For the past month, I’ve had the rare chance to be a student again. I’ve been getting in the pool at the same place where it all started for me—the pool where I taught as a teenager. Only this time, I wasn’t the instructor on deck. I was in the water, following along and feeling each exercise in my own body.
Almost immediately, I noticed something.
As the instructor led each move, I automatically started adjusting. I changed the size of my movement. I changed the speed. I noticed where I felt strength, where I felt mobility, and where I needed more challenge. Every time I pressed my foot toward the floor, I could feel new length through my hips. My spine felt longer. My whole body felt more connected.
That moment reminded me why water exercise is so powerful. It’s not just about doing the move. It is about learning how the move feels, what it is doing, and how to adjust it so your body gets what it needs.
Nearly 20 years ago, I learned this in a very different way.
After a sudden change in my fitness, I went from lifting 30-pound free weights to feeling exhausted after just a few reps with five pounds. I had to sit down and catch my breath. My body was not responding the way I expected, and I had to learn how to manage effort differently.
That experience changed how I understood intensity.
Intensity is not just about working harder. It is personal. It depends on the person in front of you, the energy they have that day, what they are recovering from, and what they need from movement.
That is why coaching matters.
Water can meet people in so many different seasons of life. For Wendy, it was rebuilding after hip replacement. For Kelly, it was learning how to rebuild core strength. For a runner dealing with knee pain, it was discovering how the right kind of movement could support strength without adding more stress.
Different stories. Different needs. Same lesson.
Movement becomes more meaningful when people understand what they are feeling.
That’s the idea behind my June Wednesday Workshop Series for water fitness instructors. Planning and coaching are not the same skill, but both are needed if we want students to get the full benefits from class.
A student may know how to copy a move, but they may not know how to make that move work for their body. They may not know when to make it bigger, smaller, stronger, softer, faster, or more controlled.
They may not know how to recognize the difference between effort that builds them up and effort that wears them down.
That’s the gap I want to help instructors close.
Not with more choreography or more complicated workouts. But with simple ways to help students feel the difference in their own bodies.
Because one exercise can do more than one thing; a familiar move can become strength, mobility, cardio, balance, or recovery depending on how it is taught. And when students learn how to feel and adjust movement, they begin to trust their bodies in a new way.
Getting back in the pool reminded me why I teach
Water exercise is not just about leading movement. It is about helping people know themselves a little better every time they get in the water.
Plan with purpose. Coach for results. That’s where the real change begins.
Want to keep moving, no matter what life throws at you?
Inside Wavemakers, we help you build strength, confidence, and resilience through simple, feel-good water workouts you can adapt to your body, on any day.