A Study on the Intensity of Water Noodle Aerobic Exercise for Adults

Yuhong Wen, Lijun Long and Yiming Zhang

Swimming Section, Beijing Sports University, Beijing, China

1 OBJECTIVES

Water aerobics are considered to be a fine way to

improve people’s fitness level without risk of injury

(Steve Tarpinian, Brian J. Awbrey,1997.). Noodle is

one of the commonly used equipments in water

aerobics. Noodle is made from foamed polyethylene

with the features of light, flexible, cushioning and

buoyant. It is usually used to improve exerciser’s

strength by adding resistance (

Michael De Toia, etc.

2004). It can also be facilitated as buoyancy

equipment to help exerciser floating or suspending

in the water for some special works.

Heart rate is a noninvasive, instant, practical and

easy index for intensity, cardiovascular and

metabolism. In order to reveal the load intensity of

different noodle works, 14 different movements are

designed based on the noodle’s feature of buoyancy

and length, as well as water characteristics and

human being’s anatomy.

2 METHODS

Table 1: Brief introduction of the 14 selected noodle

exercises.

No. Motion

Upper limbs (hold noodle

with hands)

Lower limbs

1 push jogging Push the noodle forward jogging

2 push squatting Push the noodle forward squatting

3 push jumping Push the noodle forward

squat and jumping

high

4 press squatting Press the noodle down squatting

5 press jumping Press the noodle down

squat and jumping

high

circle part

jumping

Press the noodle down then

push forward

Part jumping

7 circle lunges

Press the noodle down then

push forward

Lunging

8 scooping

Sweeping the noodle side to

side

Standing

9 waving

Sweeping the noodle from

left down up to the right

Standing

10 bunny jumping Holding the noodle

Jumping while

turning

11 lifting legs

Leaning the noodle with

chest

Lifting and

separating legs high

12 Press lifting Press the noodle down

Lifting and

separating legs high

13 circle lifting

Press the noodle down then

push forward

Lifting and

separating legs high

scissors

kicking

Leaning the noodle with

back and armpit

Suspending and

scissoring

In order to reveal the load intensity of different

noodle works, 14 different movements are designed

based on the noodle’s feature of buoyancy and

length, as well as water characteristics and human

being’s anatomy. 8 adults subjects aged from 18 to

40 are recruited to do water exercise 90 minutes for

3 times a week through 8 weeks period. 2 tests are

executed in the 6

and 8

week. Subjects maximum

heart rates are tested by porlar rs 400 when they do

each movement for 5 minutes continuously with 3

minutes interval between the movements so that HR

recovered almostly.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

HR is considered to be a sensitive and noninvasive

index for exercise intensity and metabolism level.

HR of water exercise is usually lower than land

exercise because of the buoyancy and resistance of

water and the speed of movement (MaryBeth Pappas

Baun,2007).

4 5 6

Figure 1: Diagram Sketch of the the 14 selected noodle

exercises.

Wen Y., Long L. and Zhang Y..

A Study on the Intensity of Water Noodle Aerobic Exercise for Adults.

 2014 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

Figure 1: Diagram Sketch of the the 14 selected noodle

exercises. (cont.).

HR for the 14 movements range between

108±11.40 to 138±15.40 beat/min, which indicates

all the exercises are under aerobic intensity and are

beneficial for cardiovascular fitness. The highest HR

happened when subjects jumping in large range and

pressing down or pushing forward noodles with

arms, with mean HR located above 130 beat/min.

When the subjects press noodles while striding or

running, mean HR are between 120 to 130 beat/min.

When subjects press noodles with standing or

floating position, HR range from 110 to 120

beat/min. All the works can be divided into 3

groups, high intensity group, medium intensity

group and low intensity group.

Table 2: Subjects’ mean HR during the test for 14

works(N=8).

No. motions HR

1 Press lifting 138±15.40

2 circle lifting 136±12.37

3 press jumping 134±13.92

4 circle lunges 128±12.51

5 circle part jumping 127±20.53

6 bunny jumping 122±17.91

7 push jogging 121±17.08

8 push jumping 119±17.35

9 lifting legs 118±11.83

10 waving 116±10.07

11 scooping 116±10.36

12 scissors kicking 114±11.33

13 press squatting 110±14.28

14 push squatting 108±12.61

Table 3: Classification of the 14 movements.

movements

zone

feature

High

intensity

Press lifting; circle

lifting; press jumping

ove

130

Jumping

vigorously

Medium

intensity

circle lunges; circle part

jumping; bunny jumping;

push jogging

120-

130

Striding

or jogging

Low

intensity

push jumping; lifting

legs; waving; scooping;

scissors kicking; press

squatting; push squatting

110-

120

Standing

floating

5 CONCLUSIONS

Intensity of water noodle exercises increases when

leg jumping vigorously with arm pressing noodles.

Intensity of exercises in floating position is

relatively low but good for injury prevention and

rehabilitation. All the pressing and pushing

movements are executed by pectoralis major and

bending muscles of arm, where latissimus dorsi and

extension muscle are not recruited thoroughly,

which indicates that further attention should be paid

in designing exercises.

REFERENCES

Steve Tarpinian, Brian J. Awbrey,1997. Water Workouts.

The Lyons Press.

MaryBeth Pappas Baun,2007. Fantastic Water Workouts.

Human Kinetics Publishers.

Jane Katz,2003. Your Water Workout: No-Impact Aerobic

and Strength Training From Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi,

and More. Harmony.

Michael De Toia, etc. 2004.Water Exercises: Workouts

with the Aqua Noodle. Meyer & Meyer.

Terry-Ann, Wener Hoeger., 2002. Water Aerobics for

Fitness and Wellness. Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc.

Janna Lowell., 2012. Noodles for Dumbbells: Water

Exercise, Weight Management & More. America Star

Books.