7 Pool Exercises for a Fat-Burning Water Workout

Working out in the pool also provides multidirectional resistance, meaning that when you move, your body is fighting the resistance of the water all around you (that’s why it takes so much more effort and time to take a few steps in a pool, compared with dry land), explains Dan Daly, CSCS, a New York City–based competitive swimmer and performance coach of elite athletes.

“All athletes and exercise enthusiasts could benefit from cross-training in the water,” Daly says. “[This] requires your muscles to fire and contract harder to overcome the extra resistance of the water.”

7 Fat-Burning Pool Exercises

The following workout from Daly is a low-impact, interval-based conditioning session including seven resistance exercises that can help you build muscle mass, which in turn helps you burn calories and fat. It also prioritizes large, compound movement patterns that get your heart rate up and work a wide range of muscles at the same time.

To begin, Daly advises completing all seven exercises in order as a circuit, with 30 seconds of work and 30 seconds of rest per exercise. That’s one round. Give yourself a two-minute rest between rounds. Start with two rounds, and gradually progress to up to six to eight rounds.

1. Running

Begin in the shallow end of the pool. Run from one edge to the other (the shallower the water, the heavier your body weight will feel; the deeper the water, the more drag or resistance you’ll feel working against your movement). You’ll need to lean forward from the ankles, pump your arms, and bring your legs into a high-knee position before extending them back down to move forward.

You can increase downward resistance by holding a weighted object at chest level (such as a kickboard, weighted rubber brick, or medicine ball), or you can make moving forward harder by holding a kickboard in front of you with your arms fully extended. Pool-specific ankle weights and/or a swim parachute (a piece of fabric you attach to your waist that creates drag behind you as you move through the water) can also up the ante.

2. Pool-Edge Push-Ups

Facing the deck, begin by placing your hands on the edge of the pool, just wider than shoulder-width apart. Brace your core and shift your weight into your upper body. As you press up and fully extend your elbows, your feet will likely leave the ground, depending on the depth of the pool. Pause, then slowly lower your body back to the starting position and repeat.

If this feels too difficult on your chest, shoulders, or triceps, or if you aren’t able to perform many reps with proper form, use your lower body for support by using your legs to jump off the bottom. Daly notes that this can also help make it a full-body exercise.

3. Squat Jumps

Stand in the shallow end of the pool with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes turned slightly out. Squat down by sitting back into your hips and heels with flat feet, then straighten your hips, knees, and ankles to drive through the balls of your feet and jump up as high as possible into the air. (The water should be shallow enough that squatting does not bring your head underwater.) Land on the balls of your feet, then immediately squat back down and repeat.

To make the exercise harder, move faster. It will create more resistance, and require you to complete more reps in the same amount of time.

4. Side Shuffling

Begin by standing in the shallow end of the pool, then side shuffle from one edge of the pool to the other. Focus on keeping your core engaged and toes pointing in front of you.

To increase the burn, hold your hands to the sides or wear a pool-approved mini resistance band around your legs.

5. Prone Scissor Kick

Start by holding the pool wall (stationary) or a kickboard (moving). If you’re holding a kickboard, hold it with both hands at the top or bottom corners, at arm’s length, with your face above the water, just at the surface. Keep your body long, taut, and horizontal with your head up to breathe (you are about 95 percent in the water). To begin flutter kicking, kick with your heels from the hips (at the surface of the water) with a “soft” or slightly bent knee, snapping through the toes. Feel the water holding you up. Increase tempo and force to raise the intensity — your heels should just break the surface, creating white or “boiling” water.

Maintain a straight line from the back of your head to your tailbone. This position increases demand on the glutes (your body’s biggest muscles). Add fins to improve technique, increase surface area, and amplify the load on the legs.

6. Press to Row

Start by standing while holding a kickboard against your torso. Lower into a squat position so that your chest is submerged in the pool. Brace your core, and extend your arms and the kickboard forward against the water, then immediately pull your arms and the kickboard back toward your chest. You should feel the muscles in your back working. Repeat.

7. Jumping Jacks

Begin by standing in the pool with your head above water (as deep as you’re comfortable), with feet together and arms down at your sides. Jump your legs out to both sides as you raise your arms straight overhead, then reverse the motion, jumping your feet back in together and bringing your arms back down to your sides. If you’re distracted by the splashing, only lift your arms up to the height of the water. Repeat. You can raise the intensity by increasing your speed.