RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
At Kailua District Park, Audrey Kahanu "runs" across the pool. Nancy Miller, behind her, is holding onto the ends of a foam "noodle" that is wrapped around Kahanu's waist. This exercise is called the "chariot race" and is a staple of the water aerobics program held twice a week at the pool.
Converts are touting water
aerobics as an ideal form
of exercise that offers
therapeutic mind-body benefits
When was the last time you did the bunny hop and your grown-up body felt almost weightless?
Or ran a race without getting out of breath or getting hot and sweaty?
What if you took an imaginary pony ride on a stick and didn't care about anyone laughing at you?
All this is possible in a water aerobics class, which would be the ideal exercise for many because it doesn't feel like normal exercise. In other words, it doesn't hurt and it's fun. (Now, can someone figure out how to get away with eating tons of chocolate cake and not gain weight?)
Women like Margaret White and Janine Tully have been doing water exercise for years and swear by its therapeutic mind-body benefits. They take night classes twice a week at Kailua District Park, taught by Cindy Vargo-Siok, who is a Realtor by day.
White and Tully are such die-hards that you will find them among the eight to 10 zealots who keep coming during the nippy winter months. During the warmer months, the classes average 20 to 25 people, usually women.
"It's the only type of exercise I make an effort to go to -- I just love it. I've been doing it for almost four years and try not to miss a class," Tully said.
"Even when I'm so tired and stressed out" after a day's work, "once I hit the water, I'm totally refreshed. That class is therapy, a good workout, and it relaxes me," she added.
White started taking the class after she had a malignant lump and lymph nodes removed from her left side two years ago. She found the resistance training -- pushing against water is akin to lifting weights -- easy to do yet effective in strengthening her arm.
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
Marina Mosqueda, left, and Joelle Humel work on strengthening their legs, doing exercises using paddle boards.
White also suffered a slight stroke last November, and the exercise helped her recover. A bum knee makes any other kind of aerobics -- the pavement-pounding kind -- out of the question.
"I recommend it for anyone," she said.
It had been years since I'd even donned a swimsuit, so in my first venture into water exercise, I lowered myself gingerly into the pool, ready to cringe from the shock of cold water. But the sun had warmed the pool to a comfortable 82 degrees.
I was relieved that the water was only deep enough to hit me about chest high. I didn't want to get my hair wet or have my eyeliner dissolve into raccoon eyes. What a sissy. Gone was the carefree kid I used to be who didn't think twice about diving and bobbing about for hours in the ocean.
The stereo was dishing out golden oldies a la the Rolling Stones and James Brown, one of the things that keeps Tully hooked -- "I love the music, and it really helps me get into my workout." It was more like being at a pool party than an exercise class with all the smiles, camaraderie and splashing once the games began.
Everyone started doing the bunny hop, hands on hips, in a wide circle to get warmed up. Then we switched to hopping on one leg. On land it would have been hard to do 10 hops, but given the buoyancy of the water, no one seemed to be struggling.
At one point everyone grabbed a hold of a "noodle" -- those 6-foot flexible foam sticks that seem to be used mainly by kids to bop each other on the head -- for the pony ride. This involved straddling the middle of the noodle, balancing our weight, while our arms propelled us first forward to one end of the pool, then back to the other side.
KIP AOKI / KAOKI@STARBULLETIN.COM
The "pony ride" involves balancing on a foam "noodle" and using arms and legs to propel forward.
Both ends of the noodle stuck out of the water on either side of our bodies, so we were essentially sitting in the middle of a U-shape. Our feet weren't supposed to touch the bottom as our legs treaded water. That was the theory.
Try keeping your balance while everyone around you is churning the water up and the people going backward are bumping into the bunch still going forward, trying to reach the end of the pool!
The noodles were then used in the "chariot race." Tully and I formed a team, one running with the noodle around her waist, the other holding the noodle ends and kicking from behind. Tully started as the runner and I, the kicker.
I don't know whether it was because I was laughing so hard and couldn't kick as fast or that I was just too much dead weight for Tully to pull, but we were the last ones to finish, about 10 feet behind the pack. Having the teacher prod us along with, "Hurry, the piranha are coming after you!" didn't help.
I felt incredibly silly but was having so much fun, I didn't care. By then my hair hung in wet strands and the eye makeup had definitely smeared into oblivion, probably from the tears of laughter more than the splashing water.
Vargo-Siok has been teaching water exercise classes for 15 years and thinks "its the perfect form of exercise. It's a great way to keep toned, and ... there's a lot of positive energy. If I've had a bad day, I feel so good after I do the class. That's what's most rewarding."
Though most of her students are women, she gets the occasional man recovering from a bad back under a doctor's recommendation, she said.
Because the water's buoyancy literally takes the weight off one's feet and the stress off the joints, it's ideal for people with injuries. Or women who are pregnant, such as Marina Mosqueda, who is in her fifth month and has attended several sessions. Mosqueda says the class is "great relaxation and it makes me feel good." Unused muscles ached for days when she first started, but now she doesn't get stiff at all.
Evelyn and Tracy Yasuda, mother and daughter, both have bad knees that aren't aggravated by water exercise. "It doesn't feel like work to me," Tracy said.
Evelyn likes it because "you can do it at your own pace. I don't get out of breath."
But more important is that the class gives them time away from family obligations. "This is my hour a week (of freedom)," said Tracy, who is home all day caring for her children.
Their class is sponsored by the city Department of Parks and Recreation. Evelyn finds night classes convenient because she works during the day, but morning classes are offered, too. For 10 classes she only paid $10, so even if she misses any, she still feels she is getting her money's worth.
Water exercise classes are offered at most district parks and at YMCA and YWCA branches equipped with pools. Call individual park offices and branches for schedules. Classes at the Y will run a bit higher.
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