Water & Land
Environments of Transformation
The gifts of water…
Why Water? - Warm water decreases pain. Simply by being in warm water, each nerve ending that is submerged, is soothed, and pain decreases. Water ‘uplifts’, hugs and gently squeezes the body through buoyancy and hydrostatic pressure. All this together helps our muscles and tissues achieve a more fluid state while submerged. Therefore, mobility & flexibility increase. The viscosity, or thickness of water, gives a sense of support to the submerged body. This feeling helps create a safe place to practice moving more. It’s safe to get off balance in water. This makes it an ideal environement to get ‘wobbly’! As they say at AquaBodies, “The best way to find our balance is to lose it” - safely, where we can practice regaining it. If moving on land is painful, limited, or is not an option…WATER is the place to be. Activities of Daily Life (ADL’s), can be safely practiced. Any progress gained in water, transfers to land function. Water gives us unique advantages to help us in gravity. These are some of the gifts from water:
The “Ahhh Factor” - It feels good to get in warm water. When we get in, we might say, “AHHH”. This response alone, reduces the response activity of the sympathetic nervous system, which is the ‘stress’ response. Whether that stress in real or imaginary, the sympathetic knows no difference. We want this response activity to go down. When sympathetic nervous system message quiets down, the message from our parasympathetic nervous system has more space. This is the ‘rest and digest’ message. eel safe. It’s what your doctor wants you to do, so why not do more of it? Let’s go!
Buoyancy - Provides immediate decompression of ALL submerged joints. Increases flexibility and range of motion by 30% or more. Allows for increased mobility. Supports the body in order to practice ADL’s and authentic movement training.
Omni-Directional Resistance - water’s thickness, or viscosity, provides resistance in ALL directions without gravity influence on form or function. It allows for safe resistance strength training which has been shown to increase bone density! Yes, even in the water!
Hydro-static pressure - Feels like a hug or a ‘squeeze’. It gives the same benefit as an Ace-Bandage for swollen injured parts. It increases and aids with inflammation and swelling. This increase in systemic compression assists the heart by squeezing fluid ‘up’ to the heart. Cardiovascular pressure can decrease as the heart gets some help with circulation.
“The Wobble”- Water is always moving. That means we are literally being pushed around by water while we are in it. It throws us off balance, on purpose! This helps us learn to regain balance simply by losing it in a safe place. Proprioceptive awareness gets stimulated with this ‘wobble’ which helps to increase reaction time and reflexes. This practice transfers to land function.
Proprioceptive Awareness - The body/brain connection. This is generally defined as ‘the awareness of our body in space and time’. In the water, more movement potential is possible given to us for FREE through the traits of the aquatic environment listed above. Moving safely in as many directions as possible adds variety, which helps the brain to grow. This growth is defined as ‘neuro-plasticity’. Water 'wakes up’ proprioceptive awareness and helps us move safely with more variety.
How we do this:
Authentic Movement Programming®- Individualized functional exercises in all 3 planes of motion to build on your success and take your daily & sports performance to the next level.
De-Gunking(Hands-on Soft-Tissue Myofascial Release)- Buoyancy lubricates joints and tissues resulting in faster clearing of adhesions, less pain and more mobility.
The gifts of land…
Why Land? - This where we live. We have goals for moving better. At the minimum, performing basic physical Activities of Daily Life, (ADL’s) might be at the top of your list or running your next 5K, going to Costco without being exhausted, 9 holes of golf, Spring break with the Grandkids or your Division 2 Collegiate Decathlon. yTraining on land must be authentic to the physical goal, ensure injury prevention and performance excellence simultaneously.
Gravity - Helps the body give immediate feedback. We know right away where it hurts. In order to benefit, it is essential to work where you can successfully move without pain and function is not limited by gravity.
Proprioceptive Awareness - It is the communication between the body and the brain, in space and time. While this is the same technique used in water, the downward pull of gravity has a completely different effect on the body compared to when gravity has been reduced by water.
How we do this:
Authentic Movement Programing®-Individualized functional movement in all 3 planes of motion, and every direction in between, authentic to your activity. We build on your success and take your daily & sports performance to the next level.
De-Gunking (Hands-On Soft-Tissue Myofascial Release)- We combine the downward pull of gravity, active range of motion by the client and guidance through the hands of the practitioner to clear out ‘gunk’ or restrictions in the joints to increase mobility.
PelviCore Training®- Facilitates Functional Core activaion as well as stability and mobility in the pelvic-floor, low-back and hips. Activating this area ensures proper core function which is central to everything we do.
The smart combo…
Why Combo? Partnering land with water training is SUPER SMART! This approach leverages the best techniques from both modalities into one journey to achieve performance excellence. Using both land and water can be ideal if you are limited by a serious injury or situation. Or maybe you want to be smart and reduce the risk of over-use injury, de-compress the impact of pounding the pavement or just save your best for game day! If this is you, then we choose the combination of environments best suited to your individual needs and progress from there.
Rejuvenating- Hard work on land, supplemented with hard work in the water, is the perfect pair! Water gives low to zero impact to help de-stress compressed tissues and joints. It drastically reduces the DOMS effect on muscles. We work in water to gain success where gravity cannot interfere, such as with rotational motions. Maximize training, conditioning & recovery in these two worlds and save performance for game day! Take the load off repetitive movement, reduce injury and get the job done!
Proprioceptive Awareness- Best of both worlds! The success you gain in the water, transfers to land! Experience adding the unique benefits of water’s resistance to your gravity based training. Learning how to train in all 3 planes of motion, on land & with water, rapidly builds new strength & stability, while increasing power & mobility for your specific goals.
How we do this:
Authentic Movement Programing®- Individualized functional exercises in all 3 planes of motion to build on your success and take your daily & sports performance to the next level.
De-Gunking (Hands-On Soft-Tissue Myofascial Release)- Benefitting from the combined modalities of Soft Tissue Fascia Release & Functional Movement, both on land and in water as needed.
PelviCore Training®- Functional Core awareness may be where the path begins. In that case, we work diligently to ensure proper core strength is central to everything we do.