Your pool should not be an amenity. It should be a program.
A pool is one of the most expensive spaces in any facility, and lap swim alone will never carry the cost. The pools that work financially are the ones that are programmed — every lane, every hour, serving people who cannot get the same result on land.
I have spent 30 years building deep water programs, first as a conditioning coach for the U.S. Ski Team and since then as the founder of Swymfit®, where I run the model I teach. I work with facilities and practitioners to design the programming, train the staff, and build the schedule that turns a pool into a revenue center and a reason members stay.
“The water is a great equalizer.”
Who this is for
Aquatic facility owners and managers
Health clubs, community centers, and multi-sport facilities carrying the cost of a pool that runs half empty. We look at what your water can actually produce and build toward it.
Aquatics directors
You already run lessons and lap swim well. Deep water programming is the next tier — higher value per lane, a wider member base, and programs your competitors are not offering.
Physical therapists and clinics
Deep water fills the gap between the clinic and the return to activity: pre-surgery preparation, post-physical-therapy conditioning, and mobility work for patients who cannot yet tolerate load on land.
Personal trainers and conditioning coaches
Add a modality that lets you train clients you currently have to turn away — post-surgical, arthritic, overweight, older — alongside the athletes you already coach.
First question: how deep is your water?
Real deep water training requires a minimum of seven feet — deep enough that the participant cannot touch the bottom and cannot push off it. That is what removes impact entirely and forces the trunk and limbs to stabilize against the water instead of the floor. A shallow pool can support good programming, but it is a different product.
If you have a deep well, a diving area, or a full-depth pool, you have what you need to build. The first thing we do together is look at your pool and confirm what it can support.
What consulting includes
Engagements are built to fit the facility. Most include some combination of the following.
01 Pool and program audit
Depth, lane configuration, deck space, equipment, current schedule, utilization by hour, staffing, and pricing. You get a clear picture of where your capacity is going and what it is earning.
02 Deep water program design
Group classes, aquatic personal training, sport-specific conditioning, injury recovery and post-PT programming, and 50-plus mobility — designed so more than one can run in the same pool at the same time.
03 Staff training and workshops
On-site or online training for your instructors and coaches — deep water technique, progressions, safety, and contraindications. Your team leaves able to teach the programs, not just describe them.
04 Schedule and revenue planning
An hour-by-hour schedule that fills lanes across the whole day, and a reservation system so members know they have water waiting for them. Predictability is what keeps swimmers from quitting.
05 Hiring and ongoing advisory
Support finding and evaluating an aquatics director, plus follow-up as programs launch and scale.
Why deep water works
No impact, full effort.
Participants can work harder, longer, with less injury risk than on land.
The widest possible range of members in one space.
An 80-year-old with knee osteoarthritis and a 40-year-old training for a race can work side by side, each at full intensity.
Higher revenue per lane.
Programmed water produces more than open lap swim, and several offerings can share the pool at once.
Reaches members land programs cannot.
Joint pain, mobility limits, obesity, post-surgical recovery, and older adults are the fastest-growing part of the market and the least served by the weight floor.
Retention.
People who get results in your pool and cannot get them anywhere else do not shop for another gym.
As featured in Health & Fitness Business
5 Ways to Build a Strong Aquatics Program
The Health & Fitness Association's monthly industry publication asked me how operators should think about the most expensive room in the building. The short version: a pool run as an amenity loses money, and a pool run as a program does not.
The August 2026 feature by Julie King covers five moves I walk clients through — and it is a fair preview of how a consulting engagement actually goes.
What the piece covers
- Filling the pool across the full day
- Programming for every demographic
- Structured schedules and lane reservations
- Hiring — and paying for — an aquatics director
- Water quality and maintenance standards
Background
Doctorate in Human Movement, Boston University
30 years developing deep water exercise and training programs
U.S. Ski Team conditioning coach, 1987–1991
Founder and developer of Swymfit®
Burdenko Method Certified
Author, The Champion’s Way
Start with a conversation
Tell me about your pool, your staff, and what you want the water to do for your business. The first conversation is free and there is no obligation.
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Call: 978-635-0500