Pool Sport Game Ideas, Maintenance Tips and More
The latest helpful articles and tips on pool maintenance, decorating ideas, and the latest pool sport equipment to enhance your outdoor water fun.
Pool Sport Game Ideas, Maintenance Tips and More
Improve Fitness the Easy Way — In Your Own Back Yard
It’s
summer. The sun is shining, and the weather is just right for fun. But
if you’re one of the 50 million Americans that are living a
sedentary
life, you might not be getting all the benefits
that getting outside can give you. Steven Blair, an expert in exercise science and a
professor at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of
Public Health, calls this lack of exercise, “the biggest public
health problem of the 21
st century.”
And he should know.
Not only does he study the effects of exercise on your brain and
physiology, but he contributed to the 1996 U.S. Surgeon General’s
Report on Physical Activity and Health as the senior scientific
editor.
Let’s take a look at the ways that you can improve fitness to benefit your
health and your happiness.
Improve Fitness with Exercise and
Health
There’s
an extensive amount of research that shows that exercising — even
as little as 30 minutes per day — can add a significant boost to
your health.
Just
by making it a regular part of your day or week, exercise can:
Help you live longer
Contribute to weight loss
Keep your muscles and bones
strong as you age
Reduce chronic disease risk
Promote brain health
Promote skin health
Reduce pain
Improve your sex life
With
just a half-hour of activity per day, you could be on your way to
significant benefits to your life and health.
Lose the Laziness for Longer Life
A
study
conducted around the exercise habits of 80,000 participants found
that just 30 minutes of exercise translated to better health and
reduced mortality. In
fact, men who were just moderately fit enjoyed six more years of fun
in the sun than their couch-potato counterparts.
Trounce Obesity with Activity
Exercise is a proven
way to get those extra pounds off and keep from getting a metabolic
syndrome, a disorder where your body finds it hard to lose weight. What’s more, you’ll find as you exercise, your body will naturally be firmer and more toned, contributing to a positive body image and increased fitness.
Move More for Strong Muscles and Bones
As
we age, our muscles and bones need some extra care to stay strong and
healthy. Exercise, even a little bit each day, can help lax muscles by helping your body absorb amino acids more easily. In addition, adolescents were better able to keep osteoporosis, or brittle bones, at bay later in life.
Reduce Chronic Disease with Regular Activity
in the International Journal of
General Medicine showed that exercise through leisure activities
helped to decrease risk factors like hypertension, diabetes,
metabolic syndrome, and more.
Exercise can help you even if you’re already experiencing a loss of
health. In
people that already have coronary disease, exercise helped prevent
heart attacks and stroke, and in patients already in heart failure,
exercise increased quality of life and reduced need for surgery.
Big Payoff for Brain Health
By
putting a halt to inflammation, exercise is a powerful way to keep
your brain healthy far into later life. Exercise has many benefits for your brain, including clearer
focus, improved memory, and improved outlook.
Go for the Glow
Everyone wants to keep the rosy glow of youth and exercise can help you do it. By increasing
your body’s absorption of antioxidants and
reducing oxidative stress on your skin, exercise can keep the skin of
your face and body looking years younger. If you improve fitness, you improve your skin as well.
Increase Activity, Reduce Pain
If you’ve got chronic pain, you need exercise. It might seem
counter-intuitive, but moving
your body is one of the best ways to combat insistent, long-term pain. Syndromes like fibromyalgia benefit from gentle, repetitive exercises performed
regularly.
Get Some Action and Improve Your Sex
Life
Who doesn’t want more, and better, sex? If you want to increase
the passion, go for a walk, a run or a swim. Exercise is correlated
with more desire, better sex and more sex. No pills necessary , all you need is a little bit of daily movement to
get a whole lot of action at night. Although all of these benefits are fantastic, the link between exercise and
happiness deserves some special attention.
Exercise - A Drug-free Way to Happiness
Getting physical isn’t just good for your body, it’s good for your
mind as well. There’s wide-ranging evidence that getting your move on can help fight depression, improve overall
mood and increase motivation. There have been numerous studies that point to a clear link between exercise and mood. Exercise
can help improve the outlooks of even those suffering from a major depressive
disorder. Exercise works by lowering inflammation and increasing the release of
endorphins, the “feel good” hormones, that can boost
outlook.
Exercise is a natural way to release stress and anxiety while promoting a
calm, centered mind. But there’s even more benefit to getting yourself in motion. Exercise
boosts blood flow to your brain, which contributes to clearer focus
and sharper memory. Getting some daily movement into your life is also associated with better, more restful sleep. This, in turn, contributes to a host of anti-aging benefits, including clearer, more radiant skin for those interested in keeping their youthful glow.
Let’s Get Physical — Improve
Fitness the Fun Way
There are many ways to get some exercise. You can walk, run, hike or bike. One way in particular is so much fun that people don’t really think of it as exercise, swimming. Specifically, swimming has been proven to be an excellent way to stay fit. It’s low-impact, so it’s within reach for most people, even those with physical limitations to enjoy. A study of women who were regular swimmers showed lowered body fat, increased fitness and flexibility and lowered blood lipids. Women with mild hypertension who practiced high-intensity interval
training in the pool were able to lower their blood pressure through this exercise alone.
Swimming can get your blood pumping, your muscles working, and those feel-good endorphins flowing like a river. Within days of regular visits to the pool, you could begin to feel, and look better.
Let’s look at some great ways to put fun and fitness into your pool.
Take A Daily Dip
The simplest way to get fit in your pool is the most intuitive — just get in and swim. If you’d like to cool off after a hot day running errands or doing yard work, then jump in when the sun’s high in the sky. If you want to be careful of getting too much sun, then a morning or evening dip might work best for you. To improve fitness, just be sure that you put it on your calendar so it’s part of your daily routine. You definitely do not have to be a pro swimmer. Even a dog paddle down the length of the pool will get your heart rate up and your muscles moving.
Water Work Out
Water aerobics are a great way to get both cardiovascular and muscle-toning
into your pool fitness plan. You can use equipment specially designed
for the pool to add weight to your routine, such as special floating
belts to help you stay upright in deep water. Water fitness routines are online from many sources. Once you learn a number of exercises, you can put them together for an individualized exercise plan and set them to the music of your choice for an extra boost.
Water Sports — The Ultimate Combination of Exercise and Fun
One of the best ways to get a fantastic water workout and improve fitness without even realizing that you’re exercising is to make fitness a social, playful event.
Water basketball is a great way to get your heart rate up, burn some calories and burn off some steam. It doesn’t take much to get a full-on water hoops game going in your own backyard pool, just a hoop and a ball
and you’re ready. You’ll want to make sure the equipment you choose is heavy-duty and ready to stand up to the sun and the pool environment because once you realize how much fun it is to get your exercise this way, you’ll be playing
every day. Dunn Rite makes water basketball equipment for any pool size and type, and their equipment is built to last, so you’ll be able to get your exercise regularly for the most benefit.
If you’re more of a volleyball fanatic, Dunn Rite has you covered there, too, with both
deck-mounted
and portable pool volleyball nets.
Pool volleyball can involve large teams, so you can get the entire family
as well as a few friends or neighbors in on the action.
Both types of water sports are great for young kids and adolescents who
don’t like the idea of “regular” fitness. Once engaged in a
game, kids and adults alike forget about the fitness aspect and just
concentrate on having fun. Before you know it, you’ll have gotten more than your half-hour of exercise in without feeling like you’ve been chained to a tedious workout.
Pool Sports — Your Fun, Easy, Inexpensive Way to Fitness
There’s no need for expensive gym memberships and thousand-dollar gym equipment when you have the ultimate fitness playground in your back yard, your pool. No need to travel long distances to a running track, gym, or basketball court when your own sports and fitness center is a few feet from your back door. Plus, you don’t have to worry about bringing a change of clothes, enduring a sweaty ride home, or worse yet, showering in unsanitary facilities. Instead, choose some pool aerobics routines, get some sturdy equipment from
Dunn Rite
for your choice of water basketball or volleyball, and let the fitness begin.
Best of all, exercising in your pool won’t even seem like exercising at all, and you’ll be reaping the benefits of being more fit in no time. In fact, with water sports, you’ll be able to make fitness a family affair and get everyone in on the action.
Establishing fun exercise activities for your kids when they’re at home will help keep them fit, build good habits for adulthood and help the whole family reach health and fitness goals together.
Dunn-Rite Pool Products & Pool Accessories
3rd Generation Family Owned Company with a long history of developing innovative products of the highest quality.
Pool Fountains - Combo Units - Pool Volleyball - Pool Basketball
A Guide to Choosing Swimming Pool Basketball Games
Whether you’re accessorizing the pool for the kids or you’re looking for ways to add the fun factor to your next pool party, one thing’s for sure, swimming pool basketball games are a must-have.
But with a variety of different models available, how do you choose the right one for you, your kids, and your pool?
Below, we’ll explain what to look out for when buying a pool basketball set, while also providing you with some helpful advice on what age groups these sets are best suited for.
Floating Swimming Pool Basketball Games
If you’re buying for the kids, or you want a design that suits all abilities (and you’re not taking your basketball games too seriously!), The
AquaHoop is ideal. These are designed to float on the surface of the water so kids can easily jump out of a shallow pool to score a slam dunk.
They’re also great if you’re still wondering whether or not a basketball game’s right for your pool because they don’t require any installation and aren’t as big an investment. And even if you do upgrade your basketball set afterward, this pool game will still bring hours of lighthearted entertainment – for kids and adults.
Portable Swimming Pool Basketball Games
When it comes to the bigger
basketball hoops, there are two main types – portable basketball hoops (where you fill the base with water or sand to keep it in position at the poolside) or deck-mounted basketball hoops (that are fixed to the side of your pool).
Portable basketball hoops are ideal if you want to be able to store the unit out of sight when it’s not in use (although, this is a feature on some deck-mounted hoops, too). However, with their heavy-duty bases, you can still enjoy the peace of mind that these are safe and secure throughout play – even if someone loves to show off with a slam dunk or two.
Look for designs like the
Splash and Shoot that feature reinforced backboards and hard-wearing posts for added durability. Designs like these often come with an adjustable feature, too, so it’s suitable for kids, teens, and adults alike.
Deck-Mounted Swimming Pool Basketball Games
Know you’re going to be hosting regular basketball tournaments in your pool?
Then you may want to ditch the water-filled base in favor of a post that’s fixed straight onto the side of your pool. This offers a slightly more streamlined look and looks just like a traditional basketball hoop (except for the fact it’s half the size to allow for the depth of the pool!).
It’s important to note, though, that because this is a fixed pole, you can’t alter the height of it, so it is best suited for teens and adults, or in very shallow pools for the kids.
Again, you’ll want to find a design that’s been made to stand up to the demands of even the most competitive of basketball matches (like the
Clear Hoop Jr., for example). Furthermore, designs like this do come with the added bonus that, although they are fixed, they can be removed when they’re not in use. All you need to do is replace the post with a finishing cap when you’re not using it.
Combination Volleyball and Basketball Pool Sets
Decided you want a basketball hoop for your pool but still looking for ways you can up the ante?
Then look no further than
pool combo units.
These allow you to play basketball and volleyball in your pool (not at once, though – that would be a little difficult!) and come complete with a basketball hoop, basketball, volleyball net, and volleyball. And, even though the volleyball nets in these sets are quite standard, you will still need to choose between the water-based or deck-mounted design of the basketball hoop – the former being more ideally suited to various ages and the latter for older teens and adults.
Hopefully, the above has shed some light on the variety of basketball hoops available for swimming pools. But whatever design you do choose, you are guaranteed plenty of entertainment, lots of splashes, and some epic poolside pictures of everyone’s slam dunk faces!
With Dunn Rite Pool Products, you can be confident in the high-quality, durable products we sell. Still need some more advice? Then contact our friendly team today at 800-798-9646.
Dunn-Rite Pool Products & Pool Accessories
3rd Generation Family Owned Company with a long history of developing innovative products of the highest quality.
Pool Fountains - Combo Units - Pool Volleyball - Pool Basketball