Swimming pool exercises for an effective full-body workout

Houston, TX - May 28, 2026

With summer and warm weather approaching, consider moving your workouts to a refreshing swimming pool. Aquatic workouts unload the body and can be more manageable than putting pressure on the joints. A Baylor College of Medicine orthopedic surgeon explains how to effectively exercise in the water.

Movement in the water provides a good full-body workout without putting stress on the body. The natural buoyancy of water lessens the amount of weight the body experiences.

“It effectively unloads the joint because the water basically keeps you buoyant to dissipate the force that would be applied to the lower or upper extremity,” said Dr. Phillip Williams, assistant professor in the Joseph Barnhart Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Baylor. “When moving through the water, that resistance that’s going in every direction helps to keep the joint flexible without taxing it too much.”

Swimming laps allows people to do a full cardio and strength workout without causing significant impact to the joints. If you choose not to swim laps, there is a multitude of other exercises to do in the pool:

Walking
High-intensity interval training (HIIT)
Kicking
Water aerobics

Try a hard-effort exercise for a length of the pool, then shorter intervals that allow you to challenge yourself, such as jumping jacks or high knees, for an effective HIIT workout. Use a kickboard or hold yourself up against the wall to kick for a leg exercise. Water aerobics can include a series of movements with jumping and walking around the pool.

“Movement in the water unloads the body, and you’re not putting your full bodyweight on the body, which helps people with knee, hip or join issues. You can train harder without pounding against the pavement and still get the benefits of all the cardio and strength,” Williams said.

People with stiffness, such as from arthritis, benefit from swimming pool workouts. The water helps you move through a large range of motion and maintains joint flexibility without the same amount of pain as exercising on land. Surgical patients also can be good candidates. In some post-operative cases, movement in the water helps with motion without the same stiffness you might experience postoperatively if doing the moves outside the water. For lower extremity surgical patients, aquatic exercises allow them to start walking and running without loading the joint.

Williams cautions important safety tips for exercising in the water: