By Dr. Doriana De Pasquale
Some time ago I was wandering around the pools of the Foro Italico and, as if I had never noticed it, I admired the spacious rooms in the corridors, the changing rooms, in short, a very long journey to get to my destination.
It was then that, as in a photo from the beginning of the 1900s, everything appeared to me in black and white and I almost ran into a guy from over sixty or seventy years ago!
Of course they were quite strange at that time ... not only in clothing, even in greeting, in talking, in short ... other times! See them swim then ... a hoot! Yet there is little to laugh, I immediately thought, who knows how the great-grandchildren of our children will laugh at us in a few decades. And if I asked the guy I met to try the new aquatic carpet, how would he react? I forgot, in his time there was no gymnastics in water, and the attitude of the body in vertical immersion was not really used. How do I explain to them, then, all the evolutionary steps that have taken place so quickly up to the present day, from equipment to the concept of well-being, from the idea of psycho-physical efficiency to fitness, from wellness to the world of Aquilibrium? Perhaps it would be enough to ask him to walk, then slowly to start running, feeling the water pressure on every square centimeter of his body and making him half-close his eyes to better feel the pulse of his heart under stress I would say: "It is beautiful true? Welcome to our future! "
That's right, Aqqwalking trade mill is the latest creation of aquatic fitness, in which the culture of water blends with the technology of equipment, the feelings of freedom and lightness of the movement in immersion find concreteness in a finalized training, the applications more intense result in high-level performance.
Through the use of this brand new great tool for aquatic training, methods are anchored to the basic principles of correct posture and movement but at the same time modalities related to performance and cardiovascular conditioning, which are nothing more than indices of the degree of training and improvement of conditional and metabolic abilities.
The approach and later a deeper knowledge of this tool are based on two basic motor patterns: "walking" and "running", just as we said to do to our "athlete of the early '900".
But do we know how to run and can we walk?
We have gone, perhaps, always further: the sensations, the feeling, the feeling, the letting go, the deep breath, the intense training ... yet the mere ambulation can define the personality of an individual to its most hidden truths . The point, however, is to walk and run correctly, in posture, to ensure a favorable and balanced musculoskeletal structure, because if we certainly cannot act on the individual personality we can increase self-esteem and desire to love each other.
But what are the advantages of walking and running in the water?
- The hydrostatic thrust relieves pressure on the joints and reduces the load on the lumbar area
- The cyclicality in the gesture of execution that gives as a result a massage by the fluid
- A metabolic training that involves the nervous system through an involvement of the coordination of the upper / lower limbs
- The increase of conditional and coordinative capacities
- Constant resistance, but proportional to the speed of movement and body attitudes
- The involvement of group training or the specificity of individualized training
- The intensity of training, the speed of execution, the use of tools: qualitative variables that are always present and mutant.
How to use it?
□ Through the pressure of the feet and the thrust of the lower limbs, the treadmill is operated mechanically, which of course is not motorized
□ The use of stockings is optional
□ There is an involvement of the supports and grips of the upper limbs
□ The handles vary on the bar and body attitudes and types of gaits change
What kind of training can you get?
□ Metabolic: aerobic activity, in threshold, improvement of aerobic power, stimulation of the lactic acid system
□ Muscular conditioning: mainly on the lower limbs, (possibly using additional tools), on the upper limbs, exploiting the resistance of water or other tools, on the abdominal muscles in isometry and in isotonia
□ Neuro-muscular and motor coordination
Who is able to practice an Aqqwalking activity?
Of course all lovers of aquatic activities, all lovers of well-being and feeling fit, athletes who want to maintain or improve their preparation without overloading their joints, who must practice a functional recovery, who must support a mild but conditioning activity, who loves to run in all seasons and those who do not like running but loves to feel immersed.
Aqqwalking and how to use it
□ Group lesson in which each user uses his / her own tool
□ Circuit lesson, in which each student passes from one station to another using also other great tools (aqquactive bike or aqquafit bike), or small tools (dumbbells, tondoludo, gloves ...)
□ Individual lesson in which the student follows a sort of personalized training card, then tailored, after an appropriate functional evaluation.
Concluding
With Aqqwalking we reinforce the concept that the swimming pool and swimming activities are expanding and changing more and more; that the water spaces are not only for the use and consumption of those who swim; that moving in immersion but vertically requires and will always require more innovative programs and advanced equipment; if it is true that water is the essence of any form of training in the pool, it is true that to improve the concept of fitness and well-being it takes materials that can exploit and use this water to the full, because everything flows .. and everything changes and runs towards the future!
