Swimming

Chris, I walked past there every day, and never thought of going in. What's it like inside? Always thought it was put in an odd location, as tis surrounded by construction and low houses....and in front of a roundabout to boot

I've met a couple adults lately who don't know how to swim and that's always really strange to me. I grew up on the water and swimming was an integral part of my childhood but it also seems like a pretty basic and essential skill. Do you know how to swim? If not, would you like to?

i love swimming and seriously wish i could do it every day in an ocean, lake or salt-water pool

like the only reason i would move into a condo would be if there was a rad swimming pool (and sauna!) in the complex

Saltwater pools are so rad.
I was on a swim team at the country club where my father plays golf. I think it was just a plot hatched by my mom to keep my brother and I busy during the summers. I always got the "most improved" trophy. I sort of hated being on the swim team, but I see its value more now.
I don't swim frequently, though. I have sensitive ears.

I can't put my head underwater anymore because I have a perforated eardrum :/ I still swim when I get the chance I just have to keep my ear dry.

I have never been in a saltwater pool. I've love to try one out.

i heart swimming. did it competitive ages 12-19, stopped for awhile and started again swimming laps again in my mid twenties just for general health. i still go at least once or twice a week. it's good exercise and there's something psychologically soothing about floating along in the water, i do some of my best thinking with my head submerged:)

and while i do think everybody should learn to swim i totally get being afraid of the water. or being put off by the chlorinated miasma of indoor pools in the winter. i love LOVE to swim in the ocean but the few salt water pools i've been in were either slight funky or fucking freezing

swimming is amazing; I'm not the strongest swimmer but I get by

I've met a couple adults lately who don't know how to swim and that's always really strange to me.

Swimming is great! One of my favourite swimming experiences was at a pool in Reykjavik, which was outdoors but warm even though I went in October, and they don't use very much chlorine in their pools so it was extra nice. Laugardalslaug!

I've started going again recently but it's been embarrassingly tiring for me, having done pretty much zero exercise since mandatory high school phys ed.

i love swimming although i never really learned all the different kinds of strokes

i can't dive tho

From April to September I live at my apt complex pool. Love it.

i can't really swim! when i was a kid i'd learn every year but by the time the following year came around i'd have forgotten. i'm not scared of water, i know how to float and i like paddling in the ocean etc, i just can't go out of my depth. actually last time i was in a hotel swimming pool i did try a few strokes and they kind of worked - breaststroke felt good, if very slow, though the spazzy splashing of my front crawl was just nagl.

i can't ride a bike either, that's different b/c with swimming i'm just very bad & limited at it and it's in my life so little i don't improve, but with riding a bike it makes no sense to me and i don't even know what muscles i'm supposed to be using. bikes are like THIS THIN, how the hell am i supposed to get it to stand up with me on it? that's not physically possible.

i 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

Yes, this and adults who can't ride bikes!
― salsa shark, Thursday, June 14, 2012 10:44 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i have the same wow you're missing out on swimming! response, sometimes, in spite of being an uncycling adult.
i really hope there is a time that swimming fits into my life, either by the pool-in-your-building thing or by dint of routines. i couldn't run a block but i can swim for hours, & it's boredom that stops me before tiredness. i wish pools played more interesting music so you could be having a nice time, thinking, listening, while you were swimming backstrokes (it has always been the muted throb of distant hi-NRG gym music, where i've gone, apart from ONE TIME when as i came in someone put the i think american graffiti soundtrack (or something like that) on, & i walked out of the pool to fucking rumble which was pretty great if slightly undermined by the actual optics, a slow tuba plod probably better scoring my swimshorted poolside walk).

my dad always says that swimming leaves you nicely tired. which is otm. i'm so proud of myself for going, whenever i go, now, though, that it stops me from having the motivation to go a week later. & swimming's a real routines thing to me.

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

lolll

where is that, E, and how do i make it happen

Rrrobyn it's in the Maldives and I'm trying to figure the second part out myself.

ah the maldives...
that is very far away...

sadly :(

http://www.dusit.com/dusit-thani/en/maldives-gallery.html

wowww
want to go

ugh i want to live there forever

Also many xposts but there is one of those steep-ish drop slides in my hometown. Not as vertical but it's always intimidated me, I'm so much of a wuss I've still never been on it. Maybe this summer...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QC9UO85-cAA/TiYt5zzf16I/AAAAAAAAADA/u_MyhUP494Y/s1600/100_5562.JPG

I want to go to a waterpark so much right now

Two of my friends went to the Maldives on their honeymoon and stayed in a little hut that was literally out on the water. They had to walk out on a little walk way to get to it and there was nothing around them but that water. I can't even imagine. The only thing they said was that there isn't much there which is great but they stayed for a whole 2 weeks. I guess you would if you took all the time to fly there. Anyway, by the last couple days they were getting a little antsy.

Good lord that resort is AMAZING.

as a dude that pretty much hates swimming (i can do it, i just dont dig it) i just wanted to say that snorkeling on the other hand is like the best thing on the planet

I only like to swim in places hwere people still wear 19th century outfits

http://www.gentlemansemporium.com/store/mens_swimwear.php?gclid=CKjlkZ2x8bACFcXe4AodF173vQ

Oh, no big deal just hanging out in my private pool looking out over the most beautiful ocean in the world which I'll take a dip in next.

I too could never make sense of having a pool overlooking the ocean. That is, except this one: the Bondi Icebergs in Sydney, Australia:

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2272/2059440302_f760cbe99a_z.jpg?zz=1

It's a gorgeous pool overlooking a gorgeous ocean. What makes this one stand out above all others is that when the surf is up, the waves crash right over the wall and into the pool:

http://img.opentravel.com/blogs/travel-blog-magazine-883_3.jpg

http://www.okeanosgroup.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Bondi-Icebergs-Pool-Design.jpg

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/28/54724182_fced431f07_z.jpg?zz=1

http://img.traveldudes.org/files/imagecache/gallery_full/tips/sydney-bondi-beach-icebergs-pool_0.jpg

And if the feel of the ocean isn't enough, you can always jump off the rocks on the south edge of the pool right into the Pacific:

http://farm1.staticflickr.com/191/518470208_39579bea14_z.jpg

Only $5 for admittance; there's also a resort club, pubs, and a live music venue. Will an Aussie ILXor please swim here so I can live vicariously through you?

I stand to be corrected, but I think I've walked past that pool!

I wouldn't be able to walk past it without diving in.....

I'm prob gonna die from radiation or some shit but I'm in the ocean like every other day

OMG that is so amazing.

living the dream imo

xp
i want to swim in all these pools and oceans and lakes

just in case i haven't made that clear enough already

nice taunt ass flying into the sea

Probably not worth a trip to Laos, but wow this swimming hole tucked away near Laung Prabang....

Too beautiful.

http://twistedsifter.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/natural-infinity-pool-tat-kuang-si-waterfall-luang-prabang-in-laos.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Kuang_Si_Waterfalls_Luang_Prabang-Laos_%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%81%AE%E6%BB%9D_DSCF6486.jpg/800px-Kuang_Si_Waterfalls_Luang_Prabang-Laos_%E3%83%A9%E3%82%AA%E3%82%B9%E3%83%BB%E3%83%AB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%83%91%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A2%E3%83%B3%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%81%AE%E6%BB%9D_DSCF6486.jpg

I'm just gonna post this on multiple threads cause it rules that much. This dog likes swimming and is otm in my estimation:

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5tvp7cwMh1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg

Trying to work out where that dog is. Kenya or Uganda maybe?

dog knows how to live

^ The other thread I posted it on. :)

haha! :)

My fave bartender!

And to think for all these years I've called on dogs only to fetch tennis balls.....

I spent a summer swimming here while in Ithaca
http://www.footprintpress.com/Waterfalls/Ithaca_Falls2.jpg

Anyone else miss swimming? I used to swim 1-4 times a week and not being able to is really getting to me lately.

yep not been since feb 4th and I have had multiple dreams about swimming, usually quite frustrating dreams where there is a pool - but I can't swim in it! Going swimming back in the old world of some reasonable levels of safe precedence and tedious routine seems like a golden era to me now.

Yup. I used to go at least twice a week and am getting somewhat upset about it now - especially as the weather heats up.

Totally. Beach will probably reopen by late summer (2-1/2 hour drive) and I can stay 6ft away from everyone else even if nobody else does.

It's the thing I miss most and my back is a rickety mess without it.

Also dream about it often. There's an odd chap who swims at the same pool occasionally but he only does lengths along the bottom. Scared the shit out of me the first time I saw him. It dawned on me, as I was looking down on him, that most flying dreams are actually swimming dreams.

I've found my level of physical anxiety and jitters really growing over the last couple of weeks, and I think it's being cut off from swimming for so long that's doing it. Swimming's always been really calming for me, and it keeps me from having weird pains and palpitations and other physical anxiety symptoms. Now they're coming back. I keep having fantasies of buying a swim spa, one of those things like hot tubs but with a current, but I don't have the money.

I didn't take a vacation (beach or other) last year, and I'm really sorry I didn't. My aunt suggested renting a house on the Outer Banks for a couple of weeks in September, and I'm hoping public health will permit this.

It's the thing I miss most and my back is a rickety mess without it.

this, and also Lily's general point about anxiety. swimming just removed all physical anxiety from my body - for about ten years now between march and november i've swum in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, which is open for club swimmers between 5 and 10am, and you can swim out in the main bit rather than just the water, and it was always a moment of grace before the turbulence and strife of the day started.

https://i.imgur.com/kmog0Nz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Abl5nTu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qaiOTRA.jpg

First swim in 14 months this evening. God but I'd not realised how much I missed it. I was surprised that I was able to do 30 lengths relatively straightforwardly but I'm sure I'll pay for it tomorrow.
High preponderance of snorkel users in there. Is that weird or is it was me?

I wanted to pop a wasp down there.

covid-proof, innit?

xp

Oh I guess it could be that aye. I think they're sometimes used by triathletes - to focus on building arm strength. So it goes.

I was just kidding really, but who knows?

I did find this:

https://www.stateofswimming.com/olympic-swimmers-must-wear-full-face-scuba-mask-snorkel-in-tokyo-2020-warm-up-pool-to-mitigate-covid-risks/

I'm missing swimming sorely but not going anywhere the fuck near the local pool for a long while tbh. Purely in a not now "Indian variant" spirit of fear and paranoia. Last time I've been swimming was 04/02/20 ffs - really really miss it badly.

I'm in a weird place with my swimming right now. I learned to swim as an adult about ten years ago, and I did a couple years of conditioning swim classes, but I haven't had access to a class since then. Lately it's been taking me a minute to swim a 50-yard lap, and if I just chug along for a mile, it takes me about 40 minutes, which comes out to 2:13/100. I figured this was just me being naturally slow/lazy and didn't worry much about it. I had no problem just going to the pool and swimming a mile, and I figured that was probably doing me some good even if my form wasn't perfect.

Then I started paying attention to my form, and I've had this epiphany that I actually completely suck. I'm lifting my head way more than I realized when breathing; instead of keeping my chin tucked and my body straight and my head aligned with my body and only rolling until half my face is out of the water, I've been doing this prolonged roll to the side, then turning my head even more till my whole face is out of the water and taking a nice slow breath. This makes my hips sink, hurts my lower back, throws off my rhythm so I have to rush my next stroke, and slows me way down.

So I started trying to correct it - really focusing on engaging the core, keeping the whole body straight, keeping the head down - and it's like I'm learning to swim all over again. Now that I can't just coast along on my side breathing to my heart's content in the middle of a stroke, I'm realizing I never developed the proper breath control, and I'm getting winded and having to stop after every 50 to pant for air. But I am also swimming each 50 in 50 seconds without really trying.

So this is a really fascinating, motivating, but also frustrating place to be in. It sucks to all of a sudden not be able to swim a damn 200, when a couple weeks ago I could swim a mile no problem. And it's frustrating that having identified the problem, I can't just instantly fix it; I have to go through the learning process over again, and then I presumably have to ramp up my endurance little by little, just like I did when I first learned. But it's also cool to think that if I stick with this, I could actually get better at this thing that I've been enthusiastically mediocre at for a decade.

That's an encouraging post actually. I don't have advice I could give but it sounds like you are getting there by yourself.

I'm also largely self-taught - I knew the breaststroke and decided one winter to teach myself to crawl. It was a slow and fascinating learning process. My level appeared decent as long as you don't compare it to the "proper swimmers": I can be "fast" for 50 meters, I cannot do much more than 200 either, so I tend to alternate the laps between breaststroke and crawl, and I definitely need more time for a km.

I should try to focus on the technique again. I always thought it was more powerful / economical arm moves that get you to that magical pace where you can feel the speed underwater and where you could bump your head at the end if not paying attention, but actually the transition between "cycles" is probably even more important for not losing tempo / momentum.

Funnily, I always assumed humans were grossly inadapted for water, but it turns out we're actually in the stronger swimmers as far as land mammals go.

Oh and I've been in that pond near Luang Prabang posted upthread :)