Yet another swimming pool thread

Styrofoam? Hmm, I bet it would get waterlogged. At the pool I go to, they have kick boards. Not exactly what you're looking for, but I bet the pool would allow it.

ok yeah, they allow kickboards.
I want something attached to my body, so I don't have to be grasping it.
Sometimes I like to just totally relax, and let all my muscles go.

styrofoam is so stiff.

I'm going to stop by a sporting goods place on the way home, but I've casually looked before, with no results.

I think it's strange that there's options for kids, but not for adults.
Options that don't scream out "LOOK! I'M WEARING AN ORANGE SAFETY VEST!"

There's lots of adults that can swim, but just aren't the best at it.

At this stage of the game, I'm not going to get any better.

heh...I saw this thing called a "floatie suit" for little kids. I need something like that.

I used to be you regarding all this. You know the best answer without my saying, which is to take serious swimming lessons. Which I did at thirty seven. It took me 4 sets of lessons, that is a full year, to swim a mile smooth as, well, a dolphin or some such, maybe a tuna? but much less time to lose that freakout mode if I was bumped at, say, 5 foot water height while practicing. I also caught on after x amount of lessons to enjoy the whole bit of breathing while doing the crawl - it was a surprise how much I liked it after years of jerky gasping clumsy water up nose stuff. Once you breathe right, that stuff isn't usual. After I made it one pool length (75 feet), the rest was gravy. Well, not gravy, but graded increases in lengths I could do. A lot of that learning time was spent in the lane by the edge, so if in the beginning I thought I might just die right there at, say, 40 feet along, the side was grabable. The key was that my teacher was just plain fabulous, a very smooth swimmer herself.

Given you might not want lessons since you already do other exercise stuff, how about just learning to tread water easily. That one was harder for me than learning the crawl, and I was never your relaxed treader, though not miserable at floating. Most other humans are better at treading than I am, and you probably are too.

So, no answer re some device to wear. Lessons. You can do hot yoga, can't you? You can learn basic pool breathing.

Look for things labeled as swimming pool exercise/aerobics accessories. That's where you'll find the adult version of things that don't draw attention to you.

For example:

Pool Exercise Fitness Trainer Belt



Jogger belts



and water noodles

Read the review on this one. It sounds like just what you are looking for:

http://www.amazon.com/Speedo-Hydro-Resistant-Jog-Belt/dp/B001237A66/ref=pd_sbs_sg_6

If you're allowed to take pool noodles (most $ stores sell them here) into the pool, they can be a lot of fun to recline into. I do think it helps to have some basic swimming ability so you're relaxed when you're leaning back. If you're tense, the pool noodle can be a little tricky.

They're also fun to race on - used to be my favourite part of advanced aquafit years ago.

please don't do this. It has potential to create a really dangerous situation for you - if you think something is offering support, but it's attached by velcro (which doesn't really stand up to a lot of stress)

hmmm...I'm not so much looking for support, but little bit of extra buoyancy.

Maybe I'm making myself out to be worse than I am. I don't thrash about getting from point A to point B, I just don't do well not having the security of a wall near me. Looking more for, I don't know how to express it I guess, something that would provide just the minimum of extra lift. I don't do much laying about in the pool, just like to do it sometimes right before I'm going to leave, and only when there's not many people around.

The bottom line is, I have a life long fear of water. I especially don't like being with other people I know in the water with me. They are the one's who playfully reach out and grab your arm or leg, and that freaks me out. I'm comfortable in it when it's on my terms. I'm very familiar with those terms, and don't go outside of them.
I had beaukoodles of well meaning people try to "teach me" to swim while I was a child. People who knew what they were doing.

I finally taught myself to swim when I was 16, when I had access to a friend of the families pool, while they were gone all summer. I taught myself while I was all alone, at my own pace, and my own way. I'm comfortable with my way of dealing and relaxing in a container of water. Just wondering if anyone knew of something that could be used as a small assist.

btrfly, I've already checked out all those type things on the net. Way excessive.

Water noodles suck.

Would this work?


It seems to be a little thing; click on the pic to get to Amazon.

Maybe a little foam rubber tucked into the top of the swimsuit?

Seriously, I don't like flotation at the waist level. It's your head that needs to be above water, not your feet.

I'm sure this would work very well and put lots of air in your system, as well as being nuitritious. Plus, the added bonus of being able to power yourself in the pool with little effort.



I hope I've been as helpful as those who posted before me.

I look for both our posts to be disappeared.

not that there's anything wrong with that

What about falsies? I'm sure they're buoyant and not obvious unless you got something like a size 52 EEEEE.

I just said that - in a round about kind of way.

This might sound dumb.. I did a ton of swimming when I was young. Competitive swimming and diving. I'm ok in a pool, but I absolutely hate swimming in large bodies of water. It freaks me out. Ya know sharks and other stuff..
None the less, what helps me is, as weird as this sounds, resting my arms over a noodle and wearing something I can see underwater with, like goggles or a mask, sometimes a snorkle. I don't mind getting my face wet then and I can see what's coming.

Sorry, dear Rat. Naturally you would reply in a round about, rubbery way--what would you know from falsies?

Yikes! I knew something was wrong when I called you Rat. Now you are the pessimistic, but lovable, Eeyore.