LOWER SWATARA TWP., Pa. – As UFC fighter Conor McGregor prepares for the biggest fight of his career this weekend in Las Vegas, one of the tools used to help in his training was developed in a Dauphin County office park.
Hydroworx, which has designed and manufactured therapeutic swimming pools for athletes and medical facilities for decades, created a pool for the UFC training facility in Las Vegas, where “The Notorious” McGregor is training for Saturday’s fight against Floyd “Money” Mayweather.
“What it does for Conor is that it unweights him, and he can also get a high intensity workout in the water with a lot of resistance with the jets, but not the pounding on his muscles,” said Matt Foss, the CEO of Hydroworx.
The pool floor can be raised or lowered, and the whole floor serves as a treadmill, going anywhere from one to eight-and-a-half miles per hour.
“We knew that many of their athletes were using our product at other sites,” said Nicole Biesecker, the company’s VP of marketing. “They really feel that Hydroworx is an integral part of their training, as well.”
Part of the draw of water training is the buoyancy provided by the water. While a person training on land feels the impact of their full body weight, it’s about 20 percent in the water, Foss said.
“So you can get in, run at 10 miles an hour, do something that you would never be able to do on land as easily and then not feel as sore the next day,” Biesecker said.
Although the company is well-known for its work with sports teams and athletes, its products have many uses for hospitals and rehabilitation facilities as well, Foss said.
“You can have any patient population, from aging population, to an elite athlete, to a child that can actually walk into this unit, the water will fill up and then you can get in,” he said.
