Swimming essentials

[Spicykitten]

I’ve just started going swimming at my local leisure centre. What are your swimming essentials? In hope that I haven’t forgotten anything!

Swimsuit
Dock and Bay towel
Goggles
Wash bag (with shampoo, conditioner, body wash and body puff.
Hair ties
£1 coin for locker

Swim shampoo- I use Paul Mitchell no 3. Chlorine can wreck your hair. Also a good conditioner. And a wet bag/ carrier bag to put your wet towel and costume in.

You may find you have this problem with all swim headphones, from what I've found they are all basically mp3 players that require you to download and store the file on the device itself.

There's ways round it, you can buy music on apple, then convert the file from apple format to mp3, or buy and download from Amazon, which if I remember correctly is already in an mp3 format, you could borrow CDs from friends and rip them onto your laptop then put them on your player.

So not to create another swimming thread (never sure where to post to reach the swimmers) what does everyone think of the SWOLF score- I only just found mine today and from googling it seems quite poor, and I'm now keen to improve it which I suppose is a good motivator.

If you swim 25m lengths- what is your SWOLF ?

DD used to be a competitive swimmer it was very impressive watching the older teen boys, they would dive in, glide 1/3 of the pool or so and only use about 6 strokes to get to the other end. It all seemed to be about head positioning and ability to glide without stroking too soon it was really quite elegant.

Swimmer for 45 years and never heard of that!

google tells me it’s some fancy calculation of speed vs number of strokes, so basically puts a number on efficiency.

the main way to improve it is technique. The better your technique the further you will go per stroke. If your technique is poor you’re relying on strength which won’t make much difference as you’ll have to increase your stroke rate to speed up.

get some lessons, or have a look at drills to maximise your stroke length. Catch ups, push and glide, arms only with pull bouys etc. try doing a set where you only do a set number of strokes and keeping to it, regardless of speed.

lots you can do but if you don’t “know” swimming best to get someone to advise on technique. It’s almost impossible to say how someone can improve this sort of thing without seeing how they swim.

Thanks, I do plan to get some lessons maybe in the spring when work is less manic. I'm hoping as I lose weight I will be faster, based on not dragging as much weight through the water. Will take a look at pull buoys. I don't know why but find them quite intimidating- only seen the super fast swimmers in the fast lane use them so assumed they were for competitive swimming. I flit between slow lane and medium lane depending on how tired I am.

Pull buoys are just for strengthening your arms, you hold them between your legs to keep you afloat and level so your hips don't twist. You don't need to go fast when using them. Kick board is for the opposite so you strengthen your legs

Also useful for rehab, which is mainly why I have one. I'm recovering from a strained piriformis (how can one tiny muscle cause so much mayhem?....) and use a pull buoy for some of my lengths to rest my bum muscles.

Jesus. All I take is a towel and some knickers.
Costume on under clothes, hair scraped back ready to go. Quick rinse in the shower after and hop back in the car to go home and shower in peace

A year or so ago mine was around 37 I think? Not sure now as I haven’t swum properly in ages due to having a baby. Need to get back to it!

All of the obvious stuff plus:

Hair tie
Nose clip
Thick moisturiser (blue pot Nivea)
Warm hoodie
Money for hot chocolate
Sun glasses to cover goggle face

Never heard of SWOLF. Must look into that.

At the grand old age of 50, after a lifetime of swimming with my head out of the water, I’ve finally embarked on lessons to learn how to swim properly. It’s amazing! I wish I’d done it years ago, as it’s made a huge difference. Surprisingly hard to change old habits though - I’m finding the breathing particularly difficult.

It’s a lovely supportive group of adult swimmers and a very patient, encouraging teacher. I was on the waiting list for two years, so if you’re thinking of doing this, get your name down asap. I can’t recommend it enough.

Me too, @VenusClapTrap I've started adult lessons recently too so I can learn how to swim with my head under water! I'm getting there but you're right, it is hard to undo bad habits.

I take everything and the kitchen sink because I hate to forget anything and I go straight out afterwards so need to be fully done. It's a 10 min walk to the pool lugging a huge bag but I think of it as part of the work out 😁

To the person who said they take a razor - ew please don't. 😳

Essentials for me:

Hand towel to stand on - a MUST - gets washed every time
Hair turban
Very large towel (doesn't touch the floor, washed every third time)
Wet bag for swimming costume afterwards
Thick face moisturiser cos the chlorine burn is real!
Prescription goggles - absolute game changer

@NessaSmith why no razor? I end up showering more at the gym than I do at home if I'm going 4 times a week, I se no issue shaving my legs in the shower - there's no ew about it.

Do you definitely need a coin for the locker? First time I went to the new one near me I discovered I needed a padlock for the locker and because I was over a barrel I had to buy the one they conveniently sell!

Yep! Definitely

It varies. I think public baths are more likely to have coin lockers and gyms expect you to bring a padlock.

Hard agree re the yuckiness of bringing a razor to the pool. The showers are there to get clean before you swim and get rid of the chlorine afterwards. They are not an extension of one's bathroom.

But I talked this over with a RL friend who swims and she doesn't have a problem with it.

re towels- I always use decathlon swim towels- they’re like microfibre “leathers”, very thin, but very effective. Quick drying, no tumble dry etc. fold up very small.

when dd was swimming I had about 14. One per session- one because she could dry herself, then stand on it to dress. In one particular training pool the floor (and everything else tbh) was grim.

i’d wash them all on her day off on Monday.

i now use them when I go swimming/for showers at work and they’re much easier.

The two things I forget most often are a complete set of underwear and my hairbrush.

Other than that I just take a sports towel, shampoo/shower gel, goggles, cap, moisturiser/makeup. Padlock for my locker.

Been swimming regularly for a good 45 years and have never needed anything more than the above. I leave my daily contacts in and have a pair of goggles (Zoggs) with a very good seal.

Once when I forgot my towel, a random stranger offered me hers (the days when there was still a communal changing room), I declined! Have had to dry off using a bit of spare clothing many times.

This is a good idea tbh!!

Can you tumble dry them

Re razor use

at my private gym with a cubicle and privacy I would and did use a razor

In a communal council pool showering in a cossie and pressing the button every 10 second -nope!

There’s no point tumble drying them imo. They dry very quickly- I hang them outside in summer to get some UV decontamination, or on a rack in winter and they’re dry in a few hours.

i think the label says not to but I have shoved them in the dryer in the past and they’ve been fine.

Yeah I was going to suggest headphones too. Mine were generic unbranded ones, bone conduction over ear headphones. They're amazing! Hold loads of music, last quite a long time between charges. I wouldn't be without them!

My top tip with drying towels post swimming. I swim in the morning then go about my day so often my kit is in a bag in the car all day. I use the hanger things on the doors in the back of the car along with a clippy coat hanger to hang up my towel and swimsuit (pool has a suit wringer so it's not drippy) then whack the heat on high while I'm driving. I reuse towel and suit a couple of times before washing so don't want it sitting wet for hours and getting stinky in my bag.