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Aquatic Conditioning

What is it?

Most people have heard of aquatic (or aqua) therapy. Something primarily used for low impact, low intensity water based exercise. Often for sick, senior or injured dog's and people. The primary focus of Aquatic Conditioning is optimum health and improved athletic performance.

Resistance, Assistance (buoyancy), and Instability make aquatic conditioning so unique and effective and no other conditioning platform can provide all three. Developed under the guidance of Eve Pugh DVM, CVA, CCRP and taught by Martial ARFS owner Jeris Pugh, this course will teach you  how to use your pool, a lake, or the ocean to improve your dog's health or performance, like you never thought possible.

Learn The Elements Of Aquatic Conditioning:

  • Resistance: The density of the water efficiently strengthens muscles during any motion.  
  • Assistance: The buoyancy created by the water can prevent injuries associated with land-based activity. 
  • Instability: The moving surface created by the water surface provides constant instability in any and all directions.

Learn The Categories Of Aquatic Conditioning:

  • Movement: Aquatic Conditioning movement exercises build strength, coordination, and drive using both common and complex movements from sports and life.
  • Balance: Aquatic Conditioning balance exercises combine a solid platform with the dynamic nature of the water surface to create an unequaled platform for balance training. 
  • Jump: Aquatic Conditioning jump exercises build jump power for height and distance but reduces impact on the joints.

Aquatic Balance Obedience

Aquatic Conditioning balance training is a platform for training your dog that goes far beyond anything they could do on land. First there's simply no way in which the platform will not move. This provides a consistent and constant need for your dog to adjust to the ground beneath them. As well, using a hard surface like a boogie board give your dog the feeling of being grounded while also providing a surface that immediately responds to any change in your dog's body position or limb placement. In this lesson Jeris explains how aquatic conditioning balance training works and why it's so beneficial

Aquatic Conditioning Exercise

What Are The Exercises?

Learn Over 50 Different Aquatic Conditioning Exercises: 

  • Movement Exercises:
    
  • With both free float and platform based aquatic conditioning movement exercises you will learn a variety of exercises that will help strengthen forelimbs, hindlimbs and the core in ways not possible on land.
    • Underwater Platform Movement: Exercises improve gait, speed, strength, and power with land-based conditioning exercises adapted and modified for the water. 
    • Free Float Movement Exercises: Improve core strength, range of motion, and endurance with complex drills and exercises that go far beyond just swimming.

  • Balance Exercises:
 
  • Aquatic Conditioning Water Balance Platform provides something that no other unstable platform can. A firm surface for your dog to feel grounded even though the balance platform itself is constantly shifting underneath your dog's feet. 
    • Balance/Underwater Platform Exercises: These exercises develop functional strength using combinations of limb isolation drills, that take basic, intermediate, or advanced land-based conditioning exercises to a whole new level!
    • On Water Balance Platforms:  This more accurately represents the ground and the dynamic contractions, body control and limb awareness necessary for sport or an active lifestyle. Your dog’s actions and reactions to the movement of the ground beneath them have to be made with appropriate speed and accuracy in order to yield the desired result.

  • Jump Exercises:
 
  • You simply cannot achieve the results of an Aquatic Conditioning jump program on land. The resistance and buoyancy of water create an unparalleled benefit because of the strength needed to push through the water, combined with the softer landing due to the bouncy. There's no safer more effective way to teach your dog to jump.
    • Underwater Platform Jump Exercises:This represents premium supplemental jump training for your dog. Depth equals difficulty. The deeper the water the more powerful jumper your dog will become.
    • Swim Jump Exercises: Pushing through the water to jump off a solid surface will make your dog's limbs stronger for improved jumping. However, while swimming, without any surface to jump off of, your dog will be required to use their core in a way they never have.

Aquatic Conditioning: Jump Drills

Aquatic Conditioning jumping trainig increases power as a result of your dog pushing through the resistance of the water. As well, the buoyancy helps to minimize the concussive forces of landing after a jump. In this example, Jeris explains the basics of aquatic conditioning jump training.

About Your Instructor

The Martial ARFS Owner

Jeris Pugh

Jeris Pugh has been studying canine behavior through practice, publications and live seminars for the past 10 years. He's attended lectures from veterinary behavior experts like Dr. Ian Dunbar, founder of Associations of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT) and Dr. Lynn Seibert, President of The American Veterinary Society of Animal Behavior (AVSAB). After years of training dogs privately for obedience and competing in disc dog competitions throughout the Northeast, he realized there was something lacking in the dog training world. He set out to create a program that would not only improve dog's behavior, but give them an outlet for their excess energy, and improve their ability to perform their sport or maintain an active life. His experiences beyond the canine world that were instrumental in achieving that goal.He utilized his experience in teaching and training in the martial arts to combine the concepts of positive reinforcment dog training and the physical outlet that comes along with a martial arts class in order to create the original concept for The Martial ARFS. Under the guidance of his wife, Eve Pugh DVM CVA, CCRP, he used the principles he learned performing and providing functional training for human athletes and substituted canine rehabilitative exercises, canine balance, coordination and body awareness drills, and canine sports activities in order to create functional fitness training programs. However, a one of kind dog training program is only as beneficial as someone's ability to reach people with it. So in 2013, he open the first Martial ARFS facility on Long Island NY (Just 20 minutes outside NYC). Because of this dense population of the NYC metro area The Martial ARFS has become a high volume training center with as many as 60 new dogs per month. As a result, over the past 4 years The Martial ARFS has become the center piece for improving health, behavior or just a fun place for dog owners and their dogs.  The success Martial ARFS  has enabled Jeris to worked with a number of veterinarians across Long Island and NYC to provide programs for their specific clients. Countless General Practitioners, as well as specialist in Surgery, Neurology  and even Oncology have sent their clients to The Martial ARFS for general fitness, conditioning, or weight loss. To continue the process of bringing The Martial ARFS to more and more dog owners, Jeris is now expanding The Martial ARFS brand with additional facilities and online training so that people throughout the US and the world will be able to benefit from The Martial ARFSHe, along with The Martial ARFS has been featured in numerous articles from, PetMD, Dogster, The I Love Dogs Site, Dog ID's.com, and Natural Awakenings with articles on canine fitness, behavior, and the concept of The Martial ARFS itself. In addition, his canine fitness blog averages almost 25,000 views per year.