just curious to how many people have tried this thing out. Endless swims, no crowds, is it worth the investment?
I would get one in a heart beat if I could afford it. I thought it was great although a little difficult to do anything more than just swim a steady pace. If you wanted to go faster I had to get my girlfriend sitting on the outside of the pool to turn the dial up or down. They may have resolved that now, I don’t know as that was quite a few years ago
You might try reading here.
I tried it out at the expo for IMLP a few years ago. It certainly works but it’s the treadmill of swimming. I get bored swimming as it is, an hour in an endles pool would send me to the looney bin. If I remember it was $20000, not worth that.
I tried one out last year at IM 70.3 FL expo. Pretty cool swimming against the resistance, but a bit pricey for me… I was going to say I can’t use it during the winters here in MN, but your picture disproved that.
Whether it’s worth the investment is a very personal decision, but I will say they are awesome. I worked out in the one at SBR Multisport in NYC last winter, it was amazing. I think Endless Pools has some way of getting you into a demo or something if you are interested. Definitely try it out if you can
I use one at Transition (see my signature line). They are great for stroke analysis, for steady timed sets, and when only have a short time for a workout. However, like on other poster said, I get bored swimming in a pool, so, an hour in this thing is often more than I can handle.
I like having the mirrors to be able to watch your stroke. Also, we have video to record and it is nice to have a coach standing there giving you instant feedback and adjusting the speed for specific sets. However, if I had one of my own, not sure how much I would use it.
And her was my take on the pool, nothing has changed my opinion since then:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/features/endless/moreswim.html
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I tried one a few years back. I’m a lousy swimmer and I felt like I was being swallowed by a sea monster. It’s not worth the investment unless you enjoy it enough to part with that kind of dough for a toy.
I swam in one this morning - my folks have one. I helped my dad build it several summers ago, and it did take all summer to install. I prefer swimming laps in a regular pool b/c you can adjust your speed as you’d like, whereas with an endless pool you need someone sitting on the deck to adjust it for you as you swim (or, you stop, fiddle with the knob, and then resume swimming). It is nice for long, even-paced swims or even timed interval swims. The water gets kind of choppy, particularly when you swim at higher speeds, but it’s good practice for OW. I enjoy swimming in it from time-to-time, but if all my swims were in an endless pool, I’d go nuts. JMO.
I don’t mean to jack this thread but all I can say slowman is WOW! That is/was quite the dream you are building there. I must say though, that last article is from 6/25/04 and is Part I. It is now March of 2008 so where are the sequels and what are the results of the Grand Empfitheatre?
As for my thoughts on the Endless Pool, I have used the one at TriSports a couple times and really like it. If I can ever justify having enough extra funds I will be purchasing one. When you are trying to get in all the hours of training that we all try to fit into our busy lives the most inconvenient discipline, for me at least, is the swim. The convenience of the Endless Pool would be great in my opinion and would probably really boost my swim fitness as there would be very few good excuses for missing a swim session. I also think it is great for skill development. When I am working on skills nothing kills a good rhythm of finding the correct feeling your looking for like coming to the end of the pool and having to turn around.
For a lot less money you could build a regular pool and get one of these:
http://aquaveeonline.com/
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we embarked on another project:
endless pool: 4000 gallons
this pool: 70,000 gallons
if you have the room, and the money, and the water, and the time, i recommend the pool above. otherwise, and endless pool is a nice option.
i might say that if somebody has an in-ground pool, i’d like to write a review as a companion piece to the series i linked to above. i need a guinea pig who’d be willing to buy a fastlane (at a promotional price). a fastlane is an endless pool propulsion unit that sits in an existing in-ground pool.
We got one installed 2 years ago in frigid Montreal. We use it 7 months then we shut it out for winter. What we like about it:
- a large, standard in-ground pool (which costs about the same as an endless) would fill our entire background
- the use of the cover means that the pool is always clean and chlorine use is minimal (very low maintenance)
- with the cover, heating cost is minimal even in months bordering winter where we get close to freezing, whereas a normal pool can only be operated for about 3.5 months in Quebec
- swim when you want !
- kids absolutely love playing in the current
- if you are desperately trying to find extra hours in your week the endless pool is a god-given gift.
When it comes to swimming, here are the comments I have:
- agree with most of the comments in Monty’s old article (see post above)
- I find it difficult to do very hard workouts (it’s a mental thing, not a hardare problem), so I go swim with the tri club once a week for those hard sets
- for me, the endless pool is best for long technical sets. Since the endless pool is a constant speed device (in opposition to constant effort swimming, which is more the way people normally swim) you will be quite aware when your technique starts getting sloppy.
- I swim almost everyday as I use it also as a 10-15 minutes cooldown after most bike rides or runs.
Obviously it is an expensive investment but for us it has been a very good one. We have nothing but good things to say about it.
For what its worth, our installer ( a 25 years professional pool installer) said that its desing was bomb-proof.
Francois in Montreal
PS: we close it 5 months of the year because when it gets below zero, it’s not much fun to swim outside. Winter is skiing time.
We’ve also lusted after one - but we’re in a townhome, and the thing (even smallest) won’t fit into the basement without altering a wall or two. Reason for plopping the $$ (if we had the $$ to do it, we could also alter the walls!) is that my wife and I both get creeped out on a regular basis by the pool slugs (Translated - sweaty 250#+ guys from the steam room who come out frequently to ‘wash off’ in the lap pool) and would gladly finance one to eliminate that and the athlete’s foot potential from the gym.
There is another brand - Infinite Pool - that has an underwater speed control. At least I think that’s the brand.
If you put that in at your house, I will definitely stop by and help you use it. I might even be willing to shovel the deck. 
tbro
I guess that answers my question! When you go big you go really big! Do you still have your Endless Pool slowman or did you replace it with this lap pool?
the endless pool was decommissioned in favor of this pool, and recommissioned at another locale (but still with its view of the san gabriels).
i might say that if somebody has an in-ground pool, i’d like to write a review as a companion piece to the series i linked to above. i need a guinea pig who’d be willing to buy a fastlane (at a promotional price). a fastlane is an endless pool propulsion unit that sits in an existing in-ground pool.
I’ll let you know next year. Plan is to build a pool and get a fastlane built into it, but not going to hit the planning stages until later summer or fall probably.
-Jot
We are selling our house on Oahu (just went into escrow) and moving to a small farm in rural GA. There are no swimming options within reasonable driving distance–other than the stock pond for our cows. As part of this deal Mrs H gets a new kitchen; and I am getting an Endless Pool. I intend to place it beside the barn where I will have power going into my shop. My plan is to pour a pad that is about twice the necessary size and put a Florida Room or Sun Room type of arrangement over it. Shade the pool in the summer and the pool will provide a heat sink in the room during the winter so we can use the other half of the room to start spring gardening plants.
It used to be that Dan had some sort of promotional deal with Endless Pools that offered you some sort of benefit–but email & PM to mr slowman have failed to produce any info on whether it was still valid, or exactly what it entailed.
I am greatly looking forward to mine–best of luck
/r