Pool serves as running track

The Palm Beach Post 10/25/2003

Dear Dr. Donohue: Please solve different opinions on water versus land aerobics. I used to walk 5 miles a day and ended up with blisters and chaffed parts of the body.

Is water aerobics as beneficial? - V.M

Answer: Water aerobics is an excellent aerobic exercise. It has the added advantages of putting less stress on joints and not being a threat of serious injury if a person falls

Brisk water aerobic exercise can burn 300 to 500 calories in an hour. That's a good number of calories, and it compares equally to land aerobic exercise.

People can exercise in deep water by wearing a flotation belt. The belt keeps people vertical. Exercising in chest-deep (or waist-deep) water still offers the same benefits as deep water, and the calorie cost is more because the body is not completely buoyed by water.

The heart rate in water exercise is 10 beats less than it would be in land exercises. In water, more blood shifts to vessels in the chest, and more blood is siphoned into the heart.

One beat of the heart pumps more blood than it would if the exerciser were on land. If you take your pulse to measure how much training your heart is getting, remember to subtract 10 beats from the heart rate goal of land exercise.

Water exercise is perfect for people who are recuperating from a leg injury. They can maintain their conditioning while they are recovering.

You don't have to abandon all land exercise. It does have one advantage. It is a better way to prevent osteoporosis, since the body's bones must support body weight without the buoyant effect that water gives.