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Home > Fitness > Aquatic Gym > Floating

Floating Yoga

This pool exercise has been making waves in the fitness world since 2017 because it combines surfing, yoga and gym exercises to make for an exciting session.

It is a 30 minute low impact, cross training workout on water using a floating exercise mat or a SUP paddle board. The combination of yoga and water is a very pleasant way to move.

Wet Challenge

If you do not shy away from a solid, challenging workout, then this is really something for you. During the exercises you stand, sit or lie on the plank, but also often next to it in the water.

The movement created by the water requires both the core and concentration to work together to stay afloat. Think burpees, lunges, planks and squats but all on water. You'll have so much fun in class, you won't know you've had a workout until the next day.

This is a fast-paced class based around high-intensity interval training. You can bring your love for HIIT to a whole new high with this fabulous wet workout. Try something new and push yourself even further, not only with HIIT but using floats to increase muscle toning and trying to keep yourself up on the floats.

Core Strength

The waves that you and the other participants make through the exercises make it even more difficult. All exercises are performed on a floating yoga mat, so you constantly have to look for your balance. This is very good for your core stability and you strengthen all the muscles in your body. That makes you fit!

During this class you will work on lengthening and strengthening your muscles, stimulating the blood circulation and has a positive effect on the functioning of your organs. The lesson is based on the well-known Hatha yoga where a good basis is laid for the correct postures. Exercises for good motor skills give you more awareness of your own body.

Aside from having a lot of wet fun, the biggest benefit to floating fitness is how it works your stabiliser muscles. Generally speaking, these are the muscles that live under your abs but are key to staying injury-free. Plus, if you work them regularly you'll see improvements in your form with everything from running to swimming.

Advantages of Floating Yoga:

Improves posture
More stability
Awareness of breathing
Lengthening of the muscles
Deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue become more flexible

Target Audience

These lessons are suitable for participants from 16 years old. To take part in this class you must be confident in deep water, injury-free, and have a reasonable level of fitness / fitness. We do not recommend them for pregnant women.

Clothing Advice

It is best to wear fitness clothing during classes. Swimming costumes or speedos are not suitable. We recommend unlined gym clothes or sportswear that you don't mind getting wet, like sports leggings with a water shirt.

To be on the safe side, put on a pair of sports shorts over your leggings, against sagging. It might look a bit uncharming, but you'll be glad you did. When you fall off your mat (and that will happen often), the combination of moving water and a floundering you is the recipe for sagging bottoms. During class you often sit on your knees on the floating mat. It is a bit stiff (against slipping) and with sports leggings you prevent red, chafed legs.

gym clothes for Floating Yoga training in pool
Start with a single layer first, then add more clothing as you gain more confidence.

These clothes will get wet from the start, so bring a dry set to change into for your way home.

gym clothes for Floating Yoga training in pool
Relaxing after workout


Reader Story

by Chris from Portsmouth, England

Being skinny, I get cold quickly in a pool wearing only swimwear. When I saw an advert for Fitness Yoga, I noticed that you were required to wear fitness or yoga clothes, like leggings and shirts, not swimsuits. This meant I could stay warm in the pool.

My usual fitness clothes are running tights, a comfy sports shirt, and a hoodie or anorak. At the leisure centre I wore my kit in the showers like the other participants who looked very colourful in their wet gym clothes.

Into The Pool

Instructor Tom told us to get into the water and clamber aboard the marshmallow-like objects floating in the pool. I climbed onto the board and gingerly stood up, feeling like a fish out of water. Unlike a firm SUP board, there is some bounce to the surface of the fitness float board.

My first task was to close my eyes and stand still for 30 seconds, to get a feel for balancing on the board. Without vision my balance system doesn't work right. This made me lose focus and I fell back into the pool.

Dynamic Yoga

The workout started with a dynamic warm-up, like lunges, body weight squats and so on, meant for things to heat up, or potentially cool down if one goes overboard with a splash.

We began a circuit of exercises that targeted the core, back, legs and arms. Each move lasted for 30 seconds with exercises I'd done before, but never on water or in wet clothes: squats, planks, v-situps, mountain climbers, burpees.

Tom showed the moves, we watched, repeated, and fell into the water. I tried to follow the intructions for my core to ‘switch on’ and hoped I could 'activate' my glutes as I did the burpees on water, or more often in the water.

Every pose required a little bit more work than on dry land. I was constantly readjusting to perfect my posture as the float bobbed and weaved beneath me. With every pose that I got through without falling off, my confidence grew a bit more. I started to move around the board more easily, trusting my own body to keep me upright.

Do the 'Superman'

If you've never done this before, I urge you to give it a go. Get on all fours and raise your left arm and right leg, then swap over. Easy? Not when the ground moves beneath you, it isn't.

I lifted up my right arm, the board tilted to the left, and I capsized with a splash. As I reappeared out of the water, Tom was quick to check if I was alright, but I couldn't stop laughing. Falling in is great fun, climbing out again a bit more exhausting. I fell off many times after that, and each time I emerged grinning. Tom said he falls off all the time: "The point of the class is about challenging yourself."

Jump Around

The last challenge involved squatting, then jumping up and turning 180 degrees. How could I land a jump without slipping off? My first few attempts moved me around by about 10 degrees. Tom demanded I did it properly. So one more time, I squatted, jumped, saw the walls spin around me, spotted the other side of the room, fell towards my float, and promptly hit the water. Once again, I resurfaced with a laugh. Floating Yoga is hard, but most fun exercise class I've done.

gym clothes for Floating Yoga training in pool
After the session was a chance to go swimming. I was so exhausted that I kept my clothes on, swam a few lengths and floated in the pool.

On the way out I was told that I could wear my fitness clothes in the water during the regular swimming sessions.

Great, no more getting cold!

gym clothes for Floating Yoga training in pool
I was happy but exhausted.

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