If I’m an adult who wants to experience splashing around and wading round the pool, but whose swimming capabilities extend as far as doggy paddling to safety and floating on my back - what can I even do to have fun at the pool?

What do you do at the pool?

Bonus round: kind of out of my budget to pay for swimming classes, and available friends & family are nil. :c
But I borrowed a life jacket from a coworker, and could buy cheap floaties or a pool noodle.

  • BalooWasWahoo@links.hackliberty.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    ·
    4 months ago

    Learning to swim in a pool with a shallow end isn’t too difficult for an adult. Just don’t pay attention to assholes or give up because it doesn’t come naturally.

    Watch a video or two to learn the motions (breast stroke is easiest, but freestyle or side crawls are also good to start with), then just get in the pool (shallow end, please). Start by crouching down to the level of your mouth, and breathing through your nose. Become comfortable with water near your mouth.

    Then dip your nose into the water and blow out through it at the same time (blowing bubbles). You’ll quickly get the hang of holding pressure in your airways so that water doesn’t enter when you dive below the surface. Once you get to that point, start laying face down in the water. You don’t even have to be stiff, or try to swim, just get used to having your back towards the sky. Finally, after the 20 minutes this will probably take you, start trying to mimic the motions on the videos you watched. Again, ignore the feeling that you suck at this, because everyone sucks at it when starting. You’re just an adult, so you realize how bad you are at the beginning, just like when learning a new instrument. With an hour or so of attempts, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how to move around the pool.

  • tissek@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    4 months ago

    If you can afford to save then I highly recommend you to save up for classes. Not just for the exercise aspect but (primary) as a safety measure.

    Floating around on ones back is seriously underrated. You just drift around a bit, relax and disconnect for a bit.

  • Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    4 months ago

    Swim, if necessary get a couple of classes. So you can enjoy the exercise aspect of it.

    If there is a water slide on whatever, it’s not just for kids, so you can have some fun there too.

    Just a thing, please don’t block the swimming lanes to play around, it’ll be annoying for you and the swimmers

  • Toes♀@ani.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    4 months ago

    I used to have access to a unsupervised swimming pool and would get a floaty chair and I just vibe floating around.

    The kids would sometimes push me around like a game of pong.

    But I like being in the water with friends and a loud speaker playing EDM.

  • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    4 months ago

    Teach my kids to swim, float on my back, practice holding my breath, do underwater laps, finally do that Slavic dance where you alternate balancing in you heels with kicks without tipping over…

  • db2@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    4 months ago

    Just be in the water. Even if all you do is basically walk or dog paddle laps around the perimeter at a very leisurely pace you’re getting good exercise in. Every movement you make in the water is resisted by the water.

    • Donjuanme@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      4 months ago

      Imo keeping stationary with your elbows out of the water burns more calories than most swimming. Best workout you can do is to keep your elbows dry while not touching the ground.

      But all swimming is wonderful exercise. Just don’t float in the lane lines (sounds like op isn’t swimming when laps are happening)

  • Pasta Dental@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    4 months ago

    Get one of those masks that also cover your nose, it will make going under water 10000x easier, you just have to worry about closing your mouth. The way I learned was by hanging on one side of the pool and using the wall to give myself some insertia, and then figure out the movements to keep going. Doing underwater backflips can also be fun. I don’t to to public pools because they disgust me, but when I am in a pool I like jumping in and finding out the biggest splash I can make with friends. Stupid but fun stuff

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    4 months ago

    I like playing ball in the pool. With how stupid it looks, it burns a lot of energy while still being fun. It needs one other person though.