Swim Rant

As someone who has spent his 46 years occupying the bottom 5% in BMI, it is so nice to hear a coach that actually acknowledges that this is an issue and wants to help. The physics of the situation is that heat loss depends on surface area and the surface-area to volume ratio increases radically as aspect ratio goes up, so someone with low BMI loses heat MUCH faster than higher BMI individuals. It is really irritating to see coaches who think skinny kids aren't "tough". In fact, they are dealing with a much tougher temperature maintainence issue than the higher BMI kids. (By contrast, high BMI individuals probably suffer more in a hot pool. There are some good tips in another thread about how to stay cool in a hot pool. That's also been an issue this hot summer.) Here are some suggestions. I use many of them myself becuase I still fight to stay warm almost every workout: (But not so much this hot summer.) 1) If the pool is partially in the shade, give the skinny little ones the sunny lane. 2) Keep the kids as warm as possible before practice and whenever they are out of the pool. Have them stand in the sun and out of the wind. Encourage them to bring a couple of towels so they can wrap up when they are out of the pool and still have a dry towel for after practice. Do not have the kids standing around the deck dripping wet waiting to practice starts or something, especially on days when the air temperature is below about 80 or the wind is blowing. Have a scheme that gets them out of the water, immediatly onto the block and back swimming again. 3) Don't have the kids get into the pool until they are actually going to start swimming. Once they are in, keep them moving. Even one minute of inactivity can be almost unbearable in a cold pool. If they are old enough to follow a workout, have the entire workout available to them before they start so that they do not have to stand around between sets. If they are too young to follow a workout themselves, make sure someone is right there ready to explain the next set as soon as they finish one. If there is a slower swimmer in the lane, move him/her to make the speeds more evenly matched. If nothing more can be done to even the swimming speeds, instead of simply letting the fast kids wait for the slower swimmer to finish a swim or a set, have them do really eazy "active recovery" swims. (Gotta be a little careful here I suppose to make sure that the fast kids don't think they are being punished for being fast with more work.) If the pool is deep in the middle, 2-turn 50s will force them to tread water between swims, thereby keeping them moving. 4) Encourage them to eat before practice. I find some easily digestable starch like bread or a bananna about one hour before practice doesn't upset my stomach. I suspect kids handle pre-practice eating better than adults. My 8 yo seems to be able to eat up to 35-40 minutes before pracice with no ill effects. 5) Encourage them to try wearing a cap. 6) Encourage them to bring a hot drink to practice to sip on between sets. Small sips of hot coco seem to be ok. If that doesn't settle well, hot water should be an effective, albeit less tasty, alternative. Have them bring a warm drink or snack to warm up *immediately* after practice, and I mean as soon as they pull themselves out of the water. 7) After a really cold practice, acknowledge that you know how tough it was and thank them for sticking it out. Hey Karl, Awesome ideas - I do many of them already, and it's good for everybody to see them. We have a warmer, shorter therapy pool available sometimes and I use it when needed for the little ones. It's more of an issue for the 8 and unders who are not carrying much body fat. You can't simply swim them for 45 minutes on a :10 rest interval. They have yet to develop the aerobic capacity. So I use the therapy pool when the rec pool is too cold and make sure everyone knows to let me know if they are too cold. Amazing what they choose to do once they know it's their choice and their coach knows it's hard. We also do dryland exercises before we get into the pool and that way I make sure they are warm. Thanks so much for your post! --mj p.s. I'm about middle of the BMI range and get colder faster than most of the folks I swim with. I will almost always choose a cooldown swim if the coach isn't there to give us our next set right away. I simply can't just sit there very long, unless the pool is too hot.

As someone who has spent his 46 years occupying the bottom 5% in BMI, it is so nice to hear a coach that actually acknowledges that this is an issue and wants to help. The physics of the situation is that heat loss depends on surface area and the surface-area to volume ratio increases radically as aspect ratio goes up, so someone with low BMI loses heat MUCH faster than higher BMI individuals. It is really irritating to see coaches who think skinny kids aren't "tough". In fact, they are dealing with a much tougher temperature maintainence issue than the higher BMI kids. (By contrast, high BMI individuals probably suffer more in a hot pool. There are some good tips in another thread about how to stay cool in a hot pool. That's also been an issue this hot summer.) Here are some suggestions. I use many of them myself becuase I still fight to stay warm almost every workout: (But not so much this hot summer.) 1) If the pool is partially in the shade, give the skinny little ones the sunny lane. 2) Keep the kids as warm as possible before practice and whenever they are out of the pool. Have them stand in the sun and out of the wind. Encourage them to bring a couple of towels so they can wrap up when they are out of the pool and still have a dry towel for after practice. Do not have the kids standing around the deck dripping wet waiting to practice starts or something, especially on days when the air temperature is below about 80 or the wind is blowing. Have a scheme that gets them out of the water, immediatly onto the block and back swimming again. 3) Don't have the kids get into the pool until they are actually going to start swimming. Once they are in, keep them moving. Even one minute of inactivity can be almost unbearable in a cold pool. If they are old enough to follow a workout, have the entire workout available to them before they start so that they do not have to stand around between sets. If they are too young to follow a workout themselves, make sure someone is right there ready to explain the next set as soon as they finish one. If there is a slower swimmer in the lane, move him/her to make the speeds more evenly matched. If nothing more can be done to even the swimming speeds, instead of simply letting the fast kids wait for the slower swimmer to finish a swim or a set, have them do really eazy "active recovery" swims. (Gotta be a little careful here I suppose to make sure that the fast kids don't think they are being punished for being fast with more work.) If the pool is deep in the middle, 2-turn 50s will force them to tread water between swims, thereby keeping them moving. 4) Encourage them to eat before practice. I find some easily digestable starch like bread or a bananna about one hour before practice doesn't upset my stomach. I suspect kids handle pre-practice eating better than adults. My 8 yo seems to be able to eat up to 35-40 minutes before pracice with no ill effects. 5) Encourage them to try wearing a cap. 6) Encourage them to bring a hot drink to practice to sip on between sets. Small sips of hot coco seem to be ok. If that doesn't settle well, hot water should be an effective, albeit less tasty, alternative. Have them bring a warm drink or snack to warm up *immediately* after practice, and I mean as soon as they pull themselves out of the water. 7) After a really cold practice, acknowledge that you know how tough it was and thank them for sticking it out. Hey Karl, Awesome ideas - I do many of them already, and it's good for everybody to see them. We have a warmer, shorter therapy pool available sometimes and I use it when needed for the little ones. It's more of an issue for the 8 and unders who are not carrying much body fat. You can't simply swim them for 45 minutes on a :10 rest interval. They have yet to develop the aerobic capacity. So I use the therapy pool when the rec pool is too cold and make sure everyone knows to let me know if they are too cold. Amazing what they choose to do once they know it's their choice and their coach knows it's hard. We also do dryland exercises before we get into the pool and that way I make sure they are warm. Thanks so much for your post! --mj p.s. I'm about middle of the BMI range and get colder faster than most of the folks I swim with. I will almost always choose a cooldown swim if the coach isn't there to give us our next set right away. I simply can't just sit there very long, unless the pool is too hot.