New Way to Exercise!

I got a new product that I've been wanting to try out for about a week now. 

 

Unfortunately, the weather has not cooperated. It's stormed just about every day. And this product is an outside product, since I don't have any memberships, so I had to be patient. But finally we got a chance to get outside in between the bursts of rain. So we took advantage of that time and got in the pool. It was a little cold, but we made it work, lol.

Credit: aquagear.com

My new workout product would be a pair of water resistance gloves. I ordered them from AquaGear Swim Shop for about 20$ + S&H. They arrived in just a few days so I've just been waiting to get in the pool.

Other than a water aerobics class with my mom when I was about 10 years old, I can't say I've done much with water workouts, but we have a pool where we live now and I'm always open to trying different products and programs. So here is my experience with the gloves!

The gloves

They are designed simply, just a webbed glove, made from durable, chlorine-resistant fabric. The gloves are pretty easy to get on. I thought maybe they'd be a bit fragile since the fabric stretches while the threading doesn't, but they are tougher than they look. They also had no problem with my rings, no snagging or anything like that.


They are snug, but that's a good thing, so I didn't have a problem with them sliding around at all, even when under a lot of pressure with the movement in the water. They come in 4 different sizes and there is a sizing guide to figure out which ones are the best fit for you.  You don't really get to pick the colors of the gloves, they are decided based on the size, but I do really like the blue. My hands were just kind of on the brink of being between small and medium, but I chose medium just to be safe and they were a perfect fit. My husband wanted to try them on too, lol, so I let him and they worked alright for him too, so I think they're probably pretty flexible with sizing.

One thing I really love about the gloves is that they float! So no worries if you're in the pool and need to take one off or maybe if you just haven't gotten them on yet and you drop one. Even if you stick it at the bottom of the pool, it will float on up. And being black on the bottom makes them easy to find too. They're also really lightweight and compact, so they would easily fit in your gym bag or any other small bag. They can be a bit difficult to take off, but once you get it figured out it isn't an issue. Taking them off by the wrist is much easier than at the fingertips and is much less likely to cause any tears in the threading. They're easy to flip right side out since they don't have individual fingers too.

One of the selling points of this glove, and one of the reasons why I picked it out, is because it has the option of closing your hand. They do offer other types of gloves, which I have not tried out, that are silicone and I imagine these may be a little more durable, but it looks like you can't close your hand easily, so it would make it difficult to grab something or hold on ... I would think. Again, I haven't tried out those particular types of gloves so don't take my word for it. The fabric of this pair of gloves is sturdy, but I was also impressed that I could wipe my face without drenching my face, thus defeating the purpose of wiping my face to begin with. I was afraid that they would retain all of the water and I'd have to wipe my face with my arm if I wanted to clear the water, but I just squeezed my hand and the water drained out and I had no problems. The fabric isn't so rough to be abrasive to your face either, which also makes it a little more tricky to hold on to the edge of the pool, but our pool has rounded edges, so it may be easier with pools that have more of a grip to begin with.

I love these because they have the option of closing your hand for less resistance and opening your hand for more resistance. You can really tell a difference between the two styles too. I really noticed how much more quickly I move through the water with my hand completely open. It's nice too because you get resistance in both directions, not just one way, so it works both sides of your arms, depending on which exercise you're doing.

The Exercises

Since I am new to water workouts, I decided to look up some suggested exercises to make the most out of my experience. You can use the gloves for quite a wide range of exercises with strength training or aerobics and even just simply swimming laps. They're a great option for pregnant women, people with injuries, or people who prefer low impact workouts.  I have a feeling my husband is going to be using these gloves often. He has a back/hip injury from lifting weights improperly when he was younger, so he's been going to a chiropractor and hasn't been able to get back into lifting weights. He was very impressed with the gloves though and thinks they'd be a great option for him to get some strength back without messing up the progress he's made at the chiropractor's office.

So I found a few helpful sites to give me some ideas for us to try. Fitday.com has a great list of basic exercises to work your upper body. These suggested using water weights, but I found it very easy to modify to use the gloves instead and it's easy to get resistance going both directions. Here are some of the exercises I found on their site:

1. Bicep Curls - Tones and shapes the front of your upper arms.
Hold your hands down to your sides and, either one at a time or both at the same time, bend your arms, keeping your elbows to your ribs, and raise your open hands towards your chest and back down.

2. Flies - Define your chest.
Stand with your arms out wide, hands open. Swing your arms, keeping them straight, to the front of you so that your hands meet and then take them back open. Sort of like you're imitating smashing a bug that's flying in front of you.

3. Karate Punch - Tone various muscles in your arms.
Holding your hands open and close to your chest, push them forward through the water one at a time, then pull them back, rotating between hands.

4. Shoulder Shrugs - Sculpts your shoulders and can relieve tension.

I tried this two different ways, bending my elbows and not bending my elbows. The first way is to bend your elbows, so stand with your arms at your sides, hands open, and your palms facing downward. Slowly raise your shoulders up, bending your elbows to raise your hands towards the surface of the water, then push back down and lower your shoulders. The other way is to keep your arms straight only move your shoulder muscles up and down. 

5. Triceps Push - Firm the backs of your upper arms.

I modified this one so that instead of pushing vertically, I was swinging horizontally and then upward. I stood, slightly bent over, with my hands at my sides and palms facing behind me and swung my arms backward and forward through the water. Similar to a tricep kickback with weights.

6. Rows - Define muscles in shoulders and back.

Similar to the shoulder shrug and the triceps push, this one starts out with your arms out in front of your body but with your palms facing forward. Pull your arms backward so your hands come to your chest. It should feel like you're trying to touch your shoulder blades together, then push back forward.



For more exercises to work the rest of your body, I found bodybuilding.com to be a helpful resource. As with all workouts, make sure to warm up and then stretch afterwards and stay hydrated, even if you're standing in water the whole time! : )

In Review: AquaGear Swim Shop resistance gloves

Pros:

• sturdy fabric does not get snagged or tear easily
• can open and close your hand for more or less resistance
• can still wipe your face and grab things with the gloves on
• great option for pregnant women, people with injuries, or those who prefer low impact workouts
• lightweight and easy to carry with you
• reasonably priced
• orders ship quickly
• website is very easy to navigate
• easy to use with all types of workouts: aerobics, strength training, or laps
• sizing guide is accurate

Cons:

• not as easy to hold onto smooth pool walls
• can be a bit difficult to remove when wet
• could see the threading being ripped if you pull too hard 

If you'd like to try a pair of water resistance gloves from AquaGear Swim Shop, click the link here and search for keywords "wave web pro".  Or if you're interested in other water gear, they've got a great assortment of products on their website from swimwear to snorkeling masks to resistance cuffs. I'd like to try out the resistance cuffs some time too and explore the options for lower body resistance training, but the gloves are a great fit for us right now! Pun intended! : )