UnderWater Treadmill Sheds Pounds

WFAA-TV

UnderWater Treadmill Sheds Pounds
By Debbie Denmon
 

Frankie Irving lost over 50 pounds running on a treadmill in water.

Pricey equipment almost exclusively used by highly trained athletes has found a public audience as well, those who want to lose weight.

The Dallas Mavericks have one that they use for physical therapy to help heal injured players; and Dallas Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens used it at one point in his career as well.

And now, 10 percent of the people that visit one office in Grand Prairie can use it in their journey to lose weight.

It’s a $25000 underwater exercise system that many have called priceless. Frankie Irving might be one of those people after she lost weight using one.

At her highest weight, Irving tipped the scales at more than 200 pounds, which wasn’t easy for her.

On her wedding day she tried to hide the weight.

"[I wore] about three girdles," she said.

Tired of feeling uncomfortable, she decided to do more than wear a girdle. However, she said she never imagined she would shed the weight while running underwater on a treadmill.

Irving used a treadmill that was made for use in water as a way to create less pressure on the joints and cause less pain than regular treadmills. The jets in the pool offer high resistance a person can tolerate.

"I can go like two hours in here," Irving said.

The reason she can go longer, experts say, is because the ease the water places on the body.

Irving once feared she would not find a workout she would be able to do considering she was overweight, had knee surgery and survived a heart attack.

That changed with the underwater treadmill.

"My doctor, he told me to do it," she said. "My knees feel good. My back [and] my ankles feel good."

Something Gerald Jackson, an exercise trainer, said is needed to kick start weight loss.

"When you believe your goals are possible, then I think that’s over 50 percent of it," he said.

Irving has lost 12 pounds in three months, which adds up to a total weight loss of 50 pounds over the year.

"It doesn’t matter what your fitness level is, you can get a quality workout," Jackson said of the treadmill.

Quality of life is all Cleotha Aldridge wanted to improve after he said he wasted too many days, "watching television, gaining weigh [and] not being able to do very much."

Seven weeks after total knee replacement surgery and still feeling the damage of a year-old back surgery, Aldridge managed to ditch his cane and get in the water to exercise.

Physical therapist Martin Jones owns the facility, and invested in the $25000 HydroWorx pool because of the success rate.

"It’s the concept of getting individuals who are injured into the water much quicker, therefore the recovery time is much quicker," Jones said.

Aldridge has yet to start losing pounds or inches, but said he’s gaining mobility in his legs.

E-mail ddenmon@wfaa.com.