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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Adults playing in the gym swimming pool

67 replies

Home77 · 07/02/2019 20:08

Is this some kind of 'thing'. I embarrassed myself by panicking (as I thought one had drowned) turns out they were doing some breathing thing. (underwater holding on to the bottom of the ladder). There are also ones who have full flippers, mask and gloves things, they are annoying as they take up a whole lane made for two. Today there was even one turning slow somersaults up and down the lane! - the one I was in and agin it took up the whole thing and was most disconcerting while swimming lengths as didn't know if they were going to 'pop up'!

This is an adult only gym pool and there is a sign saying about generally it being for well, swimming lengths, is in not reasonable to expect people to, well do that and not all this weird stuff? Confused

OP posts:
Somethingsmellsnice · 07/02/2019 20:11

Were they doing a discover scuba class?

PawPawNoodle · 08/02/2019 00:53

Gosh, imagine adults having fun !

Fluffyears · 08/02/2019 00:58

Were they using gender appropriate changing rooms?

BlackCatSleeping · 08/02/2019 01:04

Our pool is divided up, so a lane for fast swimmers, a lane for slower swimmers and a lane for pool walkers, then an area for free swimming/playing. Maybe make a suggestion for something like that at your pool?

JasperKarat · 08/02/2019 01:07

@BlackCatSleeping pool walkers? What happens when they get to the deep end?!

budgetneeded · 08/02/2019 01:20

i witnessed pool walking just the other day! the fellow had on a life vest that went around his waist. and he walked/jogged in an upright position back and forth in the pool. i presume good cardio.
the holding breath and doing stuff under water might be "free diving" practice.

Treble9 · 08/02/2019 01:38

Don't get me started on swimming ettiquette.

There is nothing more annoying than people getting in the way or refusing to move over to let faster swimmers past. Pay attention to the signs and go in the correct lane. If someone has lapped you multiple times you're in the wrong lane!

SapphireSeptember · 08/02/2019 01:40

I wish swimming pools would do inflatables/floats sessions for adults, ditto with soft play. I'd be all over that like a rash!

SneakyGremlins · 08/02/2019 01:42

@SapphireSeptember suggest it to the manager!

SapphireSeptember · 08/02/2019 02:08

Good idea! I will, thanks. Smile I've just sent an email to my local leisure centre. Grin If that doesn't work I'll have to borrow a small child from one of my friends.

melj1213 · 08/02/2019 02:14

Gosh, imagine adults having fun !

There's a time and a place for mucking about in a swimming pool and a gym pool that is set up for actual lane swimming is not it.

OP YANBU - the pool at my gym has a section that is permanently cordoned off for lane swimming. Also it is part of the gym rules that fins/flippers etc are not allowed in the pool (unless it is part of a private class or scuba club session) as they can cause injuries to other swimmers and the pool is just not big enough to warrant their use.

When there are kids or adults swimming lessons/water aerobics classes etc the lane is still available for those who want to swim laps. Anyone who was preventing others from swimming - doing somersaults, blocking the lane while holding their breath underwater etc - would be asked to leave the lane, and there are signs clearly stating the area is for lane swimming only.

When there isn't a class, the lane is still cordoned off for people to swim laps but the rest of the pool is available for general swimming/walking/exercising etc. Anyone who was mucking about in the lane would be asked to move to the "general pool area" and if they didn't then they would be asked to leave.

I would have a word with the gym staff and ask them to either put up posters to generally remind people that lane swimming sessions are for that and not mucking about or, the next time someone is mucking about and preventing you from swimming, I would be getting out and finding the nearest staff member and asking them to speak to the other "swimmers". At my gym the pool is unsupervised but staff members are always walking in and out of the pool area and there are huge windows and a door that leads right out to the reception desk.

FrustratedTeddyLamp · 08/02/2019 02:29

Most pools that I've been in have had sections for lanes and then open sections, if you're in an open section of course you can still do lengths but you have to anticipate and accept that there may be others that just want to fuck around a bit, and i don't see why they shouldn't.

BreakfastAtSquiffanys · 08/02/2019 05:18

Sounds like a scuba class

BikeRunSki · 08/02/2019 05:30

@JasparKarat - I imagine the pool had a flat floor.

MrsDrSpencerReid · 08/02/2019 05:35

Our pool has signs up for each lane saying closed for lessons, lap swimmers only and then the last one or sometimes two lanes open for general use. Maybe ask if your pool could do something like this?

swingofthings · 08/02/2019 05:48

There's always going to be issue with different swimmers having different needs. I had to laugh though about the flipping at the end of lane, that's what good competitive swimmers do, nothing to do with fun!

My pet hate as someone who does 100 lengths of front crawl are those who use a lane for very leisurely slow swim, head never in the water who could therefore easily swim in the non lane area. However I appreciate that this is only etiquette, not rules. I have just worked out the time when I can expect to have a lane for myself or only share with one other.

Original poster
Home77 · 08/02/2019 09:07

No, it's not a scuba class. It's in normal sessions in the gym. there are signs saying to swim lanes and if more than 2 to swim clockwise. I wondered if it was a new fitness craze or something. the one who seemed to be stuck at the bottom of the pool really scared me, he was kind of stuck under the bottom of the ladder, and the pool was empty.

I even asked this man in the sauna to help, (thought the man had passed out or something in the pool) and that man jumped in to rescue the guy, he was fine, he was just under there, well holding his breath I suppose Confused

It's not a big pool and membership not cheap, and it is annoying if one person takes up a whole lane meant for two, as then it means others are more crammed in.

And don;t get me started on the really annoying loud swimming instructor person who has started doing private lessons taking up a whole lane also, to non- members! We already have a petition going to move him out to a better time when it is quieter! Wink (not me the other members, the retired ones mainly who go in the morning.

OP posts:
Original poster
Home77 · 08/02/2019 09:08

There is no free / leisure area, it's all lanes. they do all this stuff in the lanes.

OP posts:
EmeraldShamrock · 08/02/2019 09:13

How dare they have fun.
Isn't the pool separated into lanes, some have specific times.
I enjoy pool walking, it makes your legs feel so strong, I never learnt to swim I have terrible coordination. I don't particularly like people speed swimming in all the lanes but it is a pool and we're all entitled to enjoy it.

Original poster
Home77 · 08/02/2019 09:18

Nope, it is a fitness pool not a leisure pool and it is all lanes. the leisure pool has a leisure section though. People pool waling is Ok, they usually don;t take up a whole lane though and just go in with someone swimming. It's been quite busy recently after Christmas and we're noticing it more I think. There are 3 lanes, (2 people in each) so if one of these takes up a whole lane, there's only room for 4 others to swim easily lengths.

OP posts:
PettyContractor · 08/02/2019 09:24

I wish swimming pools would do inflatables/floats sessions for adults

I was looking forward to taking DD to what appeared to be such a session in the main Olympic pool at Stratford, last summer holiday. It turns out that it wasn't free play, there was an inflatable obstacle course that you queued to use, and you weren't actually allowed to be in the water except for the purpose of being in transit between the side of the pool and the inflatable course.

It could have been fun, but apparently H&S is more important than that.

When I was growing up, public pools didn't have lifeguards. People didn't drown on a weekly basis. Surprisingly, most adults with the mental capacity to get themselves to a public pool understood that if they couldn't swim, there would be bad consequences to trying to stand in the part of the pool where the water would cover their head, so they didn't do it.

Sukochicha · 08/02/2019 09:32

I wish swimming pools would do inflatables/floats sessions for adults, ditto with soft play. I'd be all over that like a rash!

@SapphireSeptember I give you:

Adults 'late' float session at Brockwell Lido
thenudge.com/london-things-to-do/brockwell-lido-lates/

However it was bloody impossible to get tickets for that last summer.

Adult softplay / inflatable at manchester
www.inflatanation.com/locations/manchester/

Bounce and a bogie (and cocktail) at a trampoline park for adults only
zapspace.co.uk/jump-n-jam

Sukochicha · 08/02/2019 09:34

Ohm also @SapphireSeptember RoughRunner is the DOGS BOLLOCKS and I have had the BEST days out doing the 10k and super fun muddy inflatable obstacles.

roughrunner.com/obstacles/

CatnissEverdene · 08/02/2019 09:36

I left a gym that had a great pool because you couldn't ever swim in it Hmm People would jump straight into the pool from the steam room and sauna and then just stand around talking. They didn't have the decency to move for those trying to actually swim......

I complained about 4 times, nothing changed, then left.

TheOrigBrave · 08/02/2019 09:43

I have no issue with all the things you mention per se (flippers, somersaults etc), but if the pool is meant for lane swimming then they are absolutely wrong. Tell the lifeguard to sort it out.

Or just tell them "the pool is for lane swimming".