Swimming

I never learned to really swim, and consider myself a non-swimmer though I could probably get across a pool if I had to. I'm uncomfortable in water that's too deep to stand and still be able to breathe, and would never go into over-my-head ocean/lake without a life vest. Kind of a regret, but at this point I'm OK with it. In high school they had us get across the pool only using our legs, and I swear I wasn't moving at all, never got how to kick to propel myself, and the teachers couldn't explain it well enough. Nor did I get good at breathing without lifting my head up straight ahead of me.

I can ride a bike, though.

It seems odd to say that reading a book encouraged me to start swimming, but "Waterlog" by Roger Deakin had that effect on me. Wholeheartedly recommended.

I go to st George's pool in Shadwell, almost always empty...building up gradually and feeling benefit now

guess i do have a fear of my head (or eyes and nose at least) being underwater, i'm fine if that doesn't have to happen

It doesn't have to happen but it's better if you don't have your head stuck out the water permanently. I only started swimming again properly recently and it took me a while to get back into doing it right, for the reasons you say

I don't stick head under completely but to do the breathing right I breathe out into the water, natural momentum means head goes into water a little bit ax you breathe out, and back out when you breathe in

It took me a while to get this rhythm back ok, but it's better for you as you are less tense thus way. Way I did it at first was to keep head out but make sure I breathed in as arms came backwards and then out as arms go forward, also breathing out almost theatrically, blowing out for 5 seconds but breathing in a much shorter normal breath, do thus and gradually I found I was breathing into the water and was much more relaxed and fluid

Also this may sound silly but you can practice the correct breathing with a bowl of water on the table, it was a help for me

They were putting the signage on the new swimming pool across the road from me this morning. Excited. I am going to go like four times a week.

:D

I really want to go to the beach but the ocean is probably still freezing. It doesn't really start to get warm until mid-July. Could go to Walden Pond which isn't to far and is open to the public but I get a little weirded out by the thought of going in still fresh water. Come on July!

I can swim, I can ride a bike. But I can't drive a car. Guess which of those three has the biggest PITA impact on my life?

i love swimming but don't do it cos:

-the pools are too busy
-the pools aren't clean enough
-getting changed/chlorine/packing a bag etc etc etc is all too much of a barrier in my mind. with running i'm out the door two mins after i get in from work.

obv entirely personal, i wish i had a pool in my flat.

Actually turning up a the pool and realising that you're basically bumper-to-bumper with everyone else in your lane is pretty unpleasant. I don't last longer than a few lengths when that happens.

Hate that so so much.

That's why I go st georges always empty

the rhythm of breathing while swimming was always a huge obstacle i never got over when i was learning as a kid, i always ended up breathing in underwater and panicking, and when the mechanics of your strokes are wonky anyway it's even harder to get down pat

the advantage of swimming over running is how much easier on the joints it is, i guess, but...i am actually capable of running

Swimming exercises more muscles though innit. Fwiw you don't actually have to put your face in the water while doing breast stroke at all.

i know a number of people who have taken adult swimming lessons for beginners and others who have done lessons to improve their swimming form for doing laps etc. i really want to do the latter but just haven't yet - my only real issue is in pacing myself and getting tired and not swimming in a straight line, haha oh well

I can only ride a bike underwater

You don't HAVE to put face in water,..but if you relax you will kind of bob and mouth will go under water a bit. It's not so much the putting face into water it's more the relaxing of body and not fighting to keep above water. If you don't do this you are tense and rigid and you're not getting proper benefit

Lex I had the exact same panic issues re:this...until v recently. The bowl of water on table helped me immensely, quite surprisingly so

I did this first...the. I swam with head above water but synchronising the breathing properly, then gradually i just kind if stopped rigidly having head so upright

I am a non-swimming, non-cycling adult.

I never cycled that often, didn't do it for a couple of years, got it back out of the garage one day aged 10 and had a great old time for 2 hours until I fell off, and have never touched a bike since. Since then I have become very aware that I have basically no coordination or sense of balance, so even though I live in a cycling-friendly city and could save a lot of time and money by cycling I would totally get badly hurt sooner or later, probably sooner.

Swimming lessons at school were basically weekly humiliation rituals. I'd get the strokes wrong, could barely go 20m without putting my foot on the floor, and grew to dread the sarcastic remarks from swimming teachers about my swimming and from everyone else about my body, not just classmates but strangers at public pools too... and that was before I got quite this fat

yes, perhaps if I went cycling and swimming I would eventually not be this fat, but think how many bones I'd break and how many strangers would feel entitled to comment on my figure before that would happen

those strangers can fuck themselves imo

uh I didn't mean to whine, I really just meant that so far being afraid of water or not liking chlorine were posited as reasons why non-swimmers don't swim, and I just wanted to say that for many of us it's not about the water at all

although the water being perpetually cold and full of dead flies in the swimming pool I had my first several years of swimming lessons was also kind of offputting, I admit. Here is that swimming pool! If the first picture's oversaturated blue/orange tint (which is totally fake, check the big black cloud) or the jaunty mural (which had faded until barely visible in my time) make it look in any way warm or appealing, that is all an optical illusion. But I like the pictures.

please carry on talking about swimming, don't let my emo kill the thread

That is an excellent mural.

after having problems with running and hating all the other machines, i decided to try swimming as a form of cross training but i don't have a swimsuit -- i went to k-mart to get one and was horrified by the swimwear they had and promptly gave up. I guess I should try an athletics store? Also the idea of facing a pool with a bunch of other people in it is kind of intimidating to me, particularly since the last time I swam I was a kid.

I like swimming in pools. I don't like the beach that much.

When I drove my friend J home last weekend, she said she has a pool and I was welcome anytime this summer. Yay!

One of the only reasons I'm looking forward to having to go to Florida in July (omg just kill me) is that I plan on spending the whole time in my parents pool. It's a small pool so you just sorta float around or sit on the stairs in the water. I don't even have to actively swim the whole time. I just like being in water. When I was there last year the ocean was over 80 degrees and my dad and I went and just sort of floated for an hour or so. It was amazing.

done lessons to improve their swimming form for doing laps

I'd like to do this too. While I can swim I'm pretty sure my form sucks so this would be helpful. I should look into this.

Basic lap suits are not a big deal, rayuela! You can find one at an athletics store. If you don't want to deal with the mental anguish of WDYLL in a suit, just get like a super basic women's Speedo or whatever is the most utilitarian.

yes! i just need to get motivated to go to an athletics store. i spent all that motivation on the trip to k-mart.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/6863819348_7775742ffd_z.jpg

i love swimming

omg omg i want to go there!!

that's Bali btw

WHAT the...that can't be safe! I love it!

i am going to Bali

xp- you want unsafe?

Devil's Pool, Victoria Falls

Diving into, swimming in, and gazing over Devil's Pool is high up on my bucket list. It combines my love of water with my love of heights

I have a fear of heights, and that picture scares me. (My feet prickle whenever I get the height scare. I don't know why.)

Well don't look at these!

(not really unsafe, just looks and feels it)

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_04/fallshoutDM2304_468x367.jpg

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/04_04/fallskidDM2304_468x354.jpg

i want to go to Zimbabwe

I'll go with you!

Balcony of my dreams

http://cl.jroo.me/z3/h/V/B/d/a.aaa-Each-room-with-private-pool.jpg

I love all these completely unsafe things.

I'm becoming the buffandmaxsmom of scary-looking swimming pools

tha name no longre has any meaning to me

http://www.cngadget.cn/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CreativeHotelBalconyPools6.jpg

One more. I'd love to just swim to the bottom of this one and look down

http://www.communityofsweden.com/Thumbnails/71/37271/3056_248070.jpg

For a second, I thought the woman in the second-to-last one was naked.

swimming-pool balcony whoa

"marco"
"pol-AIIIIIIEEEEEeeeeeeeee"

xp If she was naked, I would approve heartily.

"I'm mooning all of Insert Big City Here! Yeah!"

No mention in that Devil's Pool article on whether, or how many, people plunge to their deaths from being there. There's a similar situation in Yosemite here where people do die every year.

A tour guide died three years ago trying to save a stranded tourist, but by and large there haven't been many incidents given the number of people who go there.

jesus christ. the devil's pool photos make me anxious. i cannot go near ledges or things like that. the balcony pool looks fun though. i want one.

Little Bay is a lovely spot, great for snorkeling too. In my youth it was a sewage outlet believe it or not, so no swimming!

I'm reading about the pool you linked to (Wylie's). This looks intense:

Wylie's Baths is built below the high-water mark, which means it gets flushed twice daily by the high tide. If there is much swell (wave action) about, this can create quite rough and dangerous conditions. If you are after "still water" for lap swimming & those infinity pool vibes, best to come in the window of 3 hours before low tide and 3 hours after low tide. Depending on how big the swell is, this window of 'good lap swimming' will diminish i.e. some days, you're only good for 30 minutes either side of the low mark.

Swim within your ability, and if you aren't sure about getting in, we encourage you to sit and watch the conditions for ten minutes or more, as lulls between sets can give you a false sense of calm in the pool.

If you prefer the whirlpool scene - the high tide will give you better wave action!

Keep in mind, the most dangerous and exposed area of the pool is the northern wall - the one closest to Coogee Beach. As waves crash in to the pool, the water level rises and rushes out via the path of least resistance - north - and can take YOU with the rush of water. Please be mindful of this and follow all signage or instructions related to pool restrictions, or considering your ability & the risks associated with rougher conditions.

Interesting place to swim!

Yeah, best not swim there at high tide! It's a pretty stunning place to swim though: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQqjH72Aubnw5T2oA8SZBB8_ZpOw6MAbSesO0EhKklhXXnle5W2aphv2Vc&s=10

You see all sorts of sea life in there as well, saw a huge octopus the other day...

What a great pic ZZ, I am always getting envious of my friends having Instagram adventures on the Mediterranean coast or whatever, but this really is a ridiculously beautiful part of the world

Last week I was down south and had a couple of swims at the Blue Pool in Bermagui, just stunning

Literally just knocked out a glorious 20 lengths in pool pictured above, water a balmy 17.2. Yep, we're definitely spoilt for choice in this part of the world for spectacular beaches and spots to swim...

How lovely! I've never gotten to swim in a pool like that. I saw some years ago when I visited St. Malo and just yearned after them, but it was late fall and very windy so no one was swimming.

I'm still working on my stroke and still can't swim more than maybe 300 yards continuous with my new form, but it's getting better. It makes it more interesting to have a goal, and I keep trying out different things to see what works - especially as everything I fix seems to bring some new problem to my attention that I was cheerfully unaware of before.

I might start working on bilateral breathing, which is almost impossible for me right now, so that I can breathe every three strokes. Breathing every two throws off my rotation, and every four doesn't give me enough oxygen.

Nabozo, I actually take 14-16 strokes most lengths, but I couldn't say how I do it exactly. Have you tried slowing your stroke and really extending your reach with each glide to make sure you are actually gliding? And are you bending your elbow during your pull so that you are pulling mainly with your forearm rather than your entire extended arm? (Sorry if you were not looking for advice - I'm a teacher though not of swimming so it's a habit.)

I started swimming laps last year, and had been on an excellent streak of going 3-4 days a week. Never felt better doing regular exercise. Then this July, I injured something in my arm. I tried resting it and doing PT exercises that I found on youtube, but nothing helped. I got really bummed out and just stopped exercising altogether for a while. But last month, I started going again and just doing laps with a kickboard. It's not the same, but it's something, and I'm thankful that my wife encouraged me to do it. I have an appointment with an orthopedist to try to figure out the injury.

― peace, man, Friday, October 4, 2024 1:26 PM (five days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Just turns out to be shoulder impingement. She gave me a cortisol injection and a handful of PT exercises to try to work it out. Some of them were the PT exercises I had already been doing, but with a couple extras thrown in there. Supposed to do this for 6 weeks and then go back for a check-up to see if I'm ready to start freestyle or backstroking again. If I ever get a sports-related injury and just try to "sort it out on my own" I should kick myself.

And are you bending your elbow during your pull so that you are pulling mainly with your forearm rather than your entire extended arm? (Sorry if you were not looking for advice - I'm a teacher though not of swimming so it's a habit.)

― Lily Dale, Saturday, October 5, 2024 5:06 PM (four days ago) bookmarkflaglink

Errr no, I don't think I've learnt to bend the elbow, that's brilliant advice and your sharing of tips is most welcome, thank you.

I really need actual one-on-one instruction so I can get feedback on my form, because I can tell I'm all over the place. But when I was first starting out, I found it really helpful to check out various youtube channels to understand the basics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omkBPOvAuu8

So I am planning a trip to Europe that starts in a few days and ends with a swimming adventure thing in the Lake District. I will have a chunk of time between about the 3rd and the 12th where I want to wander around England and France, spending two or three days each in different towns, and doing as much swimming as possible along the way - either open water swimming or swimming pools that are really cool and/or big. (I only get a half hour at a time in my pool at home, so I need to build up my swimming stamina.) Any recommendations? I will probably start out in the southwest of England, head over to France, then come back and go straight to the lakes. If anyone has places they recommend for swimming in London, areas close-ish to London by train, or the west and/or south of France, let me know!

have you considered the channel crossing?

I would very carefully research any wild swimming in the UK, release of sewage into rivers and the sea has been happening on an unprecedented scale recently.

Ok good to know.

I believe there are still some nice lidos though.

Just realized I said southwest England when I meant southeast.