What is a Lap Pool?

People who belong to health clubs may be very familiar with what a lap pool is, but other people may not be quite as familiar with the concept. Lap pools are exercise pools that allow people to get the full health benefits of a vigorous swimming regimen without having to invest the time, money and space into a full size pool. It is nice to be able to install an Olympic size pool in your backyard or on the site of your health club. But if you are not going to be doing a lot of recreational swimming, then a large pool is a waste of money and space. You will find that you save a lot of room and allow for more variety of exercise options when you use a smaller pool.

A lap pool is just large enough for one person to swim laps and that is it. In some cases, the pool may be large enough to accommodate two lanes of swimming traffic. But the most popular kinds of lap pools are one lane and restricted to being used by one person at a time. When people install these kinds of pools in their backyards, they will sometimes install the two or three-lane version and landscape the area like it is a recreational pool. This is a good idea for people who have smaller backyards but still want an in-ground pool. It is extremely unusual to have a pool like this that is above ground. The large majority of the installations is in-ground and can be installed indoors or outside.

Health clubs enjoy the convenience of the design of a lap pool because it allows the club to charge a little more for a real swimming experience. The club members will get the opportunity to swim laps and feel the resistance of the water, but the pool takes up a fraction of the space that a full size pool takes and can be installed inside a building that is much smaller. One of the more common rules for these kinds of pools in health clubs is that they must be used for lap swimming only. Most health clubs will not allow recreational swimming in the pools designed only for laps.

A lap pool can be a great way to get an in-ground pool into a smaller backyard and it can also be a convenient way for a health club to expand its options for members. Before you eliminate the possibility of having a pool in your backyard, you may want to look into the world of lap pools.