Small fitness pools offer big health benefits
Swimming uses every skeletal muscle in your body — some 650 of ‘em, — and it works your cardiac muscle, too. So there are that many reasons, and plenty more, to invest in a pool of your own.
“Water provides an ideal environment to get in shape,” says Todd Edwards, director of sales and marketing at Genco Pools & Spas, “and a backyard pool — with privacy, flexibility and no pandemic worries — is the ideal place to do it.”
Indeed, swimming promises myriad health and wellness benefits, building endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness while minimizing the risk of chronic disease. This low-impact activity is safe for all ages and adaptable for people with injuries and disabilities. According to the CDC, 150 minutes per week of water-based exercise promises plenty of perks, including:
- decreased risk of Type II diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke
- half the risk of all-cause mortality compared to inactive people
- decreased pain from osteoarthritis
- improved joint function for people with arthritis
- elevated mental health
- improved cognitive function in older adults
- positive outcomes for pregnant women
- improved bone health in post-menopausal women
- enhanced weight loss
While lap swimming, water aerobics and hydrotherapy often require a gym or health club membership, in the wake of the pandemic, many people prefer to access wellness benefits from the comfort, and safety, of their own backyard.
“If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that sometimes there really is no place like home,” Edwards says. “Long, narrow lap pools have always been popular — and I think they always will be — but we’re seeing a trend toward smaller, single-depth pools designed for fitness enthusiasts.”
Don’t hesitate to jump into the fitness pool trend just because your yard is tiny or features challenging terrain. Small pools — sometimes called spools — promise big benefits.
“Small-format sports pools can be designed to fit almost any backyard,” Edwards says. Depth can be made to accommodate water aerobics, while resistance swim systems such as a BADU SwimJet can allow fitness swimmers to do “laps” without ever reaching the end of the pool. “Our partnership with Bradford lends flexibility to these ‘spool’ projects, and with a faster turnaround time, too.”
Bradford specializes in stainless steel aquatic vessels — each one precision-engineered to fit the exact project specs — with the promise of durability, longevity and corrosion resistance. Thanks to stainless steel’s impressive strength-to-weight ratio, partnering with Bradford allows Genco’s designers to reduce material costs, structural requirements and installation time.
Genco Pools & Spas is enjoying a healthy uptick in fitness pools. With breadth and depth of experience more than three decades deep, the locally owned company designs, builds and services residential and commercial pools, spas, fountains and more. It’s the go-to knowledge center for the products that simplify pool ownership.
While every pool project is unique, fitness pools are considerably more affordable than a standard pool. The potential health and wellness benefits, according to Edwards, are priceless. “Nobody ever regrets getting into shape,” he says, “and they never regret getting into their own pool, either.”
