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YMCA Training Day Regina

6/1/2013

2 Comments

 
From: Elli N., Regina SK
I am Elli, (the one that complained about the talking people in class) one of your students from last Sundays workshop (at the Regina YMCA).  It was awesome!
 
I was very tired when I got home that night and Monday I could feel it all day long.  It was the greatest workshop I have ever taken.  I have been teaching since 1993, and i got the most out of this training day.
 
I have been in the pool everyday for 1 hour applying what you have taught us and it works.  i noticed a big difference.  I also introduced to my classes and some like the change and others don’t really care.  but the big thing was is they felt the difference when they tried it.  My deep water class had no time to talk, they finally did some work and felt the difference.
 
Thanks again.  I would love to keep in touch.  I am interested in the one-on-one work you do (AquaStretch™º.  What you have taught us in the water made a huge difference but i think i need more.  Can you help?
Response from Connie:
Thanks for getting in touch and for your kind words.  I'm happy you found so much of the material last Sunday useful in your pool work.  Like aqua fitness, the training concepts from our day are effective when people pay attention and try to implement what they hear and learn. You have done that, so good for you!  I'm delighted that some of your people are tuning in to your teaching and are feeling the difference.  They will be your best allies and advertisements for a more concentrated way of working.  Good luck with all of that - it doesn't happen overnight, but it sounds like you've made lots of good changes and discoveries in only one week!

Re:  One-on-one
AquaStretch™ is amazing for myofascial work.  So much of the pain people feel (whether from surgery, arthritis, repetitive strain, accident / injury...) is due to soft tissue discomfort.  AquaStretch™ has proven to be extremely useful in resolving that discomfort.  I am the only AS trainer working in Canada, and my intention is to get more people doing this important, useful work.  I'd love to hold a course in western Canada.  If you want a course in your region, you would need to have 6 - 12 people, and access to a warm pool like the one we were in on Sunday. The course format is 8 hours:  2 hours classroom, 2 hours pool - lunch - 2 hours classroom, 2 hours pool.  If we have more pool time, it will be used, but that is the minimum.  The 8-hour course is $300 / participant (+HST), and includes a colour manual & laminated pool guide.  These requirements are also listed on the AquaStretchCanada.com website.  People who can take the course: aqua fitness trainers, personal trainers, kinesiologists, and any type of therapist.  I recommend that people have a personal training cert so they can get insurance to 'stretch' people.  If you don't plan to charge people, that is not such an issue.  There are no other pre-requisites to take the training. Knowledge of anatomy is useful, but I have taught couples to AquaStretch™ each other, and they do just fine.

Let me know if you have any questions about all of that, and if you have interest in helping to set up a course.
2 Comments

A Little Frustrated...

1/25/2013

3 Comments

 
Good Morning Connie,

This past Monday, a long-time aqua fit participant asked me if we could change it up a bit.  She is bored and would like to use noodles, the step and other various items for variety. 

On the rare occasion, I do pull out noodles to do aqua planks and a few other choice exercises. But overall I’m not a huge fan of “toys” – mostly because I don’t feel comfortable using items in the water that could potential cause harm if not used properly (personal experience of hurting myself using the dumbbells).  I recognize that using paraphernalia isn’t “evil” but with my lack of experience I hesitate.

What happened with “aqua step”? It was all the rage when I left aquatics back in the mid 90s. The participant was very happy to tell me how another instructor uses the step as an upper body strengthen exercise (holding the step vertically to push the water) or how it would be nice to just do some step.  I barely remember ANY aqua step moves.  Did aqua step just get old and boring and therefore dropped out of favour? Or was there long term problems that surfaced with aqua step? A couple of the facilities actually still have the steps in the equipment rooms collecting dust.

How do you keep is fresh for those who are bored? This particular participant  does spend most of her time talking and scowling at me.  She isn’t your typical participant.  She is about my age (late 30s, early 40s), slender and seemingly fit.  However, she doesn’t work all that hard in class and loves to socialize during class.

A little frustrated,

TC

Hey TC,
As you have identified, the problem is the participant (and her lack of effort), not the equipment.
It sounds like you might talk till you are blue in the face and not get through to her!
Some ideas:
  • If possible, offer to personal train her - since her needs are so 'unique', and she is 'clearly beyond the level of the rest of the class'
  • If she bites on that, arrange a personalized session where you show her how to add gloves to her work out, and of course, how to use all the resistance factors she is not using now.  She can bring her gloves to a regular class, and if she uses flat hand throughout, she will not be able to keep up to you.
RE: the Aqua Step - I never bought into it - it moves, you can't see the edge - I would use it for rehab, when I needed a step to practice stairs, or use it for elevation when performing AquaStretch™ procedures.  To hear that someone is using it hand-held for resistance is frankly, frightening!

Noodle pieces can offer added resistance with a smaller amount of buoyancy than the dumbbells - we have a bag of them at WGJC - I use them occasionally. People in my classes have to 'earn' the right to use equipment:  
  • they must be able to maintain Power Posture with strong scapular set & excellent core control throughout
  • they must be using surface area factors effectively, and require more challenge than what they can give themselves with flat hand, long lever, full ROM
I don't know if any of the above will help you, since the weakest muscle in this equation is the one between your lady's ears...
Let me know how it goes!
Connie
3 Comments

Aquatic Resistance Explained

6/8/2012

0 Comments

 
I have read a number of resources, and heard a number of respected presenters explain that "water has 12 times the resistance of air".  This statement is false.  It will be true only under a very specific set of circumstances that would have to be carefully defined.

Resistance in water = coefficient of drag (an experimentally determined number based on how streamlined the object passing through the water is - i.e.: a cupped hand has a different C of D than a flat hand;  a ball has a different C of D than a stick...lab testing will tell you what coefficient of drag is for any given object, hence all the flow studies for new car shapes).
  • Multiply C of D x density of water (density of water is 1000; density of air is 1)
  • Multiply that by speed of motion (SOM) squared.  Resistance therefore changes exponentially with speed of motion (2X SOM = 4X resistance; 4X SOM = 16X Resistance!)
  • Multiply these variables by frontal area meeting the water in the direction of movement, and you have calculated aquatic resistance!
     R = Coefficient of Drag x Density of Water x (SOM squared) x frontal area
 No wonder it is so hard to quantify work in the water!  

Work = Resistance (force) x ROM (distance)

This is not from a research paper.  This is from university physics texts re: fluid dynamics.  It's kind of like the laws of gravity.

Visit the downloads page of this website to see a picture by Line Marr of an aquatic dumbbell being weighted with a land weight of 5 lb to barely submerge it.  Estimating work done when moving this buoyant object through the water does not account for the resistance factors mentioned above, including the speed of motion, which will dramatically increase resistance.  Range of motion will determine work done.

Aquatic resistance is not easily quantified, and the figure "12X the resistance of air" is frankly, useless.
0 Comments

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    Connie is an AquaStretch™ Trainer and Facilitator who has been using AquaStretch™ with clients since December 2010.

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  • Welcome
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