Sir Isaac Newton & Water Fitness

Sir Isaac Newton

So what does Sir Isaac Newton have to do with water fitness, I hear you asking?

Well, quite a lot, actually.

Newton was a curious fellow.  He observed the natural world around him and devised theories as to why things were the way they were.  Then he tested those theories.  And if his experiments proved a theory, that theory became a law of natural physics. 

Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal, but opposite, reaction. 

Here's how this relates to water fitness.  When you push water around, the water's resistance pushes back with equal force.  So if you push harder, the aquatic resistance increases proportionally to how hard you're pushing. 

The take away from this is that you've gotta push water around to get a workout.  While this may seem obvious, I've had people tell me that water doesn't work for them.  My response is, "Well, of course not.  Water doesn't work.  YOU have to WORK the WATER." 

This is a difficult concept for many folks who are used to gravity-based resistance training to wrap their brains around.  If you pick up a ten-pound weight in the gym, it's going to remain a ten-pound weight no matter what you do with it.  But in a water workout, you're dealing with a liquid environment.  Liquid has viscosity, or thickness.  And that thickness is what makes it such an awesome workout medium.  Water also has buoyancy, which is another type of resistance that I'll discuss at another time.  There's also drag resistance, frontal resistance and turbulence. 

But the key concept for today is that what you get out of a water workout is what you put into it. No more, no less.  And the stronger you get, your ability to push and pull the water increases, which means that the amount of resistance from the water increases.   How cool is that?

So now you can amaze your friends with your newfound knowledge of Sir Isaac Newton and his third law of motion.  You probably never thought you'd get a physics lesson from water fitness.  I aim to train the brain as well as the body. 

Now go find a pool and push some water around.  I dare ya!