Water Workout: The 12 Best Pool Exercises for Weight Loss

Muscles worked: Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, calves, core

Benefits: Whether it’s on land or in the water, walking is a simple, accessible form of cardiovascular exercise that can be a great way for beginners or those recovering from an injury to get started. Picking up the pace to a jog will increase your heart rate, challenging your stamina and overall fitness level. 

How to do it:

1. Stand in chest-deep water with your body completely upright. 
2. Begin walking through the water, letting your arms swing naturally by your sides. 
3. Increase the pace to a jog, driving your arms back and forth in a running motion.
4. Continue for the desired duration or distance.

Muscles worked: Rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors, deltoids, latissimus dorsi, trapezius, triceps

Benefits: An aquatic exercise that gets your entire body involved, treading water tests everything from your cardiovascular and muscular endurance to your core strength to your mental resolve. Stabilizing your body requires excellent abdominal engagement. Meanwhile, you must coordinate your upper body and lower body movements to keep your head above water. 

How to do it: 

1. Stand in the deep end of the pool (or as deep as you can comfortably go) with your feet about shoulder-width apart. 
2. Extend your arms out to your sides and begin making small, circular motions. 
3. Engage your core muscles and start kicking back and forth so your feet remain above the bottom of the pool.
4. Maintain a steady rhythm for the desired amount of time. 

Muscles worked: Deltoids, latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, rectus abdominis, hip flexors, erector spinae

Benefits: Similar to treading water, treading boat takes more of a horizontal position than a vertical one. This aerobic and core-strengthening exercise requires excellent coordination, as you must move your arms and legs synergistically to stay afloat. 

How to do it: 

1. Stand in chest-deep water. 
2. Lean back slightly so your body is almost parallel to the surface of the water. 
3. Extend your legs out in front of you and your arms out to your sides. 
4. Simultaneously bring your knees toward your chest while bringing your arms together in front of you. 
5. Extend your legs and arms back to the starting position, repeating this sequence for the desired amount of time. 

Muscles worked: Rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, erector spinae, deltoids, rhomboids, trapezius, glutes

Benefits: This water-based plank relies on a pool noodle for support. Although this tool provides an assist, your rectus abdominis, erector spinae, and other core and lower back muscles still bear most of the responsibility for keeping your body as perfectly straight as possible. Whether on land or in the water, planking is a great way to support good posture. 

How to do it: 

1. Stand in chest-level water.
2. Hold onto a pool noodle placed horizontally in front of you. 
3. Extend your legs behind you so your body forms a straight line. 
4. Engage your abdominal muscles, maintain a neutral spine, and hold the plank position for the desired amount of time. 

Muscles worked: Deltoids, latissimus dorsi, quadriceps, glutes, calves, trapezius, core

Benefits: A full-body cardio exercise that’s fairly easy on land will feel much different under water. The added resistance will give your arms, legs, heart, and lungs a serious challenge. You can also take jumping jacks to another level using ankle weights for even more resistance. 

How to do it:

1. Stand in chest-deep water with your feet together and hands at your sides. 
2. Jump your legs out while simultaneously bringing your arms together overhead. 
3. Return to the starting position and repeat for the desired amount of time or reps.

Muscles worked: Rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, erector spinae quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors

Benefits: Hit your lower abs, hip flexors, glutes, and quads with a simple but effective exercise that also offers cardio benefits. Flutter kicks—also referred to as scissor kicks—will help you construct a rock-solid core and strong legs. If you don’t have access to a kickboard, simply hold on to the edge of the pool for support. 

How to do it: 

1. Hold onto a kickboard or the edge of the pool with your arms fully extended.
2. Extend your legs behind you, keeping them straight and as close together as possible.
3. Engage your core, then start kicking your legs up and down quickly in a controlled motion. 
4. Maintain a neutral spine and steady pace for the desired amount of time.

Muscles worked: Quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, core

Benefits: A fundamental movement pattern everyone should master, the lunge is an excellent unilateral exercise that challenges your balance, coordination, and stability. This pool-based, plyometric version helps burn calories and enhance your conditioning by requiring you to push off explosively, alternating sides for as long as you can handle. 

How to do it:

1. Stand in water that’s between waist and chest level with your feet about hip-width apart.
2. Step your left foot into a lunge position, bending both knees to lower your body so your legs are at 90-degree angles. 
3. Push off the bottom of the pool explosively with both feet, jumping up in the water while bringing your right leg forward and left leg back. 
4. Land softly in a lunge position with your right leg forward and left leg back. 
5. Alternate legs with each jump, making sure to maintain an upright torso throughout. 
6. Repeat for the desired number of reps or time.

Muscles worked: Hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors, rectus abdominis, erector spinae

Why do it: While you can’t pedal your way to a six-pack, you can develop a strong, stable core by emulating a bicycle motion in the water. If you’ve neglected targeted abdominal work for a while, don’t be surprised when your core starts burning quickly.

How to do it: 

1. Lean back and hold onto the pool rail or edge of the pool for support. 
2. Engage your core and lift your legs so they’re almost parallel with the water. 
3. Pedal your legs back and forth as if you’re riding a bicycle. 
4. Keep tension on your abs and continue kicking in a steady motion for the desired amount of time. 

Muscles worked: Rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, erector spinae, hip flexors, quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, deltoids

Benefits: High knees are one of my favorite warm-up exercises, as they quickly get your blood pumping and increase your heart rate. Hastening the pace to a jog will take this aerobic exercise to another level, especially once you encounter increased resistance in the deeper end of the pool.

How to do it: 

1. Stand in chest-deep water with your feet hip-width apart. 
2. Explosively drive your left knee toward your chest as high as possible while keeping your right foot planted on the bottom of the pool. 
3. Lower your left knee, then immediately lift your right knee toward your chest. 
4. Alternate sides, making sure to pump your arms in rhythm with your legs to increase the intensity. 
5. Maintain a steady pace for the desired amount of time or distance.

Muscles worked: Erector spinae, rectus abdominis, obliques, transverse abdominis, glutes, hamstrings, quads, deltoids, rhomboids, trapezius

Benefits: Channeling your inner dolphin is an effective way to engage your abdominal muscles, glutes, hamstrings, and even your upper body. One of my top pool exercises for abs, dolphin kicks can help you build a solid core that’ll look even better as you melt away body fat. 

How to do it: 

1. Stand in the shallow end of the pool, holding onto a kickboard with your arms fully extended and your face down toward the water.
2. Keep your legs together and kick them up and down in a wave-like motion that mimics a dolphin’s movement pattern.  
3. Swim to the opposite side of the pool, then turn around and use the same technique to return to the shallow end. 
4. Repeat for the desired amount of time or repetitions.

Muscles worked: Quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, core

Why do it: Doing tuck jumps on solid ground can be quite taxing on your joints. However, the water-based version is much more forgiving. Although there’s less impact on your knees, hips, and ankles, you can still get a great cardio workout by repeatedly exploding off the bottom of the pool and driving your knees toward your chest. 

How to do it: 

1. Stand in chest-deep water with your feet about hip-width apart. 
2. Engage your core and drive your knees toward your chest by jumping explosively off the bottom of the pool. 
3. Swing your arms back as your knees reach your chest. 
4. Lower your legs to return to the starting position, immediately following with the next jump. 
5. Repeat for the desired amount of time or reps. 

Muscles worked: Quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, calves, core

Benefits: Bodyweight squats may not provide the same strength-building stimulus as a set of heavy back squats or a series of barbell front squats, but they can still be a valuable part of your aqua-based workout routine. A compound exercise that recruits all of your lower-body and core muscles, you can make pool squats more difficult by extending your arms overhead, holding onto foam dumbbells, or adding a jumping element to make it more of a plyometric exercise.   

How to do it:

1. Stand in waist-deep water with your feet shoulder-width apart and toes pointed slightly out.
2. Extend your arms straight out in front of you. 
3. Descend into a squat position by bending your knees and driving your hips back. 
4. Lower yourself down until your legs form a 90-degree angle.
5. Hold the bottom of the squat for 1-2 seconds, then push through your heels to return to the starting position. 
6. Repeat for the desired number of reps.