Endless pools

[Guest guest]

Wouldn't this be wonderful!

Nedra

'Endless pools' splash onto fitness scene

LANDSDOWNE, Pennsylvania (AP) -- In the back of her two-story brick colonial,

in a small patio-sized add-on, Valarie Arms adjusts a valve on her miniature

indoor pool and watches a churning current shoot out like a small stream.

With mounds of snow sitting just outside her windows, she maneuvers into the

91-degree current and starts to backstroke in place, part of a swimming

routine that helps her arthritis.

" It has tremendously improved my quality of life, " said Arms, an English

professor at Drexel University. " Somebody just this week asked me if I've seen

my

chiropractor, who is kind of a friend because I saw him so much, but I haven't

seen him this year. "

Swim-in-place pools or aquatic treadmills or Endless Pools (a brand name) are

gaining popularity among baby boomers whose creaky knees can no longer take a

pounding, avid swimmers, people seeking a healthier lifestyle and those who

need medical rehabilitation. The $20,000 baseline price is seen as a worthy

investment, and that thinking has translated into increased sales.

" It's amazing what it's done for me, " said 70-year-old Anne Banse, who

suffers from arthritis, has two artificial knees and recently had back surgery.

Before the surgery she swam 20 minutes five times a week.

" I get in there, the water is heated to 85, and I just come out ready to

start the day, " said Banse, who lives near Philadelphia. " It was so tremendously

the right thing to do. "

The pools average 8 feet by 15 feet and 3 to 5 feet deep. The top models

shoot out a wide, deep and steady stream of water that turns the oversized

bathtub

into a lap lane that never ends.

Aquatics expert Tom Griffiths, who wrote about swim-in-place pools in his

book " The Complete Swimming Pool Reference, " said swimming in the " wet

treadmills " is great exercise because there's no stress on hips, knees or

ankles.

" There's a lot more people swimming for fitness today, and usually to swim

for fitness you need a long lap pool, and this puts a lap pool in a very small

space, " said Griffiths, the director of aquatics at Penn State University.

Boomers lapping up the products

Pool owners rave that they can swim year-round, that the pools require

minimal maintenance and that flip turns aren't required every 25 yards. The

pools

can be put anywhere -- from basements to garages to gorgeous skylight-laden

additions.

Endless Pools, headquartered 20 miles outside Philadelphia, in Aston, was

started in 1988 by 32-year-old Murdock, a Princeton University engineering

graduate. He calls an Endless Pool " the perfect product for an aging

population. "

" We have very sedentary lifestyles, and I think this is going at the heart of

that, " he said.

Endless Pools, the self-proclaimed industry leader of the residential

swim-in-place pool, has seen sales take off. Revenue grew from $100,000 in 1989

to

$22 million last year, on sales of 1,100 pools. Murdock said Endless Pools could

sell 3,000 a year in five years. He's eyeing Britain -- and its miserable

climate -- as a burgeoning market.

Murdock said his average customer's household income is $125,000. Most buy a

pool for fitness, but many use them for conditions like multiple sclerosis or

post-polio.

Residential sales last year at SwimEx, headquartered in Warren, Rhode Island,

increased 84 percent over the year before.

" We have seen a dynamic trend toward a younger residential customer, " said

spokeswoman Toone. " Before it would have been mid- to late 60s and

early 70s, people who really need the benefits of aquatic therapy. Now I think

the

demographic is trending toward mid- to late 40s. "

The pools aren't found only in homes. The polar bears at New York's Central

Park Zoo have an Endless Pool in their icy tank, and vacationers swim in place

on Princess cruise ships. SwimEx pools are used by dozens of professional and

college sports teams.

On a recent blustery Sunday, Arms and neighbor Joanne Boyle did water

aerobics while Arms' grandson and Boyle's son -- two goggled 5-year-olds --

alternately paddled in the current and filled their bathing suits with air from

the

side whirlpool jets.

Boyle, playing lifeguard in a nearby chair, said his wife would love

a swim-in-place pool of her own.

" We belong to the healthplex, but she swims here more often, " he said. " I

guess you can't beat the convenience of it all year-round, right in your own

home. "