A nicely heated swimming pool, however, is a different (and altogether warmer) proposition.
Recently, in a bid to move my tired old body a bit more, and after a few years of being poolside rather than in the swim of things, I dug my costume out of mothballs and bought some goggles.
I had been advised that swimming breast stroke would aggravate an old war wound, and that front crawl would be better for my banjaxed pelvis. Struggling with the new stroke, I booked a few lessons. And while I might look like a lumbering sea cow, thanks to excellent tuition from Victoria at Nuffield Health in Chichester I can now plough up and down the pool at a reasonable pace.
Swimming is the one form of exercise that I can do without getting stressed and vexed. In a gym there is so much to think about – what exercise comes next, how many reps you have to do, how the blasted machines work (and then maybe having to wait your turn to use them). It’s way too hectic and nerve-frazzling for me. But in the pool all I have to do is get in and go; swim up, swim back, repeat. Easy as the pie I want to eat when I get home afterwards.
When I swim, I switch off entirely. It’s a relaxing way to burn calories. All that is missing is a gentle soundtrack (I know that you can’t please all of the people all of the time, but maybe some chilled Yacht Rock?).
But as well as being about the only form of exercise that I can tolerate, swimming is also an essential life skill. According to research by The Royal Life Saving Society UK, an average of 307 UK and Irish Citizens lose their life to accidental drowning every year. Many others have non-fatal, but nevertheless terrifying, experiences, sometimes resulting in life-changing injuries. I’ll never win any prizes for speed or grace, but knowing that I have swimming as a life skill is reassuring.
Relaxing, and potentially reducing the circumference of my thighs too, swimming, as far as I am concerned, has a lot going for it.
Especially when the water is agreeably temperate and can be rounded off with an even warmer shower.
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