It seems like everyone is trying to find ways to bring more health and wellness into their daily lives, preferably at home. What if one of the best tools for that was waiting just outside your back door? A backyard swimming pool can be more than a place to relax and splash around in the summer.
Core Essential for Designing a Swimming Pool for Fitness in Middle Tennessee
Before you get away with all the cool tech and add-ons, the foundation of a swimming pool for fitness is its physical design. The shape, depth, and built-in features you choose will directly affect how you can use it for exercise, recovery, or unwinding. Let’s break down the key features that can transform a standard backyard swimming pool into your personal wellness retreat.
The Versatile Tanning Ledge
If you’ve seen a swimming pool with a shallow end that’s 5 to 12 inches of water, you’ve seen a tanning ledge also known as a splash pad, sun shelf, or Baja shelf. While it’s the perfect spot to set up a lounge chair and soak up some sun or read a book, this shallow area is also well-suited for low-impact aquatic exercises like leg lifts, water yoga, or stretches.
The tanning ledge gives you the benefits of water resistance without having to be fully submerged, but it also doubles as a safe play area for toddlers and pets to play too.
Dedicated Swim Lanes for Uninterrupted Workouts in Middle Tennessee
For those serious about swimming laps, the shape and features of your swimming pool are critical. Linear, rectangular swimming pool designs often give you a long, straight path to swim back and forth.
While fiberglass pools are delivered as a single piece and have a maximum length of around 40 feet, that’s more than enough for an effective workout. Models like The Dynasty, The Luxe™, The Vogue™ and The Vita™ are designed with long, open corridors that are perfect for uninterrupted swimming.
Athletes are always looking for an edge, and water provides an incredibly effective way to train for both strength and endurance. The resistance of water is about 12 times greater than air, so every movement becomes a mini resistance workout, building lean muscles and cardiovascular fitness at the same time.
Swim Jets for Maximizing Small Spaces
If you don’t have a huge backyard, you can still get a quality swim workout in. That’s where swim jets come in. A swim jet system, like Badu, is a powerful motor that pushes out a strong continuous current of water providing you with a resistance to swim against.
These counter-current systems are an effective solution for smaller backyards or those without an unrestricted swim lane. Swim jets are an innovative piece of technology that makes true fitness accessible, no matter the size of the space.
Enhancing Your Swimming Pool for Year-Round Wellness in Middle Tennessee
With the right technology and features, you can transform your backyard into a wellness hub you can use all year long. This is especially true here in Middle Tennessee, where the weather can be a bit unpredictable.
Efficient heating systems for extended use
An unheated swimming pool can be uncomfortably cold for swimming. For the best balance of comfort and energy use, the U.S. Department of Energy actually recommends keeping your pool between 78°F and 82°F.
The swimming pool’s material can affect heat retention. Fiberglass is a natural insulator, meaning it doesn’t transfer heat easily as porous materials like concrete. Because of this, fiberglass swimming pools heat up faster and stay warm longer, which means the heater doesn’t have to work as hard. This heat retention capability may help reduce heating cost over the life of the swimming pool, potentially making it more affordable to extend the swimming season.
Hydrotherapy for muscle recovery
Ever finish a grueling workout and wish for a hot tub? Hydrotherapy is recognized as a recovery tool. In fact, the CDC has found that people with rheumatoid arthritis show more health improvements, due to the combination of warmth and buoyancy, which helps to relax muscles and ease joint pain than from any other activity.
When you add targeted jets, you get a massage that can soothe tired muscles, reduce post-workout soreness, and speed up recovery times. That’s why many of our clients choose to include one of Aviva’s integrated spa options. A spillover or integrated spa allows you to move from your workout to a relaxing hydrotherapy session without missing a beat. This combination is effective for both fitness and recovery.
Swimming pool covers for year-round use
If you have a swimming pool heater, a pool cover is essential. It’s the single most important accessory for retaining heat, cutting down energy costs, and keeping leaves and debris out of your water.
The energy savings can be significant. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a pool cover is a highly effective way to reduce pool heating costs, with potential savings between 50% and 70%. But that’s not all. A cover also conserves water by reducing evaporation by 30% to 50% and lowers your pool’s chemical use by 35% to 60%. The ASTM-certified automatic covers give you all these benefits plus top-tier safety and easy, push-button operation.
Building Your Outdoor Wellness Oasis in Middle Tennessee
Designing a swimming pool for fitness is about making thoughtful choices. It’s about looking beyond the basic shape and considering how features like depth, tanning ledges, heating, and hydrotherapy can work together to support your health goals.
A swimming pool is more than just a pool; it’s your personal gym, your physical therapy center, and your private retreat, all rolled into one. It’s a place to build strength, find calm, and create lasting memories.
Ready to design your backyard swimming pool? Contact Aviva Pools Nashville South for a free design consultation and start building the backyard wellness retreat you deserve.
