By Aqua fitness training goes by many names. But, the bottom line is that whether you are very fit or adapting to living with a brand new knee, Aqua can only make you stronger and more confident in both how you look and feel, according to Anne Peyton Bryant, who just celebrated her 30th anniversary as an Equinox group fitness instructor. Students take her group fitness classes at Equinox Sports Club located at 160 Columbus Avenue (1992 Broadway) in the Millennium Tower that faces Broadway, Columbus Avenue between 67th and 68th Streets.
Enthusiastic about the benefits of rigorous exercise and challenging workouts is a huge understatement as relates to Peyton’s passion. “I’m a fitness junkie. Anything new, I want to try it.” Anyone who thinks Aqua is easy has it wrong; she said, “It’s fantastically difficult.” Moving your body in water does, however, make certain exercises doable where they might feel very uncomfortable or nearly impossible on land. Conscious movements explains “Water’s buoyancy supports your body and can help make movement easier. Water also provides some resistance to those movements that will help strengthen muscles.” strengthen muscles.”
Noodles and weights are used to achieve a variety of goals: improve cardiovascular endurance, increase strength, muscle tone, range of motion, and improve balance. Many exercises have more than one health benefit, for example, improving hip mobility and cardiovascular endurance at the same time.
Participants of different ages and fitness abilities may execute the exercises differently while participating in the same class. However, all will be equally challenged and benefit from Aqua training. For example, students executing Aqua cross-country ski skills may be approached differently by people of different ages and skill levels.
Some people don’t consider participating in Aqua training unless they’ve been injured and are now looking for the best ways to recover,” Peyton said. “but once they start, they find they love Aqua and make it part of a continuing exercise routine.”
And, while fine-tuning swimming skills is always a desirable goal, it’s not necessary for Aqua training “Zero!” Peyton said. She added. “We also have Swim Team classes at Equinox.”
As a former competitive gymnast, Peyton taught group classes to fellow students while earning a BA in Economics at Wellesley College. Then she takes your breath away, describing how she also taught a full load of classes at Equinox while completing law school full-time. She has maintained inspiring dual careers while raising her son. Now 14, he is an elite swimmer who trains between 6 am – 8 am every morning before heading to school. Though she claims to have only been a mediocre swimmer in high school, Peyton is a certified swimming official (where you can find her on the pool deck during her son’s swim meet), was on her high school swim team at Norfolk Academy, and served as an ocean front lifeguard in Virginia Beach Virginia. Along with teaching many Aqua and swimming classes, she’s also taught many other group fitness formats ranging from yoga to kickboxing to interval training and numerous other non-aquatic exercise disciplines.
You learn from Peyton that passion can take you a long way. While in law school full-time, she taught 12-15 classes a week, an undertaking that counts as full-time work at Equinox. Now 53 years old, you can still find her teaching classes, flipping around, or balancing on her hands at Equinox while at the same time balancing a demanding career as an attorney representing matrimonial and family law clients – an endeavor she says can often exceed 60 hours a week.
Peyton’s activities can be followed on Instagram, where she has more than 5000 followers. At Equinox, she has numerous students, who began training with her decades ago, and she fondly refers to them as “my Equinox family.”