You may only think of your pools as a place for wet and wild fun. But did you know your pool can provide a low-stress, fully-body workout too? Pool exercises can have a positive impact on both body and mind, reducing the risk of chronic illnesses and improving mental health.

Let’s take a look at some of the top benefits you get from engaging in a pool workout.

4 Health Benefits of Working Out in the Pool

Natural Aquatic Support

Did you know that water can support 90% of an individual’s body weight, almost completely eliminating the effects of gravity? Essentially, water acts as a cushion for your weight-bearing joints. Thanks to water’s natural buoyancy, you can enjoy an active, low-impact workout while also achieving greater flexibility than you can on land.

Customized Resistance

Pool exercises provide naturally customized resistance. For the math geeks reading this, the resistance water provides is proportional to the amount of effort or speed of movement that’s exerted against it, ranging anywhere from 4 to 42x greater than that of air. In other words, the harder you work against it, the harder it works against you.

The other benefit? Water resistance provides resistance to movement in every direction, so you can enjoy a full-body workout.

Reduced Heart Rate

Thanks to water’s hydrostatic pressure*, your body is able to better circulate blood when you engage in swimming exercises than land exercises. This also means that you can get in the same great workout while having a heart rate that can be up to 17 beats per minute lower.

*Hydrostatic pressure is the force water exerts upon other objects when it’s not in motion. In a pool, water exerts hydrostatic pressure on the pool walls and floor from the inside.

Calorie-Crunching Workout for Every Fitness Level

Everyone of any fitness level can enjoy the calorie-burning benefits of a pool workout. You can burn anywhere from 400 to nearly 1,000 calories during a single one-hour swim session! How many calories you burn depends on a lot of different factors. Try using a water-proof heart rate monitor to help you determine your specific calorie burn.

If you’re looking for ideas for exercises you can do in the pool, check out our post on water exercises for every fitness level.