to think swimming pool = swimming?

[thevassal]

I love swimming. The pools by me have been closed or as good as throughout the pandemic and have only recently opened, which is great however has caused me to remember how annoying other people are!

I should clarify that I always go to a session called 'swimming for fitness' which is described as 'lane swimming for competent swimmers aged 11 plus.' The pool is set up only in lanes with signs saying what directions to swim in etc. There are lots of other sessions for families and general 'swim for all,' etc. which I tend to avoid.

AIBU to think if you are attending a swim session clearly marketed as swimming for fitness you should spend most of the time, well, swimming, and following the rules of the session, not standing chatting at the ends, floating aimlessly, glaring at people who overtake you, walking up and down, ignoring the 'clockwise/anticlockwise' 'slow/fast' directions and just swimming determinedly in "your" half of a lane at whatever speed you fancy, clearly not showering before entry so the whole pool can smell your stale smoke/overpowering perfume, etc etc. Or am I BU to expect too much from a public pool (unfortunately I cant afford to pay for my own, that would be the lottery winning dream!)

@Passthepepper lane swimming is for lane swimmers. The clue's in the name 🙄

@Myothercarisalsoshit

I am relatively new to lane swimming, swim breaststroke and don't like putting my face in the water. I always choose the slow lane and take regular (short) rests for stretching etc. Not everyone is confident and goign around huffing and puffing, tutting and splashing might just put off less proficient swimmers. Not really fair, that. Also - why the digs about unfit, bigger people in non - speedo costumesfrom PPs? y You just sound bitchy and superior.

I think the only person who mentioned speedos was me but I didn’t mean it that way at all. If anything it was more a dig at the ones who are wearing Speedos - I was thinking about this thread while I was at the pool this evening and confirmed my observation that the fast lane was 100% made up of MAMIL types! (And no women at all) whereas the other two lanes were more of a mixture. I wear a tummy control swimsuit from M&S

Our pool has lanes for swimming, marked as “slow lane”, “medium” and “fast Lane”, then there a members only Lane and a “friends lane”, the friends lane is where people go to chat or not swim(it’s the size of 2 lanes).

@chocolatesaltyballs22
at my pool, my money is as good as yours, my fitness journey as valued as yours, I stick in the slow lane jogging and walking, I’m glad I don’t know anyone as unpleasant and judgemental as you in real life. Just remember to keep well and I hope you never need to recover from serious illness.

@chocolatesaltyballs22 The only options in our pool are lanes or kids lessons. I don't blame people who need to jog in water for booking lanes. Where are all the regular splash/swim sessions?

Apologies @PattyPan
I too favour the tummy control with a bit of ruching for good measure!

@chocolatesaltyballs22

Am completely with you. My personal pet hate is those who 'jog' up and down the pool. I mean, why??

Because some poor buggers have joint issues, arthritis, bone cancer etc and need to exercise in water to take the pressure off their joints.

@BlettedMedlar you can buy prescription goggles for about £20.

To be honest I’d prioritise the joggers and walkers over the fitness swimmers. For the former, it might be their only exercise options and really important for health, the old ladies nattering might be getting valuable social time which is equally beneficial. The hardcore swimmers could probably do running etc as alternatives.

[quote Passthepepper]@chocolatesaltyballs22
at my pool, my money is as good as yours, my fitness journey as valued as yours, I stick in the slow lane jogging and walking, I’m glad I don’t know anyone as unpleasant and judgemental as you in real life. Just remember to keep well and I hope you never need to recover from serious illness.[/quote]
Well said!

Swimming Pool is a Name of Two Halves - 'Swimming' and 'Pool' - so you take your luck really that when you go the other people are Pooling or Swimming.

I've never been a big fan of Public Indoor Pools, but their other name was The Baths, and I remember the very excellent, deep, hot bath I had at Reigate Pool as recently as the early 1980s.

YANBU

This sounds like a Better Gym with its lane swimming for fitness booking in system.
IMO your being completely unreasonable no ones forcing you to swim in the slow lane and if your swimming game was strong then you really wouldn’t be distracted by what others do.
You have 40-50 minutes to swim how others swim and what they do in the pool is up to them not you.
Crack on with your own swimming head down and focus on yourself,not others it’s good for life in general.
Personally I think that pavements should be for walking on not buggies or people who stop and chat with each other or cycling or dancing but I don’t moan about it 🤣

@CarnationCat

I want to start going swimming soon for fitness and this would drive me up the wall. It's not fair at all. Rude and entitled.

Can I ask OP, are the people who do the swim for fitness very slim and athletic? I'm not at the minute (would like to be) and I'm put off by the lane swimming because I think I'll be slow and am not in shape.

Nope not at all! Including me, definitely neither slim nor athletic. I like swimming because often it's the skinny healthy looking people who are slow, and the older/overweight people who go like rockets, you can never tell! (and I couldn't care less what speed people go at as long as they keep to their lane!)

@OwningAllMyMistakes it is a better gym! How did you know [grin!] although I have also tried david lloyd, DW fitness, local council and private hotel pools and had similar experiences. Didn't say that I was in the slow lane in my OP though so not sure where you made that up from! Yes it's up to them but it's hard to 'crack on' when I'm swimming in the right direction and I would literally 'crack on' in a head on collision because they aren't!

@Dustyhedge

To be honest I’d prioritise the joggers and walkers over the fitness swimmers. For the former, it might be their only exercise options and really important for health, the old ladies nattering might be getting valuable social time which is equally beneficial. The hardcore swimmers could probably do running etc as alternatives.

what???? joggers and walkers can jog and walk on dry land. swimming is completely different from running! old ladies are more than welcome to meet and natter during a walk, at church, at the pub, at bingo, or in any of the general swim sessions of which there are a fair few, no need to commandeer the lane swim for fitness sessions!

@BettysGotMoxie completely disagree, if you pay your money for one specific activity (lane swimming for fitness), you shouldn't feel entitled to do something completely different. I don't rock up to the spin class and start zumba-ing around the bikes!

@thevassal
They can’t do it outside the water, that’s the point. It’s normally a hydrotherapy rehab activity for lots of joint issues. If they’re in the slow lane and following the right directions I can’t see the issue

what???? joggers and walkers can jog and walk on dry land.

Well no they can’t- that’s the point. It’s part of rehab because it is easier on their joints which for me elevates their needs over and above those wanting a fitness swim and getting annoyed by the people doing an equally (if not more) beneficial activity in the pool.

After major knee surgery I couldn't walk on land without the aid of crutches but was able to relearn how to walk in a pool! It would've been impossible to do rehab in family swim time as I'd constantly have to try to get out of the way of children/families/anyone having fun. When do you suggest I should have done my rehab walking?

Move to Australia. None of this shit would be tolerated. I love it. There is an area for walking/jogging for knee rehab etc but if you go in the swim lanes you swim or get the fuck out

The number allowed in pools is so limited at the moment -that you just need to politely overtake and get on with it. Stop judging anyone else and just swim, jog, stretch at the end whatever.
Our pool has one rule on display at the moment- be polite and patient to staff and other users.
Join a vets swim club, or the swim session of a tri club, if it bothers you that much.

Oh god, I totally agree. I gave up swimming in my council pool because people just didn't have any lane etiquette.

Then I started swimming at the pool where I work (a university) and it's great. They have permanent lanes and the national teams train there so everyone has a good knowledge of how to behave and give way etc.

It's why I stopped going. Small local pool. I just wanted to swim but there's always groups of people, woman or men who like to stand around and chat. That's fine, but instead of standing down the side, all in one lane, it's across the bottom, meaning you cannot do a full lap without having to stop and swim around them across a couple of lanes to complete a lap. And they look at you as if YOU'RE invading THEIR space? They could be there for the full hour or two and not swim a lap!

YANBU. I'm a keen swimmer and there is swimming etiquette that should be adhered to. Lanes labelled in the direction (ie clockwise) and by speed eg slow, medium and fast should be respected when others are in the pool. Other lanes labelled for walking etc should be used for that purpose. People blocking the end of a lane chatting and preventing a swimmer from turning should move to the side or swim during a more appropriate session. My DC's sometimes join me, and I insist they behave if they're going to swim in the earmarked swimming lanes, no cutting across lanes etc. If they want to splash and have fun rather than do laps for fitness, stick the to non-labelled lanes or in your case OP the appropriate session. It's not difficult and then everyone gets to enjoy the pool how they prefer.

@thevassal The whole point of the jogging and walking being in a pool is because the water takes the weight/pressure off the joints. After knee and hip surgery, pool walking is reccomend to help with recovery. There are also lots of conditions and injuries that reccomend this as physio. Walking on land is completely different. I hope now you realise this, you are less annoyed with the joggers.

The moral of the story is that we don’t have enough swimming pools in this country. I’ve given up going, ours is always too busy. It’s frustrating.