Benefits of training in a swim spa (Fitness, strength, recovery and more)

With a pool in your backyard, you can exercise from the comfort and privacy of your own home. With a swim spa, you’ll also enjoy the benefits of powerful jets which create a current for you to work against.

As Dr Rick McAvoy explains below, your swim spa is more than a place to beat the summer heat. By exercising or training in water, you can also increase your strength and mobility, rehabilitate and even prevent injuries, leaving you moving and feeling better for longer. Keep reading to learn more.

What is aquatic training?

Aquatic training is any form of activity performed in water that contributes to our physical and mental health and wellbeing.

There are a number of different activities you can do to create an effective aquatic training routine for yourself. You don’t even need to be a ‘good’ swimmer to get the benefits of aquatic training.

Swim spa for strength training

Water creates natural resistance for our bodies, in a similar way as you might use weights for resistance on land.

But in the water, resistance is applied in every direction, so we have to use more muscles at once to move and stay balanced.

Even the most basic exercise such as walking in the water improves your balance, coordination, trains the core muscles and increases your flexibility and strength.

Swim spa for injury prevention and rehabilitation

Human beings are creatures of habit, and over time our bodies adapt to repeated movements and postures. This often leads to muscle imbalances and joint injuries.

The classic example these days is tight shoulders, neck and chest muscles from being hunched over our computers and phones.

When we get in the water, we are less loaded by gravity. This allows us to retrain our bodies for better, pain-free movement in a way we can’t do on land.

You could say training in the water literally ‘cleans’ our movement – helping to reduce imbalances and prevent injuries out of the water. Learn how to improve balance with a swim spa in this article.

This makes getting in the water an excellent option for people who have injuries, joint problems, or are getting back into fitness after a break.

It can also be used much earlier in the rehabilitation process because, unlike on land, where gravity and momentum still influence our movement and increases the potential risk for injury, water is low impact, so the chances of injury are significantly lower.