Why Children & Teens Benefit from Exercise in the Water

Water is a unique medium that offers opportunity for everyone:  Newborns, toddlers, children, teens, adults and the elderly, including athletes, arthritic, and the injured.  Swimming is the only sport one can do, literally, from first breath to last. It is a lifelong skill with benefits that cannot be replaced or duplicated by any other sport. It is a skill that once learned, saves lives of infants, children and adults.

            Life Saving: Swimming is a skill that all Californians need. People swim at pool parties, beach outings, hot afternoons at a friend’s house. Children & Teens gain confidence and self-esteem by knowing how to swim well when they are with friends. They also need to know what they can do to help when another swimmer is in trouble. Many drownings turn into double drownings because people generally do not know the best course of action when a swimmer is in trouble.

            Physical Fitness: The benefits of water exercise are long standing. Resistance is a key factor in improving strength and cardiovascular fitness. Compared to exercise on land, the same level of fitness can be attained in up to ½ the time! Water can be from 4 to 44 times more resistant than air, depending on how hard you work. Even athletes train in water because the medium produces resistance for every muscle group and the athlete becomes stronger and more flexible for other sports. Water can also be a safer environment to exercise in because of virtually no impact, as gravity is reduced to 10% of that on land.

            Physical Therapy: A warm water pool is beneficial for many ailments including, but not limited to, arthritis, fibromyalgia, & injuries of all kinds. The reduction in gravity leads to less stress on injured areas and the warm water provides a soothing environment which relaxes muscle groups adding optimal conditions for therapy and healing. Children and Teens who grow up in and around water, and thus have a great comfort level in water, turn to water for its immense healing qualities, early or later in life, when the need arises.

            Fun: No doubt about it…Everyone loves water!