Backyard Pool Boot Camp

Water aerobics is not just for retirees anymore. The Marine Corps is promoting low-impact pool running — dubbed “water cadence”— to help even the fittest Marines up their game.
With 32 instructors working at 15 swimming pools across the Corps, the service has embraced its new fitness regimen that practitioners attest will leave you sucking wind. Only one facility with a base pool, Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, does not yet offer the program, which features workouts that last between 20 and 60 minutes and push participants to “total exertion.”
Yes, this type of exercise has been associated with “the little old ladies’ social hour,” acknowledged Kari Hemund, the aquatics specialist at Headquarters Marine Corps. But “we have taken that perception and revamped it.”
The workouts stress safety above all. Officials told Marine Corps Times they are troubled by a photo, published online recently by the official Marines Magazine, that shows a fully dressed Marine submerged and running with 30-pound ammo cans in each hand. That could be deadly, they said.
Sanctioned water cadence workouts require Marines to wear foam flotation belts, keeping their bodies submerged only up to their collarbone. Your nose and mouth must be above water at all times, officials said.
After a brief warm-up, Marines alternate between short bursts of high-intensity running in place and low-intensity “rest” periods that still require some movement. A related exercise, known as shallow-water running, requires that Marines be submerged only up to their waist or torso and allows them to push off the bottom of the pool with each step. It can incorporate weights.
Though easier on your joints and bones, either workout can be more strenuous than traditional road running, said Sherry Powell, the aquatics director at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
“During the downward motion of running on land, you have gravity helping out,” she said. “But you have resistance for every movement in the water, so you are actually doing more strength training overall.”
Additionally, the pool water creates pressure on a Marines’ chest, forcing his diaphragm to work harder. That increases lung capacity, which can help with endurance during traditional exercising.