Do you float

[Panter]

I can't, not in swimming pools anyway.
With a big lungful of air, I just about float with my eyes level with the surface of the water whilst my legs hang straight below me and if I breathe out, I drop like a stone and sit on the bottom of the pool.
It's fine in the sea, I'm not overly buoyant but can float comfortably.

I was always under the impression that fat floats so, theoretically, I should bob around like a cork but I just don't. Is it the weight of leg muscle caused by cycling? anyone else have this problem?

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Steel toe cap boots with Blakey's won't help either.

 

[Panter]

Ha, even my Wife didn't believe me until she spent half an Hour gently holding me up in the water and releasing me, only to watch in disbelief as I sunk into the depths...

 

[PpPete]

Many years decades ago I took part in some research on this subject....
involved strapping us into harnesses connected to some apparatus and dunking us into measured tanks.

The conclusion: everybody has different degrees of buoyancy, and a very very small percentage of people have negative buoyancy in fresh water even with lungs fully inflated.... and no correlation with fat % or muscle mass.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Theory says that if you can swim you can float AS LONG AS YOU RELAX. If you tense up you will sink, relax and again and you will float. Face up is always better BTW

 

[Globalti]

I'm the same, lungs full or empty makes the crucial difference between floating to about ear level or sinking.

 

[Panter]

Interesting stuff, thanks all

It does make swimming a little harder though though as each stroke needs to be directed slightly downwards to direct my mouth above the water level.
I've never been a natural swimmer, now I know why!

 

[Archie_tect]

Always hated swimming, ever since those miserable, cold and damp school visits to the Victorian Baths, so spend as little time as possible in pools!
I can float but hate the taste, sight and echo-ey sound of swimming pools- so many bad memories!

 

[Globalti]

Skinny-dipping in Scottish burns is the best.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

My swimming coach says that not everyone is equally buoyant, but that you can't predict this by looking at muscle mass etc. So, it isn't because your legs are particularly powerful, panter!

 

[numbnuts]

Buoyancy aid come to mind, I wounldn't go kayaking without it

 

[Panter]

My swimming coach says that not everyone is equally buoyant, but that you can't predict this by looking at muscle mass etc. So, it isn't because your legs are particularly powerful, panter!

ah, I'd suspected as much by my poor cycling performance but it can't hurt to hope...

Buoyancy aid come to mind, I wounldn't go kayaking without it

Bit OTT for the swimming pool though!

 

[coffeejo]

You need to plan a trip to the Dead Sea. I tried my best to sink and it just didn't happen.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

I'm the same as the OP... rest of my family do a starfish impression and float quite merrily whilst I sink.

 

[XmisterIS]

My Mother, being both old and very fat, floats without even trying. I, however, sink like a stone.