Lap Swim in Crowded Swimming Pools? Circle Swim!

You want to lap swim to do your swim workout, but the swimming pool is crowded. How do you lap swim in that case? You cooperate with the other lap swimmers and circle swim. If there are more than two people in a lap swim lane, many swimmers feel the lane is full. It is not! You can add more swimmers to a lap swim lane by circle swimming.

Circle Lap Swim

1. Use this when all lap swim lanes in the swimming pool have two or more swimmers in them.
   
   
2. Ask the guard staff, look for signs, or watch the lanes and find the one that is the right pace or speed for your lap swim workout.
   
   
3. Go to that lane, get ready to swim, sit down on the side of the pool and hang your legs into the water (but move them out of the way if the swimmers in that lane don't see them).
   
   
4. When the swimmers in the lap lane stop to rest or to talk to you, ask to join the lane and circle swim.
   
   
5. The correct (and polite) response from the swimmer in the pool is "SURE!"
   
   
6. Join in, just like a car in traffic; don't follow to close (two to five yards or meters spacing), maintain a steady speed, and stay on your side of the lane (if swimming freestyle/front crawl, keep your right hand next to the lane rope or lane line).
   
   
7. Usually, swimmers sharing a lane swim on the right side, with the line on the bottom of the pool marking a no-man's land. You stay on your side of the lane, the right. When you reach a wall, you turn and proceed back toward the other end of the pool, now on the "other" right side of the pool.
   
   
8. What do you do if you catch the swimmer ahead of you? Most experienced swimmers are used to a foot tap then a pass, but this often bothers less experienced swimmers. I suggest you don't touch the swimmer ahead of you, slow down a bit to match the speed of the swimmer ahead or you, and determine if you choose a lane that is swimming too slowly; if that is the case, then get to the wall, climb out, and find a new lane. If not, then continue swimming.
   
   
9. The same is true if you keep getting caught by swimmers; you may have chosen a lane that is swimming too fast and you should move to a more appropriate lap swim lane.
   
   

Next time you get to a crowded pool to do your workout, try circle swimming your lap swim workout. You might find that joining others in the lane makes your workout a better one.

Swim On!