Aquatic exercise can improve cardiovascular fitness, increase strength and improve flexibility, according to the American Council on Exercise. It makes sense that as land-based boot camps remain popular, as of December 2010, aquatic boot camps would gain a following as well. When performing an aquatic boot camp, keep your students moving and perform exercises that challenge them while keeping the routine fun.
Bucket Fill
The bucket fill exercise will increase cardiovascular endurance and muscular strength as your students compete against one another to fill their bucket first. Barbie Street, aquatic coordinator in Salem, Oregon, regularly uses this exercise as a warm-up for her tsunami boot camp class. Place empty, one-gallon buckets or milk jugs with the tops cut off at one end of the pool. Have all the participants line up on the opposite side of the pool. Place a line of 12-ounce cups along the same side of the pool as the participants, and fill them with pool water. On your "go," each participant grabs one cup of water and races across the pool while trying not to spill the water. At the opposite side of the pool, the participant empties the cup into his bucket and races back with the empty cup. He leaves the empty cup and grabs a new, full cup and races back to his bucket, continuing back and forth across the pool. The first participant whose bucket or jug fills to overflowing wins.
Brick Pass
The brick pass is an exercise suggested by aquatic manager Rebekah Meeks in Stayton, Oregon. Participants must be strong swimmers who can tread water comfortably. Head to the deep end of the pool with a lifeguard training brick, a 10-pound rubber-encased brick used to test strength in lifeguards. Have all the participants get in a circle and start treading water, keeping their hands above the surface of the pool. Start the exercise by passing the brick to the next person in the circle. She then passes it to the person next to her. Continue passing the brick around the circle. See how many times you can pass the brick around the circle without using your arms to tread water. Once you have a baseline, try to beat it the next time you perform the exercise. For instance, if you passed the brick around 1 1/2 times with your hands out of the water before someone in the group needed a break, next time try to pass the brick around twice.
Aquatic Tug-of-War
If you thought tug-of-war was fun on land, you'll love aquatic tug-of-war. Use a traditional tug-of-war rope and perform the exercise across the width of the pool. Tie a bandanna around the centerpoint of the rope and stand, holding the centerpoint in the middle of the pool. Designate markers equidistant from the centerpoint as the goal lines. Split your group up into two teams and have each team grab the rope behind the goal line on its side of the rope. When you say "go," both teams must pick their feet up off the ground and kick as hard as they can to try to move the rope's bandanna past their goal line. The first team to score three goals wins the game.
References
- American Council on Exercise: Make a Splash With Water Fitness
- Rebekah Meeks; City of Stayton Aquatic Manager; Stayton, Oregon
- Barbie Street; Aquatic Coordinator; Salem, Oregon
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