Participating in water fitness workouts is one way to benefit one's health at very little cost. If the pool at a school is used only for swimming, then the benefits of having one barely causes a ripple. When the properties of water and how humans react to water are understood and applied to water activity programs, health benefits and enjoyment follow. This article provides the physiological basis for how water exercise promotes fitness, and offers tips and cues to make water workouts safe and effective. Finally, an 8-segment shallow water workout created for high school (or older) students is described in the text boxes accompanying this article. All segments can be interchanged or omitted based on whether or not the workout is for cardiorespiratory or muscular conditioning. Instructors may wish to vary times based on students' skill, fitness level, age and amount of time per class. (Contains 1 table.)