Wearing a mermaid tail isn't just a solid way to bring your ~*WiLdEsT*~ dreams to life while trumping all of your friends' basic pool Instagrams, although it accomplishes both.
It's also a genius way to challenge yourself the next time you take a dip, according to mermaid fitness instructor Veronica Rohan, who teaches mermaid fitness classes at Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. That's because swimming with a monofin (or simply pressing your legs together to simulate one) challenges you to move your lower body in a foreign way, forcing you to engage your core to simply stay afloat.
If you want to spring for a fin, which feels like a control-top bathing suit that's custom-fit to sausage both legs, you can pick one up online for about $125. Besides making you feel like a bona fide Disney character, it also adds 5 or 10 pounds of resistance to every movement, according to Rohan. This makes mermaid laps about a billion times more difficult and effective than just splashing around. But there's so much more you can do with a fin, and coming from someone who doesn't teach mermaid classes but tried all the moves below — the fin thing makes exercise feel so freaking fun.
Try these moves while wearing your fin or simply pressing your legs together. From King Triton's lips to your ears: You will feel the burn.
1. Tail Tuck Jump (20 reps)
How to do it: In the pool, in water that's shallow enough to stand in, hold a noodle or float in front of you for support, press your legs together, and engage your core to raise your knees straight up to hips' level. Next, touch your heels back down to the floor to complete one rep. Continue in quick succession.
Where you'll feel it: Your abs and inner thighs (from pressing your legs together)
2. Side Mermaid Swim (two pool lengths)
How to do it: In a pool, face the longer wall with an optional noodle or float propped under your left arm for support. While actively pressing your legs together, bend your knees as you raise your fin to float on your side with your hips stacked. In one fluid movement, straighten your legs and point your toes to straighten the fin, then bend your knees to bring the fin back toward your butt. Continue to bring the fin forward and backward, using your free hand to paddle, and keep your head above water and travel across the pool. After one length, prop the float under your right arm and swim back to where you started, keeping the hips stacked and facing the same direction the entire time.
Where you'll feel it: Your core, quads, hamstrings, and inner thighs, plus your arms and shoulders
3. Triceps Noodle Press (20 reps)
How to do it: Stand in the pool holding a noodle in front of you with elbows bent out to the sides and palms facing down. Extend your arms to press the noodle straight down in front of your body, then release with control to complete one rep.
Where you'll feel it: The backs of your arms and shoulders
4. Obliques Tail Tuck Jump (20 reps)
How to do it: In the pool, in water that's shallow enough to stand in, hold an optional noodle or float in front of you for support and press your legs together. Engage your core to raise your knees to hips' level, pointing them to the left. Touch your heels back down to the floor, then bring your knees back up, this time pointing them to the right. Return to starting position to complete one rep. Continue to alternate sides in quick succession.
Where you'll feel it: Your abs, obliques, plus your inner thighs (from pressing your legs together)
5. Forward Mermaid Swim (two pool lengths)
How to do it: In the pool, hold a noodle or float in both hands with arms extended in front of you, and raise your fin so you're floating with your hips square to the floor and legs squeezed together. In one fluid movement, bend your knees to bring the fin back toward your butt, then extend them to point your toes straight behind you. Continue to bring the fin forward and backward as you travel across the pool.
Where you'll feel it: Your core, hamstrings, quads, and inner thighs
6. Tail Float (two pool lengths)
How to do it: Stand in the pool with the center of the noodle against your upper back and ends positioned under each arm with hands holding on for support. Squeeze your legs together as you bring your hips, then knees, up toward the water's surface, letting your tail follow in one fluid motion. Next, drop your hips and legs, again allowing your tail follow. Continue this motion until you reach the end of the pool, then turn and come back the same way.
Where you'll feel it: Your core, quads, and inner thighs
7. Mermaid Crunches (20 reps)
How to do it: Sit on the edge of the pool with your legs pressed together, knees bent, and fin raised so your calves are parallel to the ground. Extend your arms along your sides with palms facing up. From this position, lean backward with control as you extend your legs, keeping your fin off the ground the entire time. Return to starting position to complete one rep.
Where you'll feel it: Your core, quads, and inner thighs
8. Tail Extensions (20 reps)
How to do it: Sit on the edge of the pool with your knees bent and fin in the water with toes pointing down. Position your palms on the ground about a foot behind you for support. Extend your legs to bring your fin up to the water's surface as you flex your feet, bending your elbows to lean back for momentum and support. Next, bend your knees and point your toes to point your fin down straight down. That's one rep.
Where you'll feel it: Your core, quads, hamstrings, and calves
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Elizabeth Narins is a Brooklyn, NY-based writer and a former senior editor at Cosmopolitan.com, where she wrote about fitness, health, and more. Follow her at @ejnarins.
