“I get a better workout in deep water,”says a participant. “I need to keep moving the entire time, just to stay afloat. ” And they may have a point. On the other hand…
Depends on your body, your effort and depends on your instructor’s guidelines.
Depends on your body?
An athletic, lean body can push the water harder relative to their body weight, giving themselves a more intense workout.
An obese person, on the other hand, will have more difficulty achieving sufficient intensity relative to their body weight due to issues of greater surface area, more water to push, slower movements, likely insufficient muscle strength to push the water hard enough, likely fewer repetitions. All this adds up to a lack of muscle overload – required to increase muscle strength and endurance.
Another concern…we build bulk on land with heavy weights, short reps, aiming to “bulk up”. For the client wishing to burn calories and slim down, however, I wonder whether increasing the mass of water you’re pushing with each stroke might also cause the “bulking up” – just wondering.
Depends on the instructor’s guidelines?
The instructor needs to encourage a higher intensity than usual because movements will likely be less intense in deeper water. Significant buoyancy (less of a factor in shallow water) may contribute to difficulty maintaining effective body positions while executing movements. Significant body density tends to encourage sinking. Non-swimmers may feel unsafe, and unable to perform movements. An instructor needs creative skills to work around these issues to maximize the effectiveness of the deep water – and it can be done.
