Movement that the water carries
Aqua gymnastics uses the two properties of water that are not available on land: buoyancy takes a large part of the body weight off the joints, and water resistance turns every movement into a gentle strength exercise at the same time. The result is a training that demands without jarring — which is why movement in water has always belonged to the cure and rehabilitation tradition and is a fixed building block in Kneipp programmes.
From the cure to aqua fitness
Classic aqua gymnastics is calm and guided: mobilisation, stretching, strengthening in chest-deep, pleasantly warm water — in the cure context often prescribed by a doctor and led by therapists. The sporting sister is called aqua fitness: faster programmes from aqua aerobics to aqua cycling, in which water resistance provides astonishingly demanding sessions — with a pulse that stays lower than the exertion feels.
For whom the water is worthwhile
For almost everyone — but especially for people with joint and back concerns, higher body weight or after injuries, for whom training on land is difficult: in water, movement succeeds that hurts outside. As a complement in a wellness holiday aqua gymnastics has its place too — as an activating item between spa calm and the evening menu, without the sore-muscle bill the next day.
In the spa hotel
Many houses run aqua gymnastics in the daily activity programme — from the Mooshof in the Bavarian Forest to the Kneipp programmes of the Sonnenhof in Bad Wörishofen, where movement in water belongs to the medically framed cure. Joining in costs nothing but the effort of getting up at ten in the morning; afterwards the spa day feels earned.
