New Aqua Water Fitness Deluxe Flotation Belt – Adult Aquatic Swim Belt for Water Aerobics and other Pool Exercise – Black/Blue

Love this belt for allowing me to stay in the deep end of the pool when taking Aquafit classes. Sometimes in our community pool we have 40plus people taking Aquafit classes so this supports me in the deep and of the pool where there is more space. Also, I use different muscles when doing suspended water exercises than when touching the floor of the pool. I don’t use it every day but do bring it to class in case a lot of people show up. Also, I tried a few different belts and this one is simpler to put on and stays on.

I am a 200 lb. natural sinker. I cannot tread water without a lifejacket; my head will sink below the surface. I can do a basic breaststroke, but it is a real struggle. My butt is so low in the water that I am literally swimming uphill. On every second stroke, I have to drive my arms hard to get my head out of the water to get a breath. I am only good for about 50 feet before I am gassed. I can usually snorkel with fins in seawater comfortably. But on my last trip to Maui, I had a couple of incidents that got me thinking about adding some extra float and practicing my swimming more.I like the Aqua Fitness Deluxe Floation Belt. It is not too expensive. It is black and blends in with my black shorts. It does not make look like I have a giant banana strapped to my waist. The foam is about 25" long and 7" at its widest point and about 1.5" thick., not the biggest float belt out there. The dimensions are important for comparison. The more volume of foam, the more float. The outside cover seems like a flimsy spandex-like material. The inside (skin-side) cover seems to be like neoprene and is much stronger. The 1.5" wide polyester belt is sewn on and secured by standard 2 piece buckles. It was packed and shipped folded which left a compressed crease in the foam. I have only owned for a short time so I am not sure about durability. So far, I have not read any reviews complaining about it falling apart.I took it to the pool to test out today and I was pleased with the results. It gave me about 3 to 6 inches of extra lift when I was verical in the water. Without it my head is well below the water. With the belt on my eyes and nose just cleared the water. With hand sculling, I was able to tread water, raise my head and breathe for several minutes. This was a major improvement for me. However, as the seller and others have stressed, this is not a proper PFD. If you lost consciousness , your nose and mouth will most likely be underwater and you will drown.The belt also made it easier for me to swim. I did not need to work as hard to breathe. I was actually swimming a full length of the pool with much less exertion. Normally, I am exhausted after about 20 minutes of "swimming" and will jump into the hot tub for 15 minutes to get my money's worth out of my swim ticket. Today, I spent a full hour in the pool practicing swimming and treading. The belt rides up slightly. I am a guy with a barrel chest so it can only go so far. If i tighten it enough, my belly fat forms a muffin top which also helps keep it down. I tried moving the foam to the front, but when swimming, i was fighting a yaw and there seemed to be more drag.I discovered that the pool has Nordesco foam swim belts. I tested the medium sized belt. It is several inches longer and wider and about 2 inches thick. It has more foam and much more buoyancy than the Aqua Fitness. I floated higher when vertical which made it even easier to tread water. It almost felt like it had too much float. I had to work to stay verical and to keep my waist or butt from going horizontal. When I tried swimming, my butt kept rising. I also felt extra drag, perhaps from the extra thickness of the foam. I am sure if I kept working at it, I would have gotten used to the Nordesco. The Aqua Fitness works for me. I also like that it will take up less luggage space on our next trip. I rinsed out the belt as per instructions and hung it to dry.When I purchased the Aqua Fitness, I was not sure that it was big enough to give me sufficient float. It turns out that it provides me with the bare minimum. Something like the Nordesco would give me much more buoyancy and make floating easier. The challenge for me is to work a little harder and to build up my technique and endurance and hopefully wean myself off the belt. I suggest that people go to their local pool to test out different sized belts to see what works best for them.

The media could not be loaded. Wanting to embark on a new workout regime, I decided to give aquatic aerobics a try.Years ago, I was first introduced to this form of workout when I joined a gym that offered it. And I liked it right away. I am NOT into jogging, aerobic floor routines, or, really, any sort of workout that requires jumping and jostling about. Firstly, I have neck and back issues, so all that hard impact and jumping about aggravates that part of my body. Secondly, I don’t like all the wear and tear on your joints in most forms of workouts. Thirdly, well, let’s just say that the good Lord blessed me with a figure that doesn’t take to all that bouncing around.Aquatic aerobics solves all SORTS of issues for me. I don’t aggravate my spine. I don’t injure my joints. I don’t bounce.The pictures show how it came packaged. The company’s box was inside an Amazon box.I tried the pieces a couple days ago. Well, not the belt at first, just the weights and the gloves. Can I just say “wow” to the weights? Seriously. They were easy to assemble (see my video, for which I apologize in advance because it’s a bit shaky as I was trying to assemble the weights WHILE recording it, and that wasn’t easy. Still, I think you get the drift of how easy these things are to assemble), but that made me think they weren’t going to be any good. Usually, that’s the case. You get stuff that you have to assemble, and the product’s no good or doesn’t last. To be fair, I only JUST used the weights, but so far, so good. They were awesome. I bought a couple books on pool workouts, and one of them required paddleboards. I didn’t think to order those, but these weights worked just as if they were the paddleboards. When you’re learning to swim, you get the board to hold on to while you learn how to kick. Well, I was holding the weights in front of me (straight-armed—no bended elbows) just as if they were the board, and I began kicking. And they worked JUST as the board! It was pretty cool and a great workout. They also function well for their intended use: as weights. I tried to use them and the gloves, but that didn’t work out too well, so I ditched the gloves and just used the weights for curls and such. And I could FEEL the exertion in my muscles though there was NO pain or irritation in my joints the way you’d feel it in a gym. So I definitely recommend the weights.Now, about the gloves. I do recommend them, yes, but, well, let me just say that these gloves make you feel as if you’re an X-Man with webbed fingers. It feels so strange! The gloves fit well. In regular gloves, I wear a medium. I can go small for my hands, but I have longer fingers than a small will accommodate. Mediums ALWAYS fit me perfectly. These gloves fit me well, but I think they’re made a tiny bit big to accommodate those who wear larges because my fingers barely managed to push above the fabric, especially my pinkie. So, if you wear a large or have long fingers, I think you’ll be okay with the gloves. They Velcro around the wrist, so you control how tight you need them to be. And, as I said, they feel weird. Not in a bad way. Just in an “I’m-going-to-have-to-get-used-to-this” way. But they did add to my workout, providing resistance and exertion for my arms and shoulders. You can work biceps by pushing up under the water and triceps by pushing down, and you can do shoulders by pushing out to the sides. When you’re wearing a belt and gloves, you get the buoyancy from the belt to stay up to run, and you get the resistance from the gloves to add arms moves to your running. I had a belt on and the gloves, and I jogged (and I HATE jogging) up and down and all around the pool—and it felt WONDERFUL!So, I definitely recommend this set. Though I’d bought a belt from another company, I tried this one, too. I’d say it works as well as the other one I bought. They both were difficult to size, and they both ride up when I’m in the water no matter how tight I make it or where I position it on my body. Still, even though they both ride up, they both keep me buoyant, which allows me to run, do cross-country, or jumping jacks!Let me just mention the exercise pages you get. As you can see from the pictures, one’s in full color; the other’s in black and white. I thought the full-color page may’ve been laminated so that you could carry it to the pool and refer to it while you were in the water, doing exercises. Actually, I tried that very thing. The paper didn’t get ruined, but it did get wet. So, though I think it’s made of something sturdier than basic printer paper, I don’t think it’s made to be waterproof. Just keep that in mind. If you use it at the pool, try not to do too much splashing on it. It’ll survive a little water but not a lot.Addendum: Be careful with the gloves’ Velcro. For my second day’s use, I accidentally let the Velcro come into contact with the other glove’s fingers area, and the Velcro stuck to the fabric and thread. Removing it pulled on the seams just a bit. I don’t think the gloves are ruined now, though it does look as if the thread may’ve unraveled just a bit. We’ll see. Oh, and I should also mention that, while in the water, the black “knob” for the weights, popped off. Not too big of a deal. I just grabbed it, pushed it back in, and went on with my aerobics. But, for total candor, I wanted you to know that it can and probably will come loose.Still, I recommend this set—just watch that Velcro. It’s serious stuff! And keep an eye on the weights’ end caps. Make sure they’re pushed in before each use. Wouldn’t want one to pop off and hit someone’s eye!And I gave it a four-star rating mainly because of the belt. Despite the Velcro and the popping-off end cap, I liked this product. It’s the belt that causes it to go down a star. Maybe others will be able to get the bloody thing from riding up, but I can’t, and, though it doesn’t seem to hinder my workouts, it does feel odd and get annoying having to tug it down occasionally.

Easy to use

Very effective workout

It's okay.guess does the trick but it keeps riding up no matter how tight I make it

This is great for use in the pool.

Ergonomic shape is easier to use than traditional barbel shape. I had a shoulder replacement and find this shape good for latissimus work, assistive and resistive shoulder exercise. Particularly assistive to bring hand behind back and floats to stretch reaching mid back. Sometimes hands get tired to hold but obelisk design is more streamlined and efficient to use.