Lorraine Brown has taught water aerobics at the Provo Rec Center for more than 30 years. She likes the environment and camaraderie among the participants. She says that some people come for a few months during physical rehab following either surgery or an accident, while others attend regularly since it’s an effective low impact cardio exercise routine.
According to the Aquatic Exercise Association, more than 10 million Americans participated in water aerobics last year.
This isn’t like a gym where some people like to show off, she says. No one joins water aerobics to display their physique.
“Lots of people look ridiculous who go to water aerobics, even me,” says Sharon Johnson. “After all, who even looks good in a bathing suit at 70 or 80,” she asks, chuckling.
Johnson has been going to water aerobics at the recreation center for years. She had lumbar disc surgery some time ago and a device inserted in her back to minimize pain. It doesn’t always work, but the buoyancy she feels in the water often makes a huge difference. “It helps a lot,” she says. “It gives me hours of relief even after I leave the pool.”
“I could do water aerobics on my own, but I probably wouldn’t be as committed to it,” she says. “Besides, Lorraine makes it fun. She adds music that appeals to everyone, and we encourage each other.”
Initially, Johnson was worried that she might tip over in the water and drown. “I don’t swim very well and some days I’m not even stable on land. My doctor says I would be in a wheelchair if it wasn’t for water aerobics. So, I keep coming. I’m usually here 5 days a week.”
Water aerobics has a long history that goes back to the Greeks and Romans who saw medicinal benefits from long baths and concerted movement, But, Jack LaLanne is credited with intentionally using movement in the water in the 1950’s as a purposeful exercise routine. His nationally televised show ran from 1951-1989.
LaLanne did his last aerobic workout in his home jacuzzi a week before he died from respiratory pneumonia at age 96. He used to say he couldn’t die, it would ruin his image. But it didn’t. He benefited from water aerobics and fitness routines his entire life. In addition to water aerobics, he created protein drinks, stretch bands, and group exercise routines.
“I like water aerobics in a group,” Johnson says. “I get to gossip about other people without worrying about it getting back to them. Nobody knows where I live,” she grins roguishly.
Occasionally, she and her husband meet others at a restaurant to celebrate an important event, usually reaching a milestone in the pool. “When that happens,” she says with a smile, “I tell these friends I don’t recognize them with their clothes on.”
Three quarters of those who participate in water aerobics are women according to the national Aquatics Exercise Association. It’s about the same percentage at the Provo Rec Center, according to Lorraine. “I don’t know if men are reluctant because they think pumping iron is better for them, but it’s not,” she says. “It’s great strength training because the water is about 12 times more resistant than air so it can be really good resistance training.”
“You would think men would want to have an excuse by getting in a pool with a bunch of scantily clad women,” Johnson says with a smirk. A year or so ago two regulars who met in the pool at the Rec Center got married, she said. They were just two love birds starting out in life, she beamed: he was 92, she was 79.
There’s both a naturalness and a kind of other worldliness to water aerobics, many participants say. It’s why astronauts use pools to train for being weightless. Water aerobics makes this type of exercise accessible to everyone.
“It’s not really exercise to me,” Johnson says. “Mostly, I just wiggle in the water. Then, I laugh. I complain. I rib others. It just doesn’t get any better than that.”