The Joy of Swimming

[jesse_the_k]

Since 1995, I’ve been swimming three times a week. It’s crucial to my physical and mental well-being.

As Melissa Hung beautifully puts it:

“Though I’m not much more graceful in water than I am on land, swimming gives me the illusion of grace; makes me feel fluid in my movements. In an alternate reality of weightlessness, the water takes me–a teeth-grinder, a lopsided walker, a smacker when I eat–and makes me elegant: All my limbs flutter, one side and then the other, a constellation of moving parts propelling me forward.”

To Swim is to Endure: On Living with Chronic Pain by Melissa Hung
https://catapult.co/stories/bodies-to-swim-is-to-endure-on-living-with-chronic-pain

I have “systemic exercise intolerance disease” aka CFS/ME and neurally mediated hypotension (close to POTS, similar issue with fainting during any standing). I can walk several blocks, but my limit on standing still is very short. I use a power wheelchair so I can move confidently and sit comfortably.

Before I got ill in 1988, I regularly swam half-a-mile. After a couple years learning about how to live within new limits, I wanted to begin exercising again. The UW-Madison's Kinesiology Dept sponsors a course called “Adaptive Exercise”. The physical therapy and kinesiology students in the class need teaching material. I joined around 20 other disabled people as living assignments. After two semesters of Adaptive Exercise, I set myself free in a guarded community pool. (I also have asthma, and I sometimes faint on getting out of the pool, so having a guard feels safer for me).

The biggest issue for me was water temperature. “Warm water” pools (over 88°F) make me faint. “Athletic” pools are chillier, between 76° & 80°. My “just right” leisure pool is 83–84°. That would still be too cold if I didn’t wear a unitard suit, 100% poly fleece socks & water shoes, 100% poly fleece vest, and silicone cap.

I shower beforehand, using the warmest water that doesn’t make me faint, and get thoroughly soaked. This preheats me, and because my skin and hair are drenched in clear water, they tend to absorb less chlorine from my time in the pool.

The key was doing just enough, and it's taken me years to find that balance. Because I’ve never passed out in the water, it was easy for me to get caught up in the joy of movement. My huge mistake was swimming a set distance. Now I exercise for a set time: on good days I do more in that time, and on bad days I’m still in the water.

Swimming is not without risks. Perfumes, fragrances, and small particles trigger coughing: my locker room can be hellacious. I use the towels provided: though they’re washed in unscented detergent I’ve been through a rash or two. The after-swim shower is pure delight: all the warm water I want in a stall with a seat and hand-held nozzle.

My current 25 minute routine
8 minutes warm up in deep water:

• arm circles & wrist circles (gripping a pull buoy between my knees to increase core work)
• leg spirals (working from the hip, in and out)
• deliberate jumping-jacks & cross-country ski moves
• the Pilates move “The Hundreds” modified for the water

10 minutes swimming

• Three-stroke crawl, backstroke, and breaststroke

7 minutes cool down

• walking backwards in the shallow end
• back float
• ankle circles
• toe pushups

Comments

[killing_rose]

Yeah. The smell of the chlorine triggers asthma attacks, which is one reason i don't swim, i walk, because i Cannot Swim in my mask. (and if we get to the gym and discover I have left the mask at home, back we go, because we tried that twice. Same issue both times: I never even made it out of the locker room.

(In many ways, I occasionally want to go, "Can I live with cigarette smokers again? The year round bronchitis sucked, but it killed my ability to smell..." [I literally cannot visit my parents because I know I will have an attack before we even leave the airport.])

[jesse_the_k]

I'm so sorry about the chlorine. My pool is in a rehab facility so even though the cold water pool is v low chlorine, the warm water pool is practically a bleach pit.

Amen to the not-being-able-to-breathe as a plus. Fuck! When I was smoking I was also singing in a band and walking like an elephant and ... damn, it can be nice to be healthy sometime. It was barely six months after I quit that my asthma started.

[sonia]

Thanks for linking to Melissa Hung's article! Reading it almost feels like being in the water with her, supported, moving through chronic pain more easily.

And thanks also for sharing what works for you. I imagine it was a long process of running into what doesn't work. How cool that the Adaptive Exercise class helped you!

[jesse_the_k]

She captured the joy of water so well!

[vass]

Thank you for this post, and for the link to Melissa Hung's article.

[jesse_the_k]

My very great pleasure.

[isis]

That's great that swimming works well for you. I have been swimming a lot lately as I'm injured, and I'm grateful to be able to do it. (I'm ordinarily a runner and cyclist, but I developed a stress fracture in the hip - the inferior pubic ramus, the little bone at the bottom - and can't do any impact exercise including walking.) I was unable to use my legs in swimming for the first month or so and so I used a pull-buoy and just my arms; I just began interspersing "regular" swimming with my pull-buoy swimming, and wow, it's surprising just how much it gets my heart pumping, even when swimming slowly!

I like your method of going by time rather than distance - that makes a lot of sense.

Sorry to hear about your hip

[jesse_the_k]

Humans are not really water creatures. We have to flap our arms and legs vigorously for any forward motion. I got bored a couple years ago and paid for some swim coaching.

She had me doing rotation drills, with my arms completely passive. This requires massive core strength: the first day I think I completed one lap. It also helps to get your kick timed with breathing.

https://youtu.be/PVNjhCF02nM

Are you working with a coach/PT?

Re: Sorry to hear about your hip

[isis]

Aw, thank you. It's getting better, slowly.

I'm not working with a coach, though I used to do coached Master's Swim in the past. At the moment I'm mostly limited by needing to be cautious about using my legs due to the healing fracture, so drills involving kicking as propulsion are probably not a good idea.

I have a few very gentle exercises from my PT which I do several times daily. I'm hoping to be able to proceed to more in another month - this is a very slow-healing injury type, alas.

[lilysea]

I'm glad that swimming works for you! ^_^ <3

I had to give it up because chlorinated pools are hell on my psoriasis and dermatitis.

[jesse_the_k]

My very favorite swimming pool ever was in an Atlantic beach town. The pool was filtered seawater, solar heated. It was heavenly -- the softest water ever.

Are there protected pools on Australian beaches -- like the Lidos in UK?

[lilysea]

Are there protected pools on Australian beaches -- like the Lidos in UK?

There is one in Sydney - 3934km (2444 miles) from where I live...

None in my city, to my knowledge... people mainly swim

a) in the ocean (we have A LOT of beaches)
b) in public highly chlorinated pools
c) in private backyard pools

The last time I walked across the sand, swam in the ocean, and walked back across the sand to my powerchair, I crashed HARD...

[replyhazy]

Wow. I am pretty envious. Swimming (particularly the kicking) kind of hurts me. I am super impressed at how you've tailored the whole experience for yourself!!

thanks, I'm kinda impressed too

[jesse_the_k]

Oh, it hurts. It always hurting somewhere. But the freedom and ability to PUSH is such a change from the cautiousness of the rest of my life that it's worth it.

I'm envious of your ai chi water bending. I bet the warm water feels so nice, and you get to be all graceful (well, you get to do that as well when you're dancing.)