Come on in the water’s lovely

There’s no ignoring the love handles any more — from sea swimming to getting back on the treadmill, here’s how to be a post-lockdown gym bunny...

WHEN you can’t go to the gym or pool, they start to look a lot more appealing — as many of us have discovered in the last few months. Now everything is back to the new normal, gyms are welcoming us back and it’s time to get fit and get rid of that coronastone. We asked exercise fans and gym owners how things have changed and what we should expect now the doors are open again.

WELL, this certainly doesn’t feel as high-risk as a supermarket aisle, I think, as I launch into my first 50 metres of frontcrawl in a swimming pool since lockdown began. The water is cool, a refreshing 18c. As I swim, I am aware of just how lucky I am: swimming laps in a pristine pool.

The reopening of pools was warmly welcomed by keen swimmers like me. But pools must adhere to stringent social distance guidelines for the foreseeable future. Numbers for swimming are limited and in some cases you have to book your slot. As with every other activity, it’s preferred if you arrive ready and the sensible advice is to limit your use of the changing room and toilets, though extra cleaning and sanitation stations are everywhere.

Within those double-width lanes, bathers will be told to follow the same direction of travel, at a distance of at least two metres from the person in front, avoiding overtaking. Swimmers who start in the wrong lane will be expected to move. Likewise, anyone experiencing a loss of momentum will be expected to budge over rather than interrupt others’ flow.

DON’T be the person who makes a splash for all the wrong reasons seems the guiding principle. Swimmers I know welcome the in-depth directives as clear and sensible.

In the media, much sport has been had at the singling out of butterfly as the ASBO of traditional strokes: too pumped-up and pointlessly aggressive for these sensitive times.

UNFASHIONABLE sidestroke, however, is touted as a potential way to protect yourself from incursions into your airspace.

Swimming is one of Ireland’s favourite sports, often recommended by doctors as a safe, nonweight bearing way to get fitter. Now we can again take to the waters. Leap in, it will be lovely. As I glide through the gin-clear, filtered aqua of what is my beloved local pool, I think of how often in recent months — amid the competing stress of work, home-schooling and worries for distant parents — I have dreamed of this sanctuary.

Usually, I swim here twice a week. Other regulars include an accomplished blind swimmer, who judges his laps by counting strokes and a former Channel swimmer. Fellow enthusiasts include agile pensioners and those who have been through the mill — cancer, injury, redundancy, anxiety — and swum through it to the other side, stronger.

I may wince when I see the pictures accompanying this article: like many, I have comfort-eaten through lockdown. But in the water, I feel weightless, supple, sleek. I leave the pool on a swimmer’s high.