Have you ever done any weight lifting with free weights? I do arm curls, flies, a lot of the kinds of things I would do with free weights, except that under water it's an effort to hold things down, so I modify them to adjust the direction of stress. The dumbbells come in several levels of resistance to water -- the ones I've used are 30% and 60%, and currently I'm using the stronger ones. Anything you do with them *underwater* will be helpful.
Other things you can do: push them down so your arms are at your sides and swing your arms under water while you walk; put them under your armpits and disable your arms so your legs do all the work; put them under your knees and do crunches; push them down in front of you, leaning forward a little, and do push ups while walking. I do all of the exercise except the sit-ups while walking. If you move your entire leg, and make sure it goes well behind you as much as you can, it works your abdominal muscles also -- mine are in terrible shape but I can feel the difference and they're slowly getting better (I couldn't exercises at all for six weeks after surgery last winter.)
In addition -- if there are kickboards available at the pool, you can do pushups on one while walking, or sit on one and work your arms at a different angle, or, when you want to push your abilities, try standing on a kickboard and making your way across the pool (and then for extra credit, when your balance is good enough, tilt your feet toe-heel while you go and tone your legs.)
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Date: 2011-05-04 03:09 am (UTC)Other things you can do: push them down so your arms are at your sides and swing your arms under water while you walk; put them under your armpits and disable your arms so your legs do all the work; put them under your knees and do crunches; push them down in front of you, leaning forward a little, and do push ups while walking. I do all of the exercise except the sit-ups while walking. If you move your entire leg, and make sure it goes well behind you as much as you can, it works your abdominal muscles also -- mine are in terrible shape but I can feel the difference and they're slowly getting better (I couldn't exercises at all for six weeks after surgery last winter.)
In addition -- if there are kickboards available at the pool, you can do pushups on one while walking, or sit on one and work your arms at a different angle, or, when you want to push your abilities, try standing on a kickboard and making your way across the pool (and then for extra credit, when your balance is good enough, tilt your feet toe-heel while you go and tone your legs.)
How's that for a start?