When you live in Orlando, a town known for tourism, you sometimes want to leave the attractions for the tourists and avoid certain thoroughfares at all costs. If you’re a local, you know what we’re talking about: nothing but tail lights for miles and miles!
According to an article by US News & World Report, the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Orlando added nearly 47,000 residents in 2016. This placed it at Number 8 in the nation’s 10 biggest gainers in the amount of people moving to this Sunshine State city. Those entrance ramp lines onto I-4 and I-95 just got a little longer.
To enjoy all the Magical Kingdom has to offer, residents do so in the off-season with their Florida Resident Passes and spend the rest of their recreation time enjoying the pools in their own backyards! It’s the only way to beat the heat and escape the Florida vacationers. And the way to do that is with swimming pool loans. (Florida just got a whole lot cooler.)
We love Disney World as much as anyone, but we might love pools just a little more. That’s why we’ve been in the pool financing business for almost four decades; there’s just something special about having your own personal resort.
There’s also something healthy about having your own personal resort.
Obesity in the United States
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):
- More than one-third (36.5%) of U.S. adults have obesity.
- Obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death.
- The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars; the medical costs for people who have obesity were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.
Back in 2004, McDonald’s famously removed their celebrated super size fries from their menu, reportedly due to the negative publicity generated by Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me” documentary.
While there’s really no way to tell if this change had any significant impact on current obesity stats, the truth remains that we are a country accustomed to large portions and even larger stretches of inactivity. And that’s another thing we love about pools! They deliver fitness right to your door.
The Top Eight Benefits of Swimming
- Stress Reducing – probably the biggest complaint of adults today. Our lives are busy, the demands on our time are unsurpassed. The speed that technology sends urgent matters to our attention only accelerates the stress. Solution: A regular swimming ritual can reduce anxiety and depression and lower stress levels. It can even be attributed to improving your sleep. No Olympic-sized efforts are required, just a consistency of some casual swimming.
- Calorie Burning – you could get up an hour and a half early to drive to the gym for some bright fluorescent lighting to glare down on you and your treadmill. Solution: You could step into your own yard and take a quiet and gentle swim that can burn over 200 calories in 30 minutes. This is twice the amount burned while walking. The more you swim, the more you burn. Slowly add weights to your workout and you’re on your way to your weight loss goals. You’ll also only need to get up a half hour earlier for work and then get on with your day.
- Lower Disease Risks – one of the ultimate (and fun!) types of cardiovascular exercises, you need only swim a half hour weekly to help stave off maladies including Type 2 diabetes and heart disease and risk of a stroke.
- Up Your Energy – if you’ve ever gone from being a classic couch potato to a more fitness-based lifestyle, you’ve found that the more you exercise, the more energy you have. Bodies in motion tend to stay in motion, right? Solution: Taking a few laps in your backyard pool once or twice a week will find you actually wanting to do more because you will have stamina and the desire to do so! And THAT’S how you build a routine and a healthier body.
- Effective Workout – people add weight to their workouts and use equipment at the gym that provides resistance to their muscles to maximize their workout. When you swim, you are not only using all your body’s muscles, but your body naturally works harder in the medium of water. You can literally spend less time exercising if you work out in a pool. It will take you longer on dry land to produce the same quality of activity.
- Never Let Them See You Sweat – toting the bag to the gym and then transporting your sweaty gym gear home for the wash can be a pain. Solution: When you work out in a pool you are surrounded by refreshing water, you won’t at times even feel like you’re laboring because your skin is constantly being cooled. Plus, you can just rinse out your suit and let it dry on the rack for the next day’s plunge!
- The Sheer Buoyancy Factor – swimming allows people of all fitness levels to get the exercise that works for them. Older people or those nursing injuries are essentially more resilient because water supports up to 90 % of body weight. The water protects, yet still allows the person to get and stay fit.
- Convenience – there are many, many excuses those who delay their journey to physical fitness can invent. When you’re standing at your kitchen window looking out into the yard at a shimmering pool under a blue Florida sky, the odds are you’ll be more inclined to take a dive and do a few laps.
Whatever your reason for considering a backyard pool as an addition to your family, we can say that getting healthier and more mindfully caring about your fitness is also a really good one. Getting started on an exercise regime is challenging, especially in a city like Orlando where it seems that most of the months are too warm to workout outdoors, and gyms are not always the best or more affordable solution.
Having a more “refreshing” way to exercise certainly makes pool financing a solid investment choice – for your budget and the future of your health and well-being.
We love the difference we can make for your family by providing something that puts years of memories within reach. Call 877-754-5966 for more information.
