5 Reasons Athletes Love Swim Spas

A swim spa is like a pool, hot tub, and home gym all in one. For athletes, this opens up an entirely new way to train and recover. Compact enough for smaller spaces yet spacious enough for swimming, swim spas allow you to enjoy the combined benefits of hydrotherapy, aquatic exercise, and powerful resistance currents—and you never have to leave the comfort of your own home.

In this blog, we explore some of the top advantages that swim spas can provide for athletes, from recovery support to strength improvements and more.

1. Aquatic Fitness Features

With an Endless Pools swim spa, you can customize your fitness routine with tons of optional features and accessories. Whether you’re looking for an underwater treadmill to meet your cardio goals or a mirror to improve your form, there are plenty of options to choose from.

Below are some of the best swim spa fitness features for athletes:

• Resistance currents: Endless Pools swim spas come with a fully adjustable water current, which allows for stationary swimming and adds an extra layer of resistance to your workouts.
• Endless Pools® Aquabike: enjoy the benefits of both hydrotherapy and a powerful cycling workout underwater with a stationary Aquabike.
• Swim Mirror: a stainless-steel mirror mounted at the bottom of your spa helps you monitor body alignment, stroke technique, and symmetry in real time.
• Underwater Treadmill: run or walk underwater with minimal impact on joints. Choose from speeds up to 5.5 MPH to match your fitness goals.
• Endless Pools® Rowing Kit: easily attach and detach these bars to imitate the motion of rowing a boat. This provides a powerful full-body workout that’s great for strength training.
• Endless Pools Fit@Home® App: compatible with smart devices and swim spa pace displays, this app allows you to adjust treadmill settings, control basic spa functions, and manage workouts.

These advanced accessories allow athletes to personalize their spas in a way that best supports their fitness goals.

2. Aquatic Exercise is Gentler on Joints

One of the greatest advantages of swim spa workouts is how easy they are on the body. Thanks to the buoyancy of water, your joints, muscles, and bones experience much less strain than they would on land. Here’s why:

When you’re submerged, water exerts an upward force called buoyant force that counteracts gravity (a downward pull). Since the human body is less dense than water, this force helps you float and feel lighter. In fact, if you’re submerged to the neck, water can cancel out up to 90% of your body weight.¹ This reduces the impact of exercise on joints as well as the intensity of perceived pain.²

One study even found that aquatic-based exercise can be highly effective for reducing pain, joint dysfunction, and improving quality of life for osteoarthritis patients.²

3. Hydrotherapy Supports Muscle Recovery

For centuries, people have turned to hydrotherapy, also known as water therapy, to treat discomfort, relax, and enhance well-being. In a swim spa, you can experience those same therapeutic effects with the added benefits of controlled heat and targeted massage. These can be powerful tools for workout recovery.

Studies show that warm water and gentle water pressure work together to relax muscles, reduce stiffness, relieve stress, and improve mobility.² With built-in massage jets and precise temperature controls, swim spas make it simple to create the perfect recovery environment after a demanding workout.

Research also suggests that hydrotherapy can help the body return to its resting state faster. In one study, participants who used hydrotherapy after intense cycling sessions saw their heart rate and blood pressure recover more quickly than those who didn’t.³

4. Improves Muscle Strength and Functionality

Aquatic exercise can be incredibly effective for increasing muscle strength.² For athletes, strength training happens to be one of the best ways to enhance performance capacity.⁴

In one study, a group of older adults was given an aquatic exercise program to follow.⁵ The program aimed to improve the following strength measurements:

• Peak torque (PT): the maximum rotational force a muscle group produces
• Rate of torque development (RTD): how fast those muscles generate force in a given amount of time

After training 3 days a week for 12 weeks, participants saw substantial strength increases in these muscles:

Muscle Group	Strength Measurement	Improvement
Hip flexors	PT	18%
Extensors	PT	40%
Plantar flexors	PT	42%
Hip extensors	RTD	10%
Knee extensors	RTD	11%
Ankle plantar flexors	RTD	27%

These impressive results show that regular aquatic exercise can be a promising tool for building strength and function in multiple muscle groups throughout the body.

5. Supports Mental Health

There’s more to athletic performance than physical wellness alone. Mental health plays an equally important role in how athletes train, perform, recover, and cope with the demands of their sport.

In an analysis of twenty-two studies, 34% of participating athletes experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety regularly.⁶ This can significantly raise the risk of injuries, prolong recovery times, and hinder performance outcomes.⁷

Fortunately, research suggests that aquatic exercise can significantly improve mood and anxiety symptoms.⁸ It naturally stimulates your body’s production of endorphins, or the “feel good” chemicals that help reduce pain, lower stress, and improve mood.

Plus, the warmth and massage jets provided by hydrotherapy help melt away tension, giving athletes a way to relax and unwind. Regular hot spa bathing can potentially improve overall satisfaction, lower stress, and have a positive effect on mental health.⁹

References

1. Aquatic exercise: Gentle on your bones, joints, muscles. (2015, August 12). Mayo Clinic Health System. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/aquatic-exercise-gentle-on-your-bones-joints-and-muscles 
2. Song, J., & Oh, J. W. (2022). Effects of Aquatic Exercises for Patients with Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Healthcare, 10(3), 560. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10030560 
3. Cuesta-Vargas, A. I., Travé-Mesa, A., Vera-Cabrera, A., Cruz-Terrón, D., Castro-Sánchez, A. M., Fernández-De-Las-Peñas, C., & Arroyo-Morales, M. (2013). Hydrotherapy as a recovery strategy after exercise: a pragmatic controlled trial. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-13-180 
4. Hughes, D. C., Ellefsen, S., & Baar, K. (2017). Adaptations to endurance and strength training. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 8(6), a029769. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a029769 
5. P, C. B. B., Pereira, G., Ugrinowitsch, C., & A, L. F. R. (2012). The effects of a Water-Based Exercise program on strength and functionality of older adults. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, 20(4), 469–470. https://doi.org/10.1123/japa.20.4.469 
6. Gouttebarge, V., Castaldelli-Maia, J. M., Gorczynski, P., Hainline, B., Hitchcock, M. E., Kerkhoffs, G. M., Rice, S. M., & Reardon, C. L. (2019). Occurrence of mental health symptoms and disorders in current and former elite athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(11), 700–706. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-100671 
7. Rogers, D. L., Tanaka, M. J., Cosgarea, A. J., Ginsburg, R. D., & Dreher, G. M. (2023). How mental health affects injury risk and outcomes in athletes. Sports Health a Multidisciplinary Approach, 16(2), 222–229. https://doi.org/10.1177/19417381231179678 
8. Tang, Z., Wang, Y., Liu, J., & Liu, Y. (2022). Effects of aquatic exercise on mood and anxiety symptoms: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1051551
9. Takeda, M., Nakamura, H., Otsu, H., Mimori, K., Maeda, T., & Managi, S. (2023). Hot spring bathing practices have a positive effect on mental health in Japan. Heliyon, 9(9), e19631. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19631