In the last decades head-out aquatic exercises became one of the
most important physical activities within the health system.
Massive research has been produced throughout these decades
in order to better understand the role of head-out aquatic exercises
in populations’ health. Such studies aimed to obtain comprehensive
knowledge about the acute and chronic response of
subjects performing head-out aquatic exercises. For that, it is
assumed that chronic adaptations represent the accumulation of
acute responses during each aquatic session. The purpose of this
study was to describe the “state of the art” about physiological
assessment of head-out aquatic exercises based on acute and
chronic adaptations in healthy subjects based on a qualitative
review. The main findings about acute response of head-out
aquatic exercise according to water temperature, water depth,
type of exercise, additional equipment used, body segments
exercising and music cadence will be described. In what concerns
chronic adaptations, the main results related to cardiovascular
and metabolic adaptations, muscular strength, flexibility
and body composition improvements will be reported.
