Posted 10/14/2016 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
I have taken part in water exercise classes in a warm, therapeutic pool for about 7 years, now. It is a very good place to start for people with fibromyalgia, especially for those who have not been exercising on a regular basis. I could not exercise on land without difficulty until about a year ago, but can now bicycle for about 1-11/2 hours, and walk or even slow jog for short periods of time. I normally use the pool after the land exercise, as it gives me a chance to "soak" and relax my muscles so that they are not as sore as they would be otherwise.
The one drawback that I have found with water exercise is that I do not always feel it if I am overdoing like I would if exercising on land, so I have to pace myself. Otherwise, I am not aware that I have overexerted until I feel it the following morning. Being of a competitive nature myself, I have learned to not worry about what others are thinking. There are people of all ages taking part in the class that I attend, and they are there for various reasons. On many occasions, when I have confided to others in my class that I have fibromyalgia, they have mentioned that they also have it, that they have lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or that they are recovering from a car accident, etc. In other words, they are not able to push themselves, either. There are some women in my class that do not push themselves simply because they do not want to get their hair wet! There are people in my class who occasionally do a different exercise at times when the one the rest of the class is doing is too difficult or painful for them. This is fine with the instructor and the other participants. Many times, people in the class have commented that the nice thing about exercising in the water is that no one can tell whether or not you are doing it right like what they can if you are doing it on land. Everyone is just there to have fun and get what they can out of the class.