Try a floating fitness practice by the sea

PART YOGA, PART PILATES AND ENTIRELY UNSTABLE: INSIDE A HIGH-INTENSITY, LOW-IMPACT POOL WORKOUT.

- DEBORAH VANKIN

Photographs by ALISHA JUCEVIC For The Times

FORGET WALKING ON WATER. What if you could do yoga on the water's surface, like a jellyfish riding the gentle waves in downward dog or child's pose. That's basically the idea behind the Floating Fitness class at the Annenberg Community Beach House. It's a full-body workout combining yoga and Pilates moves with gentle high-intensity interval training bodyF weight exercises-all performed on floating yoga mats in a swimming pool. The inflatable hardshell BOGAFIT mat that's used-or "floating training platform," as the class refers to it looks like a wide paddleboard with a slightly raised yoga mat on its surface. It's anchored to the pool walls with bungee cords on either end, so that the mat floats in the middle of the pool but doesn't flip over. Participants can then get a highintensity, low-impact workout that's easy on the joints and requires extra balance, firing up the core. The workout builds strength and flexibility while improving balance and coordination, said instructor Leah Gutentag, who's been a lifeguard and swim instructor for the city of Santa Monica for about 12 years.

INSTRUCTOR Leah Gutentag leads students in a Floating Fitness workout at Annenberg Community Beach House, top. Tracy Simmer reclines on a floating yoga mat, center. Class participants Zoe Krut and Shayna Simmer, bottom.