"Does anyone do water
aerobics? I used to take this exercise class in Texas from
a woman named Marti DeCluitt, who sort of pioneered
it there in the 1980s.
Instead of expensive water
exercise gear, as many classes require, Marti had us
bring things from home. (This was so long ago a lot of the
water aerobic gear hadn't even been invented yet!)
She used plastic gallon jugs
for both weights and floatation devices (they are not
Coast Guard approved for this purpose, so don't go into
the deep end if you can't swim!). Usually jugs containing
orange juice, distilled water or liquid detergent work
best --because no matter how well you wash them out, old
milk jugs end up smelling like soured milk. Try to make
sure there are no rough edges on the handle, they will
hurt when you hold them. Each student in Marti's class was
asked to bring two jugs and they needed the caps on each
jug.
For weights, fill the jugs up
with water. Start with a partially-filled jug, filling it
more and more as you get stronger over time. You can use
these in weight exercises just as you would
dumbbells, standing in the shallow end as you lift them
up. (We'd start out with the jugs 1/4 full and by
the end of the six- week session most students could
exercise with the jug full.)
Empty jugs can be held under
each arm for floatation while you do bicycle exercises or
scissor kicks, etc., with your legs. You can also hold on
to them if you don't have kickboards. But, again, these
are not to be considered lifesaving devices so weak
swimmers and non-swimmers should probably stick to the
shallow end. Always make sure someone else is nearby just
in case you get into trouble.
(Nowadays, a lot of classes
use those foam noodles -- long cylinders that kids use as
pool toys-- as floatation aids. They're sold in a lot
of stores and are fairly inexpensive.)
Back then, one frozen
food company used to manufacture heavy Melamie plastic
plates that came with each frozen dinner. The
packaging has since changed. But if you could find
unbreakable Melamie plastic plates (larger than
saucers but not quite dinner plate size) in yard
sales, or maybe use an old 'Frisbee' flying
disc, you could substitute those.
~ Continued in the next column... ~
