Images courtesy of Donna Stocker.
Wonders of Wet Workouts Donna Stocker shares her belief in the potential of aqua fitness
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et’s first get rid of the misconception that aquatic fitness is for the older members of the population and pregnant women. Of course, it is highly relevant and beneficial to these demographics, but what if we jumped outside that box and changed the way we approach aqua fitness? There is so much more to be discovered in aqua fitness and if we invest in our programs, in developing our aqua instructors and empowering them to be the best, update our marketing strategies and look at how we can improve aqua fitness in Australia – then I can assure you, your demographic will change! Here I often ask, why is it that facility managers will invest in treadmills that each costs thousands of dollars, but think aqua fitness is not worth investment? Parafield Gardens Swim School in South Australia has tapped into the largely untouched aqua fitness market and it has paid dividends. Since the owners took the leap of faith and started Acquapole® in their centre in 2014, the results have been astounding. They now have a program of more than 25 classes a week – with waiting lists which produced an overflow into their general aqua classes. In addition, the ages of those exercising dropped significantly and now they have participants from 13 years to over 80 - and every age group in between attending their centre. The classes are also in demand from sporting groups to change up their training and for recovery. From these results, Acquapole® Australasia was born. A company that imports high quality aquatic fitness equipment into Australia from their parent companies Acquapole® in Italy
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and SAF Aqua in Poland. The products include Acquapoles® and all their accessories, Aqua Steps, Combat Gloves, SAF Aqua Drums Vibes and a new ‘Liquid Range’ of bikes, jumps (yes, a trampoline that goes in water!) and the Liquid Runsphere (which is like a treadmill but has omnidirectional spheres rather than a belt). Linked to this are aquatic training programs across Australia and New Zealand, led by Master Trainers Kym A’Court, Samantha Dempsey and myself that upskills staff teams and to get the best out of the equipment and the programs. In my role as the Fitness Co-ordinator at Parafield Gardens Swim School, I am seeing clients are savvy and more knowledgeable than ever before with the internet providing a range of information and resources on aqua fitness. As a result, participants are demanding and wanting more from their workouts and their instructors, and are aware of what equipment is available. We receive requests daily where to find classes like ours by participants and requests from instructors for our courses, workshops and mentoring. It doesn’t matter what equipment you have or how much you market, if you don’t have a great leader who can mentor your instructors, you don’t invest in your team and your team is not driven to provide the best classes nothing will change in the industry. If you stick to the same old formula, then you will have the same programs and the same demographic. Change can be scary but to improve and to move forward sometimes it is required. For example, I have targeted Certificate III & IV in Fitness
