Swimming, why? Why not?

[Cyril Haearn]

I have not been swimming for many years, want to try it again
Does it go well with cycling?* Could one forget how to swim? I had a swimming campaign many years ago, did more each week, then I got muscle cramps
Whatabout temperature, whatabout diseases one might catch from the water?

* The pool is very near home, I can walk there

[Carlton green]

I have not been swimming for many years, want to try it again
Does it go well with cycling?* Could one forget how to swim? I had a swimming campaign many years ago, did more each week, then I got muscle cramps
Whatabout temperature, whatabout diseases one might catch from the water?

* The pool is very near home, I can walk there

Before a change in circumstances swimming used to be part of my keep fit activities together with using a gym complete with exercise bikes, I’d spend a couple of hours there. Swimming and the other exercises (so including cycling) seemed to compliment each other. When it’s too dark, or too cold or too wet for you to cycle then swimming is something that you can do to help you maintain some general fitness (ready for cycling again later).

I’ve had some long gaps between periods of regular swimming, I didn’t forget how to swim but instead just got a little less skilful in pushing myself through the water.

Some pools are colder than others and some folk are more temperate sensitive than others. Once you’re in the pool you either will or will not warm up with the exercise. IIRC pool water temperature is monitored so you could ask the folk running it about their pool’s water temperature. There are also some pools, perhaps out of season Lidos, where it’s ok to use a form of wet suit.

Spread of disease in pools is ‘prevented’ by chlorination and filtration of the water, etc. Most pools ask you to shower before entering (so swimmers reduce adding dirt and disease to the water) and you can shower on leaving too (to reduce your own risks of taking something unwanted home with you). As far as I can see Pools are run as clean, hygienic and safe places.

Planning for the future is good, but as far as I’m aware there are no Swimming Pools open during the current health crisis. I’ve had relatives with weight and/or joint problems, they have found Swimming very helpful because it is a non weight bearing form of exercise that is both open to them and that they feel socially comfortable to do. Pick your time at the pool because they can be both very busy and sometimes they reserve part of the pool for lane swimming exercise as opposed to free for all ‘splashing about’.

[PT1029]

I used to swim twice a week, but for various reasons do not manage it now, only occasionally.
I find swimming good for 2 reasons,
1. It gives the upper body some good exercise.
2. It is good for the lungs. Even when cycling fit*, if I go swimming after a long gap of not swimming, after a (swift) length of the pool, I'm gasping. After a few weeks I won't be gasping until after a few consecutive lengths.
Temperature varies, warm is nice, but cool/cold is a lot more invigorating, gets the endorphins going (and thus good for depression apparently**). The best swimming I have ever done is cycling in a cold river or lake, wish I could do this more, but it is the muddy Thames around here, not so enticing as a clear stream or lake.
If swimming in lakes/rivers temps you as an idea, search "wild swimming".

*Cycling fit means utility cycling plus ~50 miles on a Sunday and doing the occasional 80 - 100 miles without difficulty.
** Cold swimming was suggested by a friend for my partner (suffers from depression), I suggested I'd chuck her in the river!

[jimlews]

For many reasons to swim, I recommend you read Waterlog by Roger Deakin.

His simple premise is to swim the length and breadth of the British Isles. Wild swimming in ponds, rivers & estuaries. Inspirational.

[Jdsk]

Spread of disease in pools is ‘prevented’ by chlorination and filtration of the water, etc. Most pools ask you to shower before entering (so swimmers reduce adding dirt and disease to the water) and you can shower on leaving too (to reduce your own risks of taking something unwanted home with you). As far as I can see Pools are run as clean, hygienic and safe places.

It varies. It's known how to keep them safe, but it depends on humans.

"Recreational water illnesses" are quite common eg https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/swimming/swimmers/rwi.html

Jonathan

[gbnz]

Does it go well with cycling?* Could one forget how to swim? :

While a regular cyclist and gym user, I'd never been a "swimmer" and by 2017 hadn't been in a pool for 32 years. Despite routinely lifting weights and doing intensive cardio, the first few sessions were hard. But found the pool was incredible; within weeks was doing an hour per session, 4-5 occ's per week, it proving to be the case that swimming really does exercise every muscle in the body

That said, having access to a decent pool helps

[reohn2]

In the present circumstances are there any swimming pools open?

[Cugel]

In the present circumstances are there any swimming pools open?

The Sea doesn't have too many notices on it saying "closed". Of course, you risk a police patrol boat pulling up beside you as you crawl across a bay from one prominintory to another. .....

"'Ello, 'ello, 'ello. Unapproved swimming which carries a penalty of castigation by social media. (Keep still whilst I get this video camera working). Wait'll they see this in the CUK forum"!

Meanwhile, several drug-smuggley boats pass by in the distance and someone without even a Tory license fraks up an undersea SSI a couple of hundred yards away.

Mind, that virus might be a good swimmer so you could transmit it as far as Boston (if you're swimming at St Ives) or Norway (if you are unwise enough to have taken your plunge in the North Sea).

Cugel

[reohn2]

Cugel
I was thinking more of the OP's geographical position,which AFAIA is central Germany and given his some what nesh disposition wouldn't feel upto with lake or river swimming,though I could be wrong about that though.

[Carlton green]

Should anyone be inclined to do any open water swimming then please take appropriate safety measures for your own protection and the protection of others (who might get hurt trying to help you or indirectly suffer). Initially temperature was my main concern, even in Summer cold water swimming can be a killer. Physical hazards sometimes lie hidden under the surface and some water has biological hazards too. Additionally the Sea can be hazardous in many ways and certainly tides and currents help kill swimmers each year. Whatever, virtually all of us have done some form of open water swimming at some time or other, so it’s really a case of identification and management of hazards.

I doubt that the OP had any thought of using anything other than a swimming pool and would be cautious too but maybe others reading later might have different ideas. Be safe and be happy.

[fullupandslowingdown]

CC is right, inland water can be very dangerous to swim in, especially the water filled gravel pit type lake. Each year people die because the water temperature is unexpectedly very low.

Seeing as the virologists say the bugs actually prefer dry air to hang around in, and in humid air, the bug gets wetted and falls quickly to the ground, and seeing as indoor pools have chlorine, me thinks pools could have been one utility that was kept open subject of course to strict swishing distancing rules. My local pool has lane swim sessions, you have 4 pairs of lanes, lane one designated the slowest lane, lane four for champs only. And you just keep swimming up one half and down the other half. Seeing as the bug isn't supposed to be passed on via eating and drinking either. Just a thought.

[axel_knutt]

Could one forget how to swim?

Yes.

I tried a bit of swimming a couple of years ago after a break of about 30 years, and did as I always used to: get changed, walk up to the deep end, and jump in. I nearly didn't come back up again. It took an hour or two to get my agility in the water back.

It didn't last, I gave up again due to the same ear trouble that stopped me in the first place.

[Bonefishblues]

In a public pool? Not keen on waving about in others' excrescences. I'm out, and staying out.

[cyclop]

. The best swimming I have ever done is cycling in a cold river or lake, Aye,how would that work then

[T-800]

I have a very good friend up in the Lake District and she's an open water swimmer.She swims in all weathers and swears by it.I have not yet,despite being a decent swimmer,been persuaded to join her.She Swim/walks too.She'll set off from a point,swim across a lake then go up into the Fells.She also favours Tarn swimming.I've paddled in some of the Mountain Tarns and even in Summer they're freezing!!!!

If I do swim it's in a nice warm indoor pool.