More and more cyclists, gymnasts, footballers and other rainfed athletes complete their workouts with sessions in the water . Professionals and amateurs practice exercises in the aquatic environment to achieve the holy grail of the athlete: maximize performance and minimize the risk of injury . Before describing the specific benefits of this practice, it is convenient to stop at the so-called principle of the variety of stimuli, one of the basic theories of sports preparation. Improving our physical form requires applying the appropriate training loads to the body, stressing it and subjecting it to fatigue – without exhausting it – that forces it to adapt in the only way possible, to increase its performance. However, our body quickly adjusts to it, and needs new stimuli to progress. This is where water enters, a foreign medium for the body, to which it responds by developing different adaptations that strengthen it. Also, monotony hurts motivation. For this reason, training in the water, adjusted to each sport specialty, helps to diversify the exercises, with a positive result for physical and mental fitness.
The verifiable beneficial effects are many. To begin with, in the water, it decreases the intensity of the impacts that the joints bear during workouts. Thus, recovery from injuries is improved and the possibility of suffering them is considerably reduced. On the other hand, in this environment resistance increases : for example, if we raise a leg dry, we only encounter opposition when lifting it. In a pool, the work is doubled, since we also need the muscles to lower it against the resistance exerted by the liquid element. In short: training in the water is not only a refreshing experience; we are also at less risk of injury and increase our strength, endurance and flexibility . And the good news does not end there, because not only does it improve our circulation and the body’s thermoregulation, but anyone can do it, regardless of their age and physical condition.
