NEW YORK — Speedo is determined to get more people into the water and has teamed with Life Time Fitness on a boot camp class called Water Xtreme that will launch at more than 40 Life Time clubs by April 1.
Each class will be taught by certified instructors who will be outfitted in Speedo apparel and footwear and will include the company’s aquatic training tools such as a water shoe, special paddles and a push plate.
In a launch event at Life Time’s New York location on Thursday, Speedo USA president John Graham said: “Traditional lap swimming continues to be a great full-body workout, but we know the power of aquatic training goes beyond horizontal swimming and look forward to introducing Life Time’s members to this full-body training experience.”
Olympians — and Speedo-sponsored athletes — Natalie Coughlin and Cullen Jones joined a class at the club, using kettle balls, vipers and other tools to mix up their workout.
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Coughlin, a 12-time Olympic medalist, said she last competed in Tahiti in October, but most of her time these days is taken up working on a cookbook that will be out in the spring of 2019. “And I’m also starting a wine label in the Napa Valley,” she said.
Coughlin said the cookbook will be full of “meals I cook for myself to support my training and my Olympic goals. It’s not all dry chicken breasts and broccoli, but nourishing, tasty foods for performance. You don’t have to punish yourself with what you eat, you can enjoy it.”
Jones, on the other hand, is still hoping to be back on the Olympic stage in three years.
“I’m still competing,” he said. “I went back to NC State [University] to finish my degree and train for 2020. It’s a great change for me. In the last two months, I’ve lost 11 pounds; I’m more fit and excited to race.”
And he said the college athletes that he works out with — NCAA rules bar him from competing at that level since he’s a professional — are pushing him to greater heights. “I swim in the lane next to them and do modified workouts,” he said. “They beat me up every day, but that’s OK, it just makes me better.”
Speedo’s Graham also revealed at the event that the brand has signed on to be the official aquatic outfitter and fitness equipment provider for Life Time’s 120 clubs around the U.S. and Canada meaning that its products will be sold at the fitness company’s stores and on its web site.
Speedo will also be the title sponsor of the Life Time Tri Series, a triathlon series with events in New York, Chicago and Miami.