Creating Your Own Endless Pool: Product Review

So a long while back I received a fun opportunity from a company called AquaGear. They are a family owned company based out of Florida that specialize in water sports such as swimming, water aerobics and scuba diving. And they were looking for blog authors (like myself) to test out and review their site and one of their swim products. So of course I couldn't say no and took them up on the offer.

 

I spent a fair amount of time perusing their site looking for something... some fun toy that I don't already own. I looked at a variety of things, including underwater cameras, paddles, and swim fins. Their inventory is quite extensive and really well organized. As you can see when you visit their site along the left hand column there is a variety of options for searching for what you need and want. They have their products organized by activity, as well as by brand. I must say I always appreciate a straight forward, easy to navigate website and theirs was just that.

I also liked that they sell a wide variety of styles for each product, so its like shopping on Amazon or some major retailer, but is a family owned specialty shop. Their prices are also very comparable to other specialty shops and the few times I've been on their site they also seem to have sales quite frequently.

Once I picked what I wanted I placed my order and it came within the time promised ~ 5 business days. I was thrilled when I received the package! It always feels like Christmas a little not to mention I always love new training toys.

I am sure you are all intrigued to what I picked? Well... Dun Dun Dun!

 

Training Leash by Water Gear
Item # 68757

Ok so you may be wondering what it is? Well, its a training leash! Basically its a resistance band like you would use in the gym but it is obviously made for swimming. Fun Huh? So there are two reasons why I chose this item 1: as a resistance band I can use it to help improve stroke strength and efficiency. And 2: when rigged correctly I can use it to create an endless pool for swimming in hotel pools or when I am training for Tri's and don't want to bother with turning at the wall. So while this product is not necessarily designed to be rigged for shorter pools, it can be safely done and that is what I used it for this week.

Josh and I were staying in the Hilton Hotel (I know I know fancy right?) in San Francisco before I ran the marathon and we a cold, cloudy day to test it out in their outdoor heated pool.

The leash is 20' long and comes with an adjustable belt that wraps around the waist and a yellow strap on the end that can be used to loop around the ladder or blocks (in a competitive use pool). Their are three resistance options, yellow, blue and red. Yellow being the lightest of the three. After testing it out, I think I would go with at least the blue for anyone who has had significant swimming experience, technique and training like myself. The yellow is appropriate for Josh a more novice swimmer however.

 

Josh attempting to swim laps in this ~5yd pool

 

Pertty ain't she?

 The leash is 20' and therefore took a little rigging to make it small enough so that it would allow for adequate stretch without reaching the other end of the pool. This took making a loop knot around the ladder and then fully wrapping the leash around the ladder 1 1/2 times. We then attached the leash to the belt and then to Josh.

 As you can see Josh is able to get almost all the way down to the other end where he can stay in place with a moderate amount of resistance which will increase his workout intensity only slightly.

Another pic of the set up

As you can see this is really quite easy to use. I did film Josh using the leash... you'll have to pardon my mouth in the first few seconds... My bad...

We spent about 1/2 hour testing out the leash and playing around with it. I was successfully able to use it for all 4 of the competitive strokes (front crawl, backstroke, breast stroke, and butterfly) and while the leash is a little bothersome as you tend to kick it and what have you it wasn't so bad that it drove me crazy. I do have a very steady kick however and Josh found it to be more of a nuisance than myself. Another point, which I brought up before is that the yellow is very light. And while you can put a significant amount of stretch on it, the band is so thin I'd be worried that a strong swimmer would wear out the rubber leash much more quickly. The band is made of the same rubber material as therabands/tubes you'd use in the gym and if you've seen those they crack and tear with age, friction, and use. I am interested to see how the material holds up in highly chlorinated pools but as of now have no idea what the life span of the rope is. 

The Water Gear Training Leash is right now on sale for $39.95 which is a pretty standard price for something of its quality. They do sell another training leash that is quite a bit more expensive ($80) that also looks fun to try. For the price, I'd definitely say this training leash is a good deal and would recommend it to anyone interested in either the endless pool or increase resistance functions. 

Check out AquaGear.com for more info on this as well as other swim products for all your swimming needs!

Pin It