Forgive me if any of this comes off as rude, that isn’t my intent.
I’ve belonged to two different gyms so far, within a 30 mile radius, and in each case (especially at my current one) there seem to be a lot of elderly people (mostly men) who apparently join these gyms so they can use the indoor pool as a bath house. Like, they don’t even swim or do any aquatic exercises. I never see them in the main part of the gym so I know they’re not cooling off after a workout.
If this was one or two people every now and then I wouldn’t be typing this. But I constantly have to wait for a lane to open up because these old folks are just standing there waist deep in every lane doing nothing but talking. They act completely oblivious on top of it. Just the other day I had an elderly woman wade into my lane while I was swimming, and just stand in the middle to start talking with the man standing in the adjacent lane. Rather than bother her, I cut off my usual 1km swim at around 750m.
I have nothing against old people, we are all going to be old someday, but that’s not what the gym pool is for. It’s for exercise. Does anyone else run into this a lot? Just curious. Also, is there anything I could say to the gym staff about this that wouldn’t come off as insensitive?
I go to a small pool with only four lanes- slow, medium, fast, leisure. When old people want to stand, they do it in the leisure lane. They’re quite protective of that too, they complain if you try to swim there. I’ve been to larger public pools where there are old men standing in lanes or standing in lazy rivers. I would say check the rules with the staff and bring up that there are people standing in the lanes for swimming. Don’t mention specifically that they are old.
Try to find a swimming facility that keeps the temperature at 80F or below (competition temperature). The lower temperature is a bit chilly at first and requires physical activity to stay warm.
Gyms typically keep their pools really warm, at therapy pool temperature, which would attract a lot of older patrons.
@Lyric
My gym has two pools, one that they keep at 80-ish and another that they keep at 90-ish. The warm pool keeps the aquacizers happy and they don’t beg for the lap pool to be warmer, and if you’re going to hang out and chat the warmer pool is better for that. (There’s also a hot tub, which is the best place to hang out and chat).
@Jaime
Exactly. This is how my home pool is set up. The yard/therapy pool for leisurely users and water aerobics. It’s much warmer than the meter pool which is for lap swimming. We have other lap swim etiquette issues from time to time though in the meter pool.
@Lyric
My pool with the two lap lanes and rest of the pool free has a second warmer pool, and people still use the lap lanes for stationary lap lane peddling (hanging off the lane line and peddling their feet into the middle of the lane).
I usually go to the pool a dozen times a week, so I strongly support your exercise camp. But I disagree that pools are exclusively for exercise. They have many benefits to elderly, young, and everyone in between as social spaces. One day I too am going to be old and just seeking relief from gravity and maybe a chinwag.
That being said, this sounds like a pool management issue. They need to assign lanes for different speeds and activities to better manage this.
Noah said:
I say, ‘Hey just a heads up I’m swimming in this lane.’
Then I swim through them.
You both pay for the pool; you both have to share lanes. That’s just the way it goes. He can move over or take it up with management if he doesn’t like it. I can’t imagine waiting for one old man to finish walking around in a whole lane by himself. That’s crazy.
I would definitely talk to the staff. There is no reason they can’t designate one or two lanes for leisure and have the guards direct traffic.
This happened the last time I went to the Y. It was scheduled as lap/leisure swim. A leisure swimmer wandered into a lane where two other swimmers were doing laps. One of them almost lost his mind, and I suggested to him that the guard would probably handle it if he asked, but then the leisure swimmer must have caught on and moved to a lane with another leisure swimmer.
@Clare
Our Y posts lanes. 1 for water exercise & 5 for lap swim only. There is a separate ‘leisure pool’ for kiddos and those just wanting to get wet and a hot tub for lounging. The lifeguards politely enforce the postings.
I’ve had people rest with their back and shoulders on the lane line in the middle of the pool and leisurely paddle their legs into the middle of the lane (as in, they are positioned perpendicular to the typical direction of travel). What are you doing even?
There are two lanes max open at that pool and the rest of the pool is open for more leisurely stuff, so I really don’t get what they’re thinking.
