Using Inner Tubes in Aqua Fitness
There are two components to this article; there’s a video with the transcript of two stretches you can do with an inner tube plus a collage montage of more aqua yoga poses with inner tubes to use in aqua fitness classes.
Hello, my fellow pool lover. Today I want to give you two hamstring stretches you can do with a piece of gear. So I’m talking to my fellow gearheads here. This is an inner tube that was salvaged from a bicycle. You just cut the stem out. You give them a good wash in a bucket, and they’re ready to go in the pool.
And they are free. Yes, you could use a yoga belt, but they’re more expensive, they rust, and they fade in the chloriner. They also sell special rubberized equipment and belts you can use made for aquatics, even more expensive, again durable and free. So I like free. I’m giving you two hamstring stretches you can use with this inner tube, and those would be a Leg lift and Warrior III pose.
So for a leg lift, I would stand in Mountain Pose. Option number 1, I can just have my toes on the pool floor and then shift it to be heel on the pool floor. I’m getting some hamstring stretch there. Option number 2, I can bend the knee, bring that leg up, toes are coming towards my nose. Option number 3, I can straighten the leg out, toes are still coming towards my nose.
I’m gonna hop back just a little bit so you can see my full foot. There we go. When I do this with the inner tube, part of the reason I love the inner tube is I don’t have to use my hands. When I Try that option number 2. You can see now I’ve got my wrist through the inner tube, toes are still coming to my nose, or I can straighten the leg and toes come into my nose.
So what I can do now that I have this inner tube here is I can put a little bit of pressure in my wrist and I can lengthen that heel away, and I’m really getting some stretch in my hamstring here. And so it’s the same hamstring stretch as without the inner tube, but it is substantially more stretch with the inner tube. And yes, you can do it with the heel on the pool floor option, but I personally would need a longer inner tube. So bike tubes come in many lengths. You would want to get the one that’s going to work for you if you like that option.
So just get a bigger inner tube. Again, they’re free. And then Warrior 3 pose was the other option I can do. So if I do that without the inner tube I would stand in my Mountain Pose— making sure you’re gonna see me on the screen— stand in my Mountain Pose. Hands can go on the surface of the water.
When I bring them together, I’m going to hinge in my left hip and bring the heel on my right foot towards the surface of the water behind me. Toes are still coming towards my nose. So what tends to happen when I do this posture is, yes, I’m having to navigate my balance, my hip is tending to roll out, and I’m kind of struggling to get my heel towards the pool floor. So I’m getting some hamstring stretch, but not necessarily a ton. So what I can do with this guy is instead of putting my foot in it straight down with the toes in it like that, once I get it to the pool floor, I gotta tuck it around so my heel is now going through the inner tube.
I’m gonna hold it from the back, so I’m holding on to it with both hands. I want to choke up on it a little bit, so I’ve got a little bit of muscular effort going into it. And then I’m going to hinge again in that left hip. Now when I bring that heel on the right foot towards the surface of the water, again, I can energize the heel against the tension in the inner tubes. My right hip it’s easier for me to keep it down towards the pool floor, and I’m getting more stretch in my hamstrings.
You can see I’m not hinging forward as far since I don’t have my, you know, hands to counterbalance me in front. So it’s kind of a win some, lose some. If I’m trying to emphasize a hamstring stretch, these really work for that. So just some ideas you can use. Again, these are free, and you can do a lot with them.
There’s other things you can do as well. So I mentioned that I was inviting my fellow gearheads to watch this video. If we haven’t met, my name is Christa Fairbrother. I’m an internationally recognized aqua yoga coach and trainer and award-winning author, and I make resources available to you with aquatic gear such as kickboards, pool noodles, aquatic hand buoys, or which you might know as barbells. And I make these waterproof sequences, which are classes all done for you that again, you can get them wet in the pool because they’re waterproof with all different kinds of aqua gear.
Waterproof Aqua Yoga Classes
Choose a laminated, waterproof class that matches gear you own. Or stretch yourself and try something new with more than a dozen to choosed from.
So if you are interested in those, leave me a comment and tell me, are you a kickboard person? Are you a pool noodle person? Or are you a barbell person? And I can point you in the right direction for the right gear for you. So thanks so much for watching.
I hope this video was helpful for you, and I hope you can make it to your local bike shop— support your local businesses— and get an inner tube and play with it yourself in the pool and see what you figure out. Have a beautiful week. I hope you make it to the pool to practice. Take care.
