Water workouts are an ideal way for you to get in a low impact session of exercise that also yields fitness results. Water workouts go easy on your joints, while at the same time providing an effective workout for your major muscle groups and your heart. Though the main goal of water workouts is to improve your cardiovascular fitness, they also provide you with other benefits. These include the improvement of your balance, flexibility and strength. Many people join water workout classes that emphasize familiarity with basic water exercises.

Water workouts actually do your body good, specifically your joints. Doing the movements underwater is an effective respite from all the stress your joints suffer daily. It is also a respite from all manner of activities that wear down your joints. Because of the weight and the viscosity of the water, water workouts grant you the opportunity to increase the benefits of any exercise done in this manner. One of the main benefits that your joints will receive from water workouts is that they will get more flexible and enjoy a greater range of motion. Because of the reduced stress on your joints, you may be able to do exercises in the water that you can't do on land.

Water workouts are an effective way of burning calories. Many people do not know this, but just the activity of running full power in waist-deep water results in one of the most aggressive forms of exercise. A woman who weighs 145 pounds can burn off 17 calories each minute by doing this. This is equal to rigorous land exercises like running at a pace of six miles per hour. You can even take your calorie-crushing routine to other applications if you move to deeper water. Wearing a buoyancy belt in deeper water, the same woman can achieve a rate of 12 calories burned off every minute. This is the same as running on land at a pace of nine miles per hour. This type of workout in deeper water is a form of endurance running. It can be performed with the feet off the bottom of the pool.

Water workouts are to your advantage if you are seeking bigger muscles or just more toned ones. Your core muscles (the muscles of your abdomen) get a great workout since you are always pushing against the resistance of the water. You also stand to gain both balance and agility that you can put to use in land activities like volleyball and tennis. Because of this characteristic of water workouts, you may want to think of them as a kind of liquid weight room.