Swimming for Hammers and Spoons

that depends on how many you are prepared to break…

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Went to the pool this morning it was rammed with only 5 lanes available, just came home. One of the masters guys was complaining to the guy supervising, who was getting a bit aggro with the masters guy. Being defensive instead of accepting what was clear to see that any meaningful swimming wasn’t possible. Head up breast strokers in 4 lanes and the 5th with the unofficial swim group in. I am going to email a complaint in, wasn’t any of the staff by the pool at fault.

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It’s like all the pool attendants have been instructed to never correct etiquette. Same as security guards instructed to never stop thieves.

There’s a thing at all the everyoneactive pools that fast lane is minimum 30s per length. A good thing but never enforced or even mentioned, and of course people abiding by it are the bad guys…

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The other side of that is that most lifeguards (even more so nowadays than it used to be when I worked in the industry) are kids straight out of school on minimum wage who, quite frankly, don’t have the communication skills and the ability to assert themselves when it comes to dealing with the public. They shy away from any sort of confrontation and just side with the loudest people!

When I started out lifeguarding in the late ‘90s I reckon the average age of the staff and management was a good few years older than now.

One old employer of mine is currently advertising for Duty Managers on £21K. I was doing the exact same job for them in 2006 for £19K and that difference shows.

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I agree, I see it as problem for the leisure centres and the industry not the individual.

When I applied to be a life guard the only interview was how strong you were in the pool. I failed by the way. :slight_smile: I don’t think they are lifeguards any more, I can’t recall seeing one strong enough to haul me out of the pool unresponsive. They’re there to tick a box and tell people not to run or splash old people, so I think they could say “abide lane etiquette please” if the leisure centre gave instruction. Or maybe I’m being an ass.

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The life guard was sat there doing her job. It was the supervisor who was getting aggy with the masters swimmer. He is probably in his late 20s and worked there for a few years at least.

The root of the problem is the council having to cyt costs everywhere. They have the session but just one life guard amd only use 5 lanes. Use 2 and all 10 can be used.

The shift manager told me he has been saying they need to have more lanes available. But the management are saving money where they can.

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But the pool still costs the same to run, clean, heat etc :man_shrugging:t2:

Possibly one for the rant thread!

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Shouldnt even have lifeguards :wink:

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they should be replaced by video content creators…

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Have we talked about lifting after swimming before? Cant see it in the search. Thinking about using the gym after swim tomorrow.

Looking for anything I can’t do at home with a barbell. Lat pull downs?

i know lots of athletes who double up with pool/gym to save time…

Consider how you fuel…

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The youths at Leeds high performance group lift after swimming but they have a separate gym so no idea what they do in the gym.

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Swimming club do strength before, but its due to time and the swim is typically recovery/technique focused. Whatever you do swim easy on lifting days.

That might not always be possible…so you may need to be creative…

Family woke me up at 12:30 didn’t get back to sleep until around 2:30 so swimming fucked anyway.

Why lift easy after a swim?

I swim every Friday morning then have an S&C session in the afternoon with bench, leg press, pullups etc. Maybe it’s not optimal for some of the S&C stuff but Friday is the best day I can get to the S&C session as I have to travel for it, I work half days Fridays & I value the swim session.

I think it works ok for me & the numbers are relative as I do the same each week.

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Yes thinking about it if you only swim/gym twice a week or gym after every swim then it needs some thought, maybe longer rests in the swim session, maybe more active recovery, maybe the next day should be easier. I think many people underestimate the fatigue even 20 minutes of lifting adds and its easy to start to dig a hole

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200 Wu
7x100 @1:45 +10s
200 WD

So by pace that’s thresholdish, but it’s SCM only 1100m, 23 mins and my HR didn’t get much above 131.

Couldnt think of any gym work so tried to leave it as a recovery session.

If I’m honest my pride got in the way, only other two swimmers were two girls and clearly proper swimmers so I already felt like a fat lump no way I way dropping to 2min pace… :flushed:

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What threshold?

Now yer gettin technical on me Jon!

I use 1:45 as my threshold pace based on my 1900m/3800m times and add 3s for long course meters.

While I think wrist HR is good enough for the averages as per today, not enough to establish a threshold HR or interrogate individual laps.

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