I can't swim, as in, I just sort of... sink. Why is this?

[GingerbreadTeapot]

I've never ever been able to swim. I just don't float? I also hate getting water in my nose which won't have helped especially when I was a child but that aside, I cannot swim.

I had terms and terms of lessons as a child, my parents paid for intensive holiday courses, the works. I used to dream that I could swim, about bobbing around swimmily in the deep end.

As an adult I had some lessons with a friend of a friend who was a swimming teacher. She insisted beforehand that everyone can swim, but after a month or so agreed that I'm not very bouyant. I just bloody sink. I cannot float. I don't understand!

I'm 5ft 7 ish, hourglass type shape but with smallish boobs, and a 12-14 but weigh more than I look like I should if that makes sense? Could I maybe have very dense bones or something?

You're not relaxed enough. To float your have to allow your body to just drift with the water. It's a technique you need to practice.

Same for swimming - although you're swimming and moving your limbs, you can't be too tense or you won't float.

Try having swimming lessons.

even elephants can swim.. so i doubt it's anything to do with weight or bone density.
u have to be at certain angles to float are you maybe just not confident and so not getting into the right positions and staying stretched out, long /calm /face down to the water ?

Low body fat.

I float super easily, I’m sure it’s because I have high body fat, even though I’m not ‘big’

I'm the same OP. I just sink.

Same OP, we have similar body type too

You can swim, you just keep telling yourself you can’t. The first thing that came to mind when you said you don’t like water up your nose is you are holding your head up. When you do that your legs drop and that is not helping at all. Your legs need to be up in line with your head that needs to be face down in the water so that your body is almost horizontal to the surface of the water. There is obviously more to it than that but if you could get someone to film you you could see what you are doing and then correct it. I know filming is not allowed everywhere.

DH sinks as well. He does not have low body fat and is relaxed in water, but he just sinks.

I am super buoyant and have trouble standing up sometimes, my legs just don’t want to go down.

We have often wondered why, but I am so grateful to him that he will be fish food before me when we capsize on a cruise that he wants to go on and I don’t!

Need to relax ( i’m the same) I can float on my back but not on my front. My seimming instructor has said I need to work harder as I have less body fat but I can float if I am not tense...

Some people are definitely less buoyant than others but I have no idea why

I'm a floater myself and have a similar body type to you OP so that doesn't help with an explanation I'm afraid!

DH is the same. He just can’t float, and the most he achieves is a splashy doggy paddle. I take the piss out of him on holiday by floating next to him serenely. I am twelve stone of fat bastard and he is a ten stone fitness freak. This is all I have over him, sport and fitness wise. I can swim. He sinks.

I can't swim either and have had tons of lessons. I can't co-ordinate myself anyway but it doesn't matter because I sink too. I definitely don't have low body fat

Sorry I should have clarified my body fat theory is completely my own, no idea if it holds any water (boom boom) in science

It's telling that you say you don't want to get water in your nose. This probably means that you are keeping your face/head clear of the water, so your shape in the water will be all wrong (sloping downwards) and this is why you are sinking.

Have you tried floating on your back? Do you sink? Are your ears under the water? Ears in the water is the easiest way to learn to float on your back.

As a PP mentioned you need to be able to relax in the water before you will make much progress. Have you been shown how to stand up in the water, (shallow end) so that when you feel in trouble you know you can always stand up straight away...Learning how to stand up could make you more confident so then you will relax more.

I kid my dad that he’s like a ball bearing when he swims he can, but normally he just sinks straight down!

I am very bouyant though. I could sleep in a warm pool in the sun.

Even a very fit and toned woman will usually have higher body fat than a just averagely fit man, so low body fat really can‘t be the reason. Professional swimmers are all muscle and very little fat, btw.

You aren’t relaxed enough.
If you tense up you sink
Any muscle that is tense will pull you under
Try relaxing in the bath and floating your legs up like they are being lifted by bubbles underneath

I'm guessing professional swimmers have very low body fat 😂 they seem to manage

I swim like a brick 🤷🏼‍♀️

Something you could try in summer is to find an open water swimming centre that will rent you a wetsuit. They give you a bit of extra buoyancy that might help you relax. Go with someone who knows what they're doing, though, OW is a different skill to indoors. Swimmer's wetsuits are designed for crawl, though, you'll not get far with breaststroke.

You could also try a leg float - it's shaped like a figure 8 and helps your legs to float more. As deste says, chances are you're not putting your head down enough. A mistake many people make is to breathe around their swimming, rather than to swim around their breathing - I see so many people trying to either breathe on every stroke, flailing their head from side to side; or trying to do twenty strokes on one breath. Bilateral (every three strokes, alternating sides) is ideal to minimise strain on your neck, but it takes work.

Dd loves water and can swim but cannot float, we have tested this extensively.

She is totally relaxed and has no issues getting her head wet.

When trying to float she sinks to the bottom of the pool in a v shape bum first and then remains serenely flat on the bottom till she runs out of air.

I float so much my legs bob out of the water.

We are both the same height and slim build.

Love to know why.

I think some people assume that floating means you are completely on top of the water. Once you accept that most of you will be under the waterline (and focus on keeping your nose/mouth in the air), it goes better iyswim.

I'm very floaty, probably hot air.

Try floating on your back, ears under water but imagine you are pushing your tummy button to the sky. Let your arms go limp.

Going into a V shape will make you sink as PPs have said.

My Dh can't float either and I thought he was just being daft.
It turns out his natural buoyancy is about 6" under the surface of the water.
When we went scuba diving he needed a small amount of weights adding to make him sink. I needed over twice as many weights to make me sink.

I have since deduced some people just can't float however alien it seems to me compared to my experiences. He can swim but it is a constant fight against sinking; whilst I can swim by just moving a little as I am floating out of the water already and the actions of swimming just propel me along.

I hate water up my nose as I have a hole in my septum and it really irritates me so I have my head out the water most of the time.

I have discovered recently that if you go under the water and gently exhale out your mouth by sticking your bottom lip out and blow gently into your nose it creates an airlock and prevents water getting in. This was a revelation.
Good luck, you may just be a sinker and have to accept that.

If you are getting water in your nose that suggests you are holding your breath when under the water. Don't. If your head is under water when swimming breath out, then when you need air turn your head to the side and breath in.

I think it’s about acceptance and relaxation too. I could float forever and it’s just sheer arsed self belief and laziness!