Friday

First thing for the day was a fun master class with Mushi Harush, a trainer from Israel. Let's Have a Ball 2 used a children's playball, somewhat underinflated, as buoyant resistance. Movements with the ball varied from under to above water so there was relief from the pressure of holding it. We used the balls on our own; we used the balls in pairs. It was great fun, not least when somebody's ball would escape from under the water.









Then a workshop called Boomer Balance Basics & Beyond with Steph Toogood.

Not sure why "boomer" was part of the title, except that it begins with a B. The material really was more relevant to the elder elderly: how to design water exercise to enhance static and dynamic balance. In addition to emphasis on great posture, a balance workout emphasizes movements that reinforce the Activities of Daily Living. Squats use the muscles for sitting and lifting, lunges help with reaching and general stability, arms moving diagonally across the body mimic the fastening of a car seat belt. Steph recommended the book Bending the Aging Curve by Joseph Signorile as a good guide to the land version of this increasingly important area of exercise.

On to Laurie Denomme's Chair Repair: Aquatic Exercise for Seated Occupations.

This workshop was a natural companion to the balance one. Almost all of us sit too much. Many of us sit for hours and hours every day at a desk, in meetings, at the wheel of a vehicle, on the couch after work. Our muscles get imbalanced, contracted in the chest, weak in the back; hip flexors flexed too much, "gluteal amnesia" (Ruth Sova's phrase) at the back. Besides striving for ergonomically correct work stations and taking standing and stretch breaks, we can lessen the impact of our 9-to-5 position with good strategies for exercise. Mobility of the  hips, pelvis, spine, and scapula are essential, and movements should be driven from the top down and the bottom up. Core strength, basically. PNF is useful here, and remembering to move in all 3 planes.

Laurie's workout had some partner work with noodles, things I'd done before, but DUH! why did it never occur to me to cross the noodles between the partners? Diagonals! Great!

Last workshop of the day was Pauline Ivens' Choreography for the Core.

Are you beginning to sense a theme here? The core, the core, the core. It's not just that it's a fitness fad. (Well, it is, but for good reason.) A strong core provides the stable foundation for all movement. And Pauline emphasized that supine crunches are getting frowned upon in the physical therapy world. The curl is not a functional position; it targets only the rectus abdominus and shortens rather than strengthens it to support the elongated spine. Repetitive lumbar spinal flexion even puts the discs at risk. Much better to move the spine as a complete unit, to use multiple muscles to brace and resist turbulence, imbalance, and instability, which is what we need a strong and functional core for on land and in the water anyway. Pauline had a great cross-country ski move astride the noodle with one hand grasping the noodle in the front and the other at the back. With hands tied up this way you have to rely on core strength to balance.

Friday evening was the big Puttin' on the Ritz dinner and whoop-de-do. I confess I was so pooped I left after dinner and skipped the whoop-de-do.