Best temp for water?

Mr Earl Most pools used to be kept at about 83° as a compromise, but since lap swimmers are better organized (though fewer in numbers) than the general public, they've been able to convince pool managers to lower water temperatures (almost everywhere) to between 79° and 81°. The area you live in must be unique ! I have swum in many pools in different countries and in almost every one the water temp has been too warm for serious swimming. What really happens is that a facility opens with a temp of 80 to 82' F, which is the official guideline set for fitness/leisure swimming. Very quickly, the water aerobics, paddlers, floaters and others complain constantly until the temp is raised to 86' (or hotter). These people have the choice to actually move their bodies at faster than a slow motion pace to warm up and get fitter in the process but choose not to do so. A swimmer in training needs to work for at least 60 mins at a target heart rate of 120 to 140 bpm, for aerobic work, higher for anaerobic work and higher still for speed work. A well constructed workout will raise core body temp by 1'F for each 10 min of activity. That is an increase of 6'F in 1 hour. If the water temp is above 82' F then the body cannot dissapate heat into the water effectively. The result is that the swimmer gets overheated, which leads to exhaustion. The swimmer in training has 2 choices in warm or hot water: slow down and not get an effective workout or get out of the pool and abandon the attempt to swim. We could just give up altogether and join the floaters and noodlers but we do actually like to swim ! It is very hard to have planned a season of workouts leading up to a big meet, with your percentage of aerobic, anaerobic and lactic carefully measured only to turn up at the pool at 6:30 (after waking at 5:30 am) to find that you have to abandon your planned workout because some IDIOTS want to swim in water as hot as my bathtub !!!

Mr Earl Most pools used to be kept at about 83° as a compromise, but since lap swimmers are better organized (though fewer in numbers) than the general public, they've been able to convince pool managers to lower water temperatures (almost everywhere) to between 79° and 81°. The area you live in must be unique ! I have swum in many pools in different countries and in almost every one the water temp has been too warm for serious swimming. What really happens is that a facility opens with a temp of 80 to 82' F, which is the official guideline set for fitness/leisure swimming. Very quickly, the water aerobics, paddlers, floaters and others complain constantly until the temp is raised to 86' (or hotter). These people have the choice to actually move their bodies at faster than a slow motion pace to warm up and get fitter in the process but choose not to do so. A swimmer in training needs to work for at least 60 mins at a target heart rate of 120 to 140 bpm, for aerobic work, higher for anaerobic work and higher still for speed work. A well constructed workout will raise core body temp by 1'F for each 10 min of activity. That is an increase of 6'F in 1 hour. If the water temp is above 82' F then the body cannot dissapate heat into the water effectively. The result is that the swimmer gets overheated, which leads to exhaustion. The swimmer in training has 2 choices in warm or hot water: slow down and not get an effective workout or get out of the pool and abandon the attempt to swim. We could just give up altogether and join the floaters and noodlers but we do actually like to swim ! It is very hard to have planned a season of workouts leading up to a big meet, with your percentage of aerobic, anaerobic and lactic carefully measured only to turn up at the pool at 6:30 (after waking at 5:30 am) to find that you have to abandon your planned workout because some IDIOTS want to swim in water as hot as my bathtub !!!