Designing a Pool with Exercise in Mind

Swimming is an exceptional way to exercise for anyone seeking a low impact, high results option.  With minimal stress on your joints, swimming builds endurance and provides a cardiovascular workout that can help to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.  Since water resistance causes your muscles to work harder as you move, it is possible to tone multiple muscle groups including the legs, back, chest, and stomach.

Beginning Swimmers

For beginning swimmers, the shallow end of your custom pool will be the best place to practice mastering how to breathe properly.  Along with your swim strokes and the overall routine of your water workout, breathing is a key component of any exercise that will be done in your swimming pool.  The shallow end is a safe area to become comfortable with the act of putting your face underwater, exhaling through the nose and mouth, and then lifting your face out of the water to inhale.

Whether the beginning swimmer who is using your pool is an adult or a child, you may wish to use an instructor to teach the basics.  Lessons of 30 to 60 minutes weekly are generally a good idea to gain confidence and learn basic skills.  The backstroke and sidestroke may be the first to be mastered since these are not as difficult as other types of swim strokes.  Frequent practice will help beginners to improve, but just getting in the water and learning how to move is a good workout.

Experienced Swimmers

More experienced swimmers may wish to do laps in their luxury pool, whether or not they have designed their backyard area specifically with a lap pool.  A backyard lap pool is generally narrow and long, being large enough to accommodate one swimmer, though some are designed to fit multiple lanes of swimmers.  For small backyards or areas that can only accommodate a smaller in-ground pool, a lap pool is a good design that is highly functional for exercise purposes.

Many backyards are appropriate for a full-size luxury swimming pool, which can offer the exercise function of a lap pool while giving you the benefit of a more versatile pool design that accommodates more swimmers at one time.  If you plan to jog or do water aerobics in addition to lap swimming, your pool should have a depth that allows someone to stand upright.  Popular exercises done while standing in the  water involve jogging in place while doing lateral arm raises, jumping in place, and doing traditional leg lifts.  Swim/water interval laps also are popular and generally involve repeating a sequence of swimming one to two laps using any type of stroke you prefer followed by walking one to two laps in the pool.

Whether you are a beginning or experienced swimmer, having a luxury swimming pool in your backyard can make your exercise routine more effective and enjoyable.  Even if you do not consider yourself to be a lap swimmer, many workouts can be done in the water, where the added resistance can make your movements more effective.  Talk to your NYC pool contractor about the types of pool designs that can best accommodate your activity level.