Teaching Techniques for Aqua Jogging Exercises

Aqua jogging is becoming a more popular exercise across the United States. This is mainly because it provides an excellent cardiovascular workout while exerting minimal stress on the body's frame. For this reason, many participants include those with joint problems, such as athletes recovering from injury or the elderly. When it comes to teaching, the fundamental techniques are similar to those that apply in other realms of fitness and personal training: encourage your students and keep them motivated, call out any slackers and keep the routine interesting.

  1. Encouraging Your Students

    • Positive reinforcement is one of the best ways to help build good habits and maintain motivation. Whenever there is a student who consistently performs well, make an example out of them. This can be a huge boost to her confidence and also will show other students hard work will be rewarded and recognized. It must be noted, however, that constantly praising your students may nullify the positive affect; thus, be sure to give praise when it is deserved but don't be too liberal. Another time when encouragement is important is whens students are despite their best efforts. To help them avoid frustration make sure you realize they are putting forth a strong effort and that they know that is the most important aspect of any aerobic workout.

    Calling Out the Slackers

    • Few things are worse than someone who slacks off in a group fitness class. Not only can this be annoying for both students and teachers alike, but it also means the instructor is not doing the job fully. As fitness classes are voluntary, it can be assumed everyone wants to be there. So, if there is a weak link in the class, there are two ways to handle the situation: pull him aside and speak to him personally, or call him out publicly. The former option is generally what should be used first to avoid possible conflict or anger. Speak to a student who is not working his hardest and ask him why. If he doesn't want to be in the class, tell him to stop coming; if he has trouble motivating himself, which is fairly common and a reason why many people do group classes led by an instructor, then ask him if he wants you to push him and call him out when he is slacking. Often this will be enough to get a better effort. If he are okay with you calling them out then be sure to. Soon enough the bad habits will go away and he will develop a habit of always giving 100 percent.

    Keeping the Routine Interesting

    • Nothing is worse than a boring aerobic workout. When instructing, try to spice up the routine a little bit. There are a couple different ways to do this, the first being to vary the type of exercise being performed. Make sure not to stay on one exercise for too long and also vary the muscle groups worked and the difficulty of the exercise. Another good way to keep the routine interesting while also helping to motivate students is to play music. Select music appropriate to the workout; this includes proper tempo and genre.