So, with my regular pool downed for maintenance, I've been swimming at the other gyms in this chain. I was swimming at the next-closest the other day and noticed a sign saying T/Th the pool is closed at 7pm for a Masters' workout, and on the gym schedule there's a "Competitive Swim Training" listed. So after spending much of the day nervous over it, waffling heavily (what if it's too tough, what if people are mean, people at this gym are widely regarded for being less than chill after all, what if, what if) I finally convince myself I'll go and at least give it a try.
It turned out to be, essentially, very much a DIY workout. There was a very small whiteboard attached to a "wet floor" sign with the workout written on it, tucked next to the kickboards and not visible from anywhere in the pool. No "teacher", no coach (someone who might have been in the coach had a printout of something at the lane they were swimming in?), no direction whatsoever. People came, no one seemed to follow any particular routine, other than that they knew each other. I kept checking to see if I was somehow missing something, but no. I did my own little workout, of course, because why waste the time, but ...
Is this what a practice is supposed to be like? Because this felt like basically just an adults-only lap swim hour. I would've been just as well off printing out a workout from the forum and following that. It was kind of disappointing to go expecting something resembling a class ("competitive swim training" is an actual category of class that the gym chain offers, because I've seen it elsewhere, and seen it run at other gyms, usually with kids/teens) just to do the same thing that I could've done first thing in the morning by myself. :(
I think it's atypical for anything calling itself a "masters team," but probably not so much for something like a Y or municipal pool advertising a "masters workout." In my experience this latter category can be anything from someone writing a workout on a white board and absolutely no interaction beyond that, to a full coached workout.
I would say it's somewhat disingenuous to say "closed for masters workout" and "competitive swim training" on the schedule when it's essentially an adults-only lap swim hour (which is, aside from kid-specific classes or aquacize, largely what the pool is by default, since kids under 16 can't work out without supervision).
Both of those phrases imply something more organized, and if you (as I did) walked in expecting something quasi-organized, or something similar to what I remember from age-group practice, it's a little disappointing. But if "masters workout" is "loosely affiliated folks following roughly the same workout" then it is what it is, and I'm not objecting to it being on the spectrum of swimming. *shrug*
I think it's atypical for anything calling itself a "masters team," but probably not so much for something like a Y or municipal pool advertising a "masters workout." In my experience this latter category can be anything from someone writing a workout on a white board and absolutely no interaction beyond that, to a full coached workout.
I would say it's somewhat disingenuous to say "closed for masters workout" and "competitive swim training" on the schedule when it's essentially an adults-only lap swim hour (which is, aside from kid-specific classes or aquacize, largely what the pool is by default, since kids under 16 can't work out without supervision).
Both of those phrases imply something more organized, and if you (as I did) walked in expecting something quasi-organized, or something similar to what I remember from age-group practice, it's a little disappointing. But if "masters workout" is "loosely affiliated folks following roughly the same workout" then it is what it is, and I'm not objecting to it being on the spectrum of swimming. *shrug*
