What can make a potentially great pool and swim meet (78-80 degree deep water, wide lanes, great gutter system, good starting blocks, great lighting, large scoreboard, excellent officials, etc.) into a mediocre one? The lane lines.
We recently swam our championships in a new state-of-the-art pool. The only problem was the slack lane lines. The water was very choppy and continued that way throughout the whole race. They served no more purpose than the old “floaties” we used 45 years ago. They were so loose they visibly rose and fell with the waves and had so many horizontal waves they looked like serpents at the surface. The lane lines did not cut the waves but rather rode them. When there was a race with an open lane, the waves pushed the lane lines well into the free lane. Predictably overall times were not as fast as they could have been.
It is not necessary to have the lane lines are tight as a piano wire in order for them to be effective, but tightening them up for a meet is an area that is most often neglected. We work too hard at our craft not to be given every opportunity to swim as fast as the pool allows.
You guys hit a nerve with me. Let me preface that there are sports that I do not understand or attempt but that I respect (squash, curling, monster trucks). But, water aerobics is truly not one of them.
Has anyone ever been in a lap lane, even with tightly drawn non turbulent lane lines, when, all of a sudden, you are violently pulled into the lane lines? Well, this has happened to me recently. When I poked my head up I realized the water aerobicizers were all moving in the same direction in a circle causing a horrible aqua vortex.
Next, I have yet to see a fit water aerobicizer. The instructors usually look fit but the jokers in the water defy any definition of fitness. If you can't lower yourself into water without help, maybe you shouldn't be doing strenuous physical activities.
Third, I have seen plenty of these people floating on noodles while doing the exercise, despite the pool being 4' deep. What kind of workout is this? Don't come back at me with range of motion and "atl least they are trying" arguments. Water arthritis I understand helps this but aerobics is intended to raise heart rate and increase fitness. You can't do that while on a noodle.
Fourth, they constantly complain about cold pool temperature, despite the fact most Ys keep their pools at 84.
And, lastly, they hug the lane lines and give you awfully dirty looks if you splash them at all. This is clearly the only form of exercise where physical exertion and sweat are anathema to the actual workout.
I know I am out of line on this. Sorry for the rant.
You guys hit a nerve with me. Let me preface that there are sports that I do not understand or attempt but that I respect (squash, curling, monster trucks). But, water aerobics is truly not one of them.
Has anyone ever been in a lap lane, even with tightly drawn non turbulent lane lines, when, all of a sudden, you are violently pulled into the lane lines? Well, this has happened to me recently. When I poked my head up I realized the water aerobicizers were all moving in the same direction in a circle causing a horrible aqua vortex.
Next, I have yet to see a fit water aerobicizer. The instructors usually look fit but the jokers in the water defy any definition of fitness. If you can't lower yourself into water without help, maybe you shouldn't be doing strenuous physical activities.
Third, I have seen plenty of these people floating on noodles while doing the exercise, despite the pool being 4' deep. What kind of workout is this? Don't come back at me with range of motion and "atl least they are trying" arguments. Water arthritis I understand helps this but aerobics is intended to raise heart rate and increase fitness. You can't do that while on a noodle.
Fourth, they constantly complain about cold pool temperature, despite the fact most Ys keep their pools at 84.
And, lastly, they hug the lane lines and give you awfully dirty looks if you splash them at all. This is clearly the only form of exercise where physical exertion and sweat are anathema to the actual workout.
I know I am out of line on this. Sorry for the rant.
