Spa-Friendly Exercises - Everything You Need To Know
At Pool Brite, we’re huge fans of using your hot tub for exercise purposes. However, we understand that there are tons of important things to consider when working out in your spa.
If you fail to acknowledge the rules when it comes to exercising in your hot tub, you might not experience the optimal results or you could even injure yourself.
In order to help you along your spa-friendly fitness journey, we’ve created a comprehensive guide that includes exercises, warnings, and tips. For additional resources on aquatic fitness, click here.
The Benefits of Exercising in a Hot Tub
Exercising when partially submerged in your hot tub or swim spa is beneficial for several reasons:
- The water decreases the impact and weight put on your joints, which can be helpful for those who have arthritis, sports injuries, or musculoskeletal conditions like tendonitis. Doing cardio exercises in your spa is much more kind on your joints compared to running on the treadmill, which can jar your back and hips.
- The resistance of the water can help you tone your body and build up your muscles.
- The warm water can improve circulation and blood flow.
- When performing cardiovascular and resistance exercises in your hot tub or swim spa, you’ll be maintaining a healthy weight. Exercising in the water is also a great way to lose weight, if needed.
- Exercising in your hot tub or swim spa can also increase your strength and flexibility.
Basic health and safety information
Instead of squeezing your entire water exercise routine into one or two days, shorten the length of each and spread them out over four or five days as this will reduce the strain on your joints and muscles. Working out too hard can leave you drained, exhausted, and at risk of injury.
Before jumping straight into your resistance training exercises with foam dumbbells, take five to ten minutes to stretch first so that you don’t injure yourself during the routine. Like exercising on-land, it’s important to go at your own speed and avoid pushing yourself too far as this could cause injury or lightheadedness. Neither of these are great!
When it comes to exercising after meals, don’t schedule a water workout for at least 30 minutes after consuming a giant sandwich or slice of cheesecake. To avoid getting cramps in your stomach or nausea, allow one to two hours between eating and exercising in the water.
Make sure you stay hydrated before, during, and after your workout. It’s easy to assume that you won’t become thirsty as you sweat less when submerged in water but that’s absolutely not true. Before jumping into your hot tub or swim spa, fill up a water bottle with ice-cold water and place it somewhere you can easily reach when in your spa.
If you ever feel lightheaded or dizzy during a workout, don’t push through it. Instead, get out of the spa if safe or sit down in one of the seats until you feel balanced enough to get out. If there is someone in your home or yard while you are exercising, yell at them for assistance if needed.
Before starting your spa exercise journey, make sure that you thoroughly read the owner’s manual so that you can adjust the settings or turn the spa off in case of emergency. It’s incredibly important that you are familiar with the spa that you are exercising in.
How often should you workout?
It’s great that you’re feeling motivated but exercising every day is anything but healthy or good for your body. Rest days allow your body to consolidate all of the insanely tough work your body has been doing in your hot tub or swim spa.
During these rest days, your muscles and joints are able to recover, adapt, and regenerate so that you’ll be ready for your next workout. Taking the time off for rest days can also help you from hitting a plateau when it comes to your weight loss or muscle-building fitness goals.
When it comes to exercising, you should aim for 30-minutes of light cardio, five days per week. But if you prefer to work hard and get very sweaty during your workout sessions, three times per week will be adequate.
Keep your workout routines from getting repetitive by designating one day per week for cardio and the other two days for resistance training, depending on what your personal fitness goals are.
If you’re hoping to lose weight, you’ll want to ramp up the amount of cardiovascular activity that you do in the beginning.
It’s extremely important to listen to your body. If you’re under the weather one day or feel exhausted from work, don’t feel the need to push yourself. Other days, you might feel an extra boost of energy so make up for your tired days when you feel energetic again.
The importance of stretching
Even though you may find stretching boring, it works wonders when it comes to keeping your muscles healthy, flexible, and strong.
We suggest playing some upbeat music in the background if you find that you’re having trouble finding the motivation to stretch. This will make it a lot more fun.
Stretching regularly will improve your posture and range of motion, allowing you to perform much more thorough shoulder checks when driving your car. Stretching can also decrease any pain you feel around your shoulders and down your back.
Additionally, stretching can reduce your chances of getting injured and can decrease any general muscle soreness or tension you might feel. Performing stretches in your warm hot tub or swim spa can also reduce stress or anxiety, leaving you feeling like a new person the second you step out of your spa.
There are endless possibilities when it comes to spa-friendly stretches. These are a few of our most-loved stretches:
- Simple side twists. This stretch is incredibly difficult to do incorrectly, which is why it’s great for beginners. For these side twists, stand in the center of your hot tub or swim spa. From there, simply twist at the waist to your left side with your entire upper body turning so that your right hand can grab your lower back. Hold each pose for 30 to 45 seconds, then repeat on the other side. Perform three to six twists per side for optimal results.
- Shoulder stretch. If you spend eight hours a day hunched over your computer for work purposes, this stretch will remove any of the tension stored in your shoulders. For this stretch, stand in the center of your hot tub or swim spa and interlock your hands behind you at the base of your lower back. Slide your interlocked fists down towards your bum and feel your shoulders push backwards. Tilt your head up slightly and hold the pose for around one minute. For an even deeper stretch, lift your interlocked fists away from your lower back so that they are 90 degrees behind you and gently lean forward.
- Standing hamstring stretch. While the other two stretches will keep your upper body feeling loose and limber, the standing hamstring stretch can remove tension from your lower body. For this stretch, stand in the middle of your hot tub or swim spa and lift one of your knees up into your chest with both arms as if you’re trying to hug it. Be sure to brace yourself with one of your arms by holding the side of the spa so that you don’t tumble over. Hug your leg tightly until you feel a stretch along the back of your leg and bottom, and hold it for 30 seconds. Then slowly release your leg back to the ground and do the same stretch with your alternate leg. Repeat this on both sides three times for the ultimate stretch.
Our favorite spa-friendly exercises
Now that you have a few water stretches in your roster, it’s time to focus on some cardiovascular and muscle toning exercises.
When it comes to cardio, simply jogging on the spot is a great way to get your heart rate up. If you’re exercising in your swim spa, use both arms to hold on to the side of your spa and kick your legs upwards so that your body is at 90 degrees.
From there, kick your legs rapidly for five to ten minutes. Additionally, you can swim against the jets of your swim spa for a total body workout.
If you’re wanting to build muscle and gain some muscle definition, squats can be easily performed in your hot tub and they are much kinder to your knees when done in water. For those who are seeking a flat stomach or six pack, stand against the wall of your spa, facing the middle.
Extend your arms to hold onto the sides of the spa around you and float your legs up to the surface of the water until you are in a sitting position with your legs floating in the middle. From there, engage your core and use your abdominal muscles to move your legs from side to side, twisting at core.
To get the most out of toning in your hot tub or swim spa, invest in some foam dumbbells. You can tone your arms with dumbbell flys and bicep curls when you submerge yourself up to your shoulders in your spa.
Other healthy lifestyle tips
In order to get the most out of your exercise, it’s crucial to live a healthy lifestyle outside of your swim spa. This includes staying hydrated, getting at least eight hours of sleep per night, taking supplements that can improve your mood and overall health like vitamin D and Omega-3s, and eating healthy foods.
Everyone’s diet should be filled with vegetables like leafy greens, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and fatty fish. Try replacing your usual post-workout snack, a bowl of ice cream, with a handful of dark chocolate chips and raspberries.
Along with exercising in your hot tub or swim spa, try to add exercise and more movement into your routine whenever possible. Instead of driving to the grocery store, walk or jog and instead of taking the elevator to your office every morning, opt for the stairs.
Being kind and compassionate to yourself and other people will also help boost your mood and keep you motivated.
These lifestyle tips combined with spa-friendly exercise are sure to have you feeling like the happiest and healthiest version of yourself.
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