Workout Room Supplants Swimming

As many articles that I have recently written about swimming, you might come away thinking that I am a hard-core fanatic about the subject. This is not so, though. What I have been trying to do is TURN myself into a fanatic, because I have reasoned it out and believe that swimming is a very healthful and potentially enjoyable form of physical activity that can endure with my passing into the "golden years" of life. But transforming that conclusion into reality is another matter...

This week I completely skipped out on swimming, substituting my YMCA pool sessions with intense workouts in their adjacent "wellness center". I found that doing weight training and using the elliptical cross-training machine gives me a better workout than swimming. There is no competition for access as I have to endure at the pool. It also doesn't matter what the weather is like outside: I am pretty much guaranteed a seventy-something degree environment that is nice and dry, without the need to spray on sunscreen. And like with running, after my indoor workout I am hot and sweaty but don't have the pool water to wash off of me. Also, I don't need to deal with that water seeping into my body through swallowing and sinuses.

Today I had a great time in the workout room. I looked out at the pool, where one of the local elementary schools had sent some of their students to play today. It was packed, and the swimming lanes were reduced for the occasion. But managing to get a lane wasn't enough: the swimmers had to endure large beach balls continually drifting over into their paths. I saw one swimmer doing several meters with a ball riding his back! I said to myself, "Isn't it nice to not be there right now!"

My main issue with swimming is access. The other problems are either resolvable or are things intrinsic to the activity that I have to adapt to. But I don't see that access issue improving in the near future and, besides, I have for now quite an acceptable alternate with the weights and elliptical trainer. Not that I've given up swimming, but something has to change to make it less of a hassle for me.