometimes are used in the routines.
There are specialized programs, too, for pregnant women, overweight people, rehabilitation patients and those suffering from diseases that typically would preclude land exercise. An example is the Arthritis Aquatics classes offered by The YWCA of the Roanoke Valley.
Harriet Grisso of Roanoke is 74 and has arthritis. She says she has been able to forgo all medication except the occasional Bufferin because of the class, which she has been taking for six years.
Once barely able to get out of bed without help, Jane Christenbury of Daleville now enjoys more or less normal mobility. She attributes the improvement to her 2 1/2 years of Arthritis Aquatics.
"It's the most enabling thing I know," the 71-year-old woman said recently before changing into her swimsuit for a class at the YWCA's Salem center.
Water aerobics also can be a starting point for inexperienced exercisers.
"People who haven't been exercising and start out with water exercise are not going to get stress fractures," Roanoke orthopedic surgeon Bill Mirenda said.
"It's for everybody," said Elizabeth Pendleton of the YWCA. "You don't have to know how to swim. You don't even have to get your hair wet."
You can leave your glasses on, too.