| I highly recommend lap swimming as a general physical/mental sharpening exercise you can do with virtually zero joint or other injury risk your whole life. I had the good fortune of being coached for a brief period by this guy: https://magazine.wsu.edu/2009/08/11/channel-swimmer/ Having that kind of an example was awesome. The downside of swimming is trekking out to a pool and finding a time when lap swim lanes are open, and climbing the learning barrier if you’re completely new. In my experience, a lot swimmers also tend to be instinctually quiet, standoffish and very competitive, which can be very intimidating if you’re going for a lap swim as a newbie. Especially if it’s crowded and someone wants to lane share. But there’s almost always a time slot somewhere when it’s virtually empty, or a friendly lane sharing buddy who’s relatively new/not doing flip turns and stuff, or a friendly expert who’s casual and happy to give learners a wide berth. A local YMCA or one in a neighboring area is usually the most friendly place to start swimming, but I think a decent number of big commercial gyms have pools too, and universities/schools sometimes have public lap swim times as well. And if you’re completely new/never learned to swim, lesson instructors often LOVE private adult lessons because they actually listen/you don’t have to additionally do baby sitting/kid wrangling. I lifeguarded for a bit and taught swimming, and liked teaching kids too, but adults were so much more relaxing. It’s absolutely worth climbing those barriers. Especially if you get one of these: https://www.underwateraudio.com/products/waterproof-ipod-shu... I haven’t really checked the landscape post covid, though. I’m guessing a lot of places with pools got hit really hard. All the more reason to get out and find/support one, they’re a really awesome community resource. Speaking of which, I’ve turned into a stressed out couch potato/haven’t been to a pool since covid, I should take my own advice and get back out there. |