A pool workout turns the hotel swimming pool into a full-body gym using treading water, short swims, and deck exercises — no lap lanes or competitive swimming background required. A lot of hotels have a pool, and if it is one you would actually want to get into, it is a workout waiting to happen. In this Physical Friday I share six pool exercises I use on vacation and business trips, from the Navy SEAL hands-up tread to the Rocket circuit — and why a cheap pair of goggles never leaves my travel bag.
Listen now: press play in the player above and follow along.
Even in a tiny pool, you can do the Navy SEAL test: tread water for five minutes with your hands above the water the entire time, never letting them go under. It is a tremendous amount of work in a short time. Get out, knock out a bunch of push-ups and sit-ups on the deck, and you are done. For bigger pools, circuits like the Rocket — swim 50 meters, then 10 push-ups and 15 air squats — fill thirty minutes easily.
Rocket is a swim-and-bodyweight circuit: swim 50 meters — five laps in a small pool, one in a big one — then climb out and do 10 push-ups and 15 air squats on the side of the pool. Repeat as many rounds as you can in thirty minutes and write the score in your journal. Any stroke counts, so swim freestyle, breaststroke, or underwater, whatever your ability allows.
Because hotel pools are loaded with chlorine. I once swam a morning workout at a nice hotel during ICAST without goggles, and my eyes were so bloodshot through the next day's business meetings that I looked like I had been up all night. A cheap pair of goggles from Walmart — ideally in a little case so they do not get scratched — has lived in my travel bag ever since.
Treading water with your hands above the surface for five minutes — the way the Navy SEALs are tested — is genuinely hard, and it works in even the smallest hotel pool. Regular treading for fifteen minutes is a great workout too. Either way you are getting full-body conditioning in one spot with zero equipment, and you can pair it with planks or push-ups on the deck between rounds.
It is a classic benchmark: run a mile and a half, swim 500 meters, then run another mile and a half. With an outdoor hotel pool you have everything you need. If you do not want to squish through the lobby in wet shoes, flip the order — run two miles first, then finish in the pool alternating five minutes of treading water with five-minute planks on the deck.
Get in and run in place, letting the water be your resistance — it works surprisingly well when the treadmill is broken or you do not feel safe running outside. You can also wade as fast as you can across the pool in waist-deep water and repeat it a bunch of times. Both are easy on the joints and harder than they look, and they need nothing but the pool itself.
Here are the six pool workouts from this episode, exactly as I do them at hotel pools on vacation and business trips.
I cover pacing, safety, and how to combine these in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Nice hotel, beautiful pool, brand-new swim workout planned — and no goggles. The chlorine left my eyes so bloodshot that I spent the next day of business meetings looking like I had closed down the bar. Ever since, a cheap pair I bought in Bimini rides in my travel bag in a little case. I tell the whole story, and what else lives in that bag, in the episode — press play above.
Some hotel pools are gorgeous 25-meter setups; some are green, slimy, and full of empty beer bottles — do not get in those. Size matters less than you think: a tiny pool still supports treading water, water running, and deck circuits, while a real pool opens up laps and intervals. I explain how I match the workout to the pool in the episode, so press play in the player above.
Wet concrete is slippery, and you never know what is on that deck. I skip violent, explosive movements like burpees when I am dripping wet and stick to air squats, push-ups, and planks at the pool's edge, and I encourage you to have a buddy around for any pool training. The workout only counts if you walk away from it. I go through my safety rules in the episode — press play above.
If the hotel will let you borrow a dumbbell from the gym, there is a whole world of pool training called XPT, developed by Laird Hamilton and Gabby Reece. It is too involved to teach in one podcast, but it is great stuff worth looking up. I point you to where to start and how it fits the travel toolkit in the episode, so press play in the player above.
The pool is one more reason there is no excuse on the road: tread, swim, run in the water, circuit on the deck. Stay on the train — consistency is the whole trick.
Put a pair of cheap goggles in your travel bag tonight, and next trip, look at that pool as a gym instead of a place to lounge. Press play in the player above and I will give you all six workouts.
Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series for fishing guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen — the training, nutrition, and mindset to stay in the game for life. Watch and listen to every Physical Friday episode from Tom Rowland.
Navy SEAL treading water test · Rocket · run-swim-run · interval swims · water running · XPT · Laird Hamilton · Gabby Reece · ICAST · Bimini · swim goggles · pool deck circuits · travel fitness
I'm Tom Rowland, a professional fishing guide based in the Florida Keys, host of the Tom Rowland Podcast, and the longtime host of the Saltwater Experience television show. Physical Friday is my weekly fitness series where I share the workouts, nutrition, and mindset that keep guides, anglers, hunters, and outdoorsmen strong, durable, and in the game for life.
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