Cool workouts for hot summer days / By Chrissie Jarrell and Natalie Yerkovich
Austin Woman Magazine July 2012

Summer is here and it’s heating up! Trade in your sneakers for a swimsuit and hit the water for cool workouts all summer long. Water activities are great exercise throughout the year because they give you a low-impact way to get core, strength and cardio workouts all at once. Here are a few of our favorite ways to splash around in Austin. Many of these places offer group or private lessons, so if you’re new to the water, they can help you get more comfortable. Then, with a little experience, you’ll love being active in and on the water.

STAND UP PADDLE BOARDING

Stand up paddle boarding (SUP) involves standing on an over-sized “surfboard” and paddling along calm water. It’s fun, relaxing and a great total-body workout, which might explain why it is currently the fastest-growing water sport in the world. Take it easy with smooth paddling or increase the intensity with moves you would do on land like squats, yoga poses, Pilates exercises or high-intensity interval exercises. Hot spots for stand up paddle boarding:

Rowing Dock: Located on the south shore of Lady Bird Lake, offers stand up paddle board lessons and rentals. rowingdock.com

Texas Rowing Center: Located on the north shore of Lady Bird Lake near Austin High School, offering “paddling sampler” lessons teaching you the basics for stand up paddling, kayaking and canoeing. Rentals are available.

Paddle Zen: Located on the east side of Lady Bird Lake, offering rentals and Paddle Fit, Paddle Yoga and Paddle Pilates classes throughout the week. 
Pure Austin Fitness at Quarry Lake: Paddle board rentals are free for members and available to gym guests for a daily drop-in fee, multiple “SUP Hard Core” and training classes offered throughout the week.

SWIMMING

Swimming is a great form of exercise because it not only builds your cardio, muscular strength and endurance, but it is also one of the lowest-impact methods of fitness. Swimming under the guidance of a coach and with a group is one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to swim regularly. If you can’t join a group, swimming on your own is a good option too. Austin has many great public and membership pools throughout town that offer an amazing place to swim laps and beat the heat. Check out myfitlist.com for swim-workout ideas to help you get started on your own.

Coached swim groups:
Austin T3: Coached adult swim workouts. austint3.com

Pure Austin Fitness: at Quarry Lake Adult swim workouts, open lap swim and open water swimming.

JCC Austin: adult swim workouts, aqua-aerobics workouts and open lap swim.

Lifetime Fitness (North and South locations): Adult swim workouts and open lap swim.

Tough Cookie Fitness: Coached swim workouts in the pool or open water.

West Austin Athletic Club: Adult swim workouts and open lap swim.

YMCA of Austin: (various locations) Adult swim workouts and open lap swim.

Public Pools in Austin: enjoy pools all over Austin to swim laps, splash around, or just relax.

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Chrissie Jarrell and Natalie Yerkovich, the gals who created myfitlist.com, do the grunt work for you. Well, the organizational grunt work, anyway. They work hard to connect people with the fitness groups, information and resources they need so they can grunt, sweat and tone to achieve their personal goals.

Read the fun and inspirational fitness articles by the creators of MyFitList, every month in Austin Woman Magazine. This article can be found in the July 2012 issue on stands and online now!

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MyFitList brings together the latest information on hundreds of local fitness businesses in Austin. We’re your resource for inspiration and information for getting and staying fit. Search hundreds of Austin fitness groups and services like running, triathlon, bootcamps, yoga studios, gyms and more all in one place! Check us out at www.myfitlist.com