Staying fit and healthy is important to Senegalese people. So much so that Dakar, Senegal’s capital, has been recognised as one of the sportiest cities in Africa. Located near the North Atlantic Ocean, Senegal is spoilt for beaches, which its residents often utilize often to stay in good health. The country has ample water resources located across the country, so it’s no surprise that aquagym has gained popularity throughout this seaside part of the continent. They have now become a feature in several locations, particularly in hotels and spas, and are steadily gaining precedence over traditional indoor workout spaces.
Aquagym, as the name denotes, is a form of water exercise. Its benefits became widely known in the 1980s when Eleonora Vallone, an Italian actress, set up a school for aqua fitness teachers in Rome. It’s usually done with music, which helps stimulate its repetitive movements. “Water sports activities such as aquabike or aquagym were very little known in Senegal,” says Dina Saheli, owner of Aquabike Dakar in Senegal. “Through social networks, these activities are starting to gain notoriety thanks to the quality of their results but, also for their very nature—the fun atmosphere. All ages can attend the sessions without risk, even pregnant women” she adds.
Images courtesy of Aquabike Dakar
Advantages of Aquagym
Aquagym provides many health benefits, according to Saheli. “Sports in the water not only prevent injuries with the effect of the water, which carries part of the weight, but also, you don’t feel any stiffness after a session,” she says. “Both beginners and professionals alike, everyone is able to practice at their own pace. [It’s] very effective against joint ailments, and also allows you to gain cardio, lose weight and belly, and refine your silhouette. It also has anti-cellulite properties.”
Anne Marie, an Aquagym Organiser in Senegal told the social impact company GOOD, that “once you are in the water, it is all about me, myself and I...you think about your body and how you feel.” Another lesser-explored advantage is that women can wear what they want at aquagym—which to some, is a sort of liberation from Senegal’s strict adherence to traditional gender roles.
Mark Grevelding, founder of Fitmotivation and PoolFit, a site that features instructional pool exercise videos, revealed ten reasons to exercise in the water. The first being that you achieve buoyancy, which is “the opposite of gravity and it creates an uplifting force in the water that reduces or eliminates impact on joints including feet, ankles, knees and hips. Water fitness is ideal for ageing bodies because it provides an opportunity to exercise vigorously without pain or joint discomfort.”
The second reason is the water’s resistance. As Grevelding explains “When you exercise in the pool, you are moving against the thick resistance in the water. This body resistance improves muscular endurance and strength without the use of additional equipment.”
Water exercise also helps provide balance for muscles and joints. “When you kick the water, you work the muscles in the front and the back of the leg. This improves muscular balance, Grevelding adds. “The water provides a supportive environment in which people exercise with more confidence knowing they are not going to fall and hurt themselves.”
Water exercise can improve daily living overall, according to Grevelding. “Water exercise helps people move better and live better because they can exercise longer and harder, improving their stamina and muscular endurance and they can move their limbs in multiple directions against the water’s resistance improving range, emotion and functional fitness.”
Images courtesy of Aquabike Dakar
The Significance of Swimming
With sundry beaches at their disposal, many Senegalese people are aware that knowing how to swim is a necessity, especially with drowning being a common tragedy in the coastline nation. Abdou Salam Diop, who goes by the nickname Zalé, is an informal swimming instructor who teaches children from the Île Saint-Louis locality how to swim. Saint-Louis surprisingly does not have an established sports programme in place, so the kids are taught by diving from the dock into the seven-metre-deep Senegalese river.
One blogger named Ndiaye noted the significance of the work Zalé is doing in the community, stating “It Seems crazy to me that our city doesn’t have a pool. There are children here who spend all their time in the water, but they’ll never have a chance to compete in swimming events or become athletes because they can’t train in real pools.”
The fact that children naturally spend all their time in the water explains the popularity of aquagym in a country like Senegal. Aquatic life is second nature to many Senegalese people from a tender age. They reap the benefits of their seashores by exercising in them to improve their health, and as Ndiaye implies, they deserve access to pools and resources that support their relationship with water. Aquagyms, if used to their full potential, can help provide that.