I live in an area currently lacking decent aquatic facilities, so I am essentially forced to use the pool at my gym. After a particularly nauseating workout yesterday, I queried management about the pool temperature; it was 88. Degrees. Fahrenheit.
Management apparently insists on keeping it so warm for the old folks who do water “aerobics” – they don’t want the old folks’ joints freezing up, or something – so, I’m curious: Anyone who swims at a gym that also offers water aerobics (including YMCA, for there is rumored to be one built not far from me in the next few years), how hot is your pool?
My gym has both an indoor and an outdoor lap pool. The indoor pool is kept at something like 85-86 for the same reasoning as your - water aerobics and other programs where people may be a bit older (or little tykes) and not moving around as much. It is very difficult to swim comfortably in water that warm, I agree. And I’m a wimp when it comes to water temperature. The outdoor pool is kept at 81-82 year round, which is too warm for many, but I find it just right.
The pool at the gym I go to is 82-83, same with the my previous gym. The best pool I swam in was on an Army base: 75 degrees. It made getting in during cold NJ winters a bit rough, but was nice after a kilometer or so.
My outdoor pool hits 88 in the summer with the pool heater turned off. They set the temperature to 84 during the winter, which actually works out well when the air temperature is in the 50-65 range.
I think this is a pretty standard YMCA thing. Our pool gets really hot in the wintertime. Right now its pretty good, but the old folks who get in are complaining, so its only a matter of time before the heat gets jacked up again. What kills me is that there is a smaller pool 5 feet away that is heated, so why they have to do this to the lap pool is beyond me. Of course, its fairly obvious by the way the our Y schedules things that fitness/lap swimmers are on the lowest priority at the pool.
I just had a backyard pool installed and asked various pool types what temperature was best. They told me that polls (research?) showed that 82f was the most comfortable temperature for swimming comfort.
I swim at the McGill University pool and I believe its a balmy 83-85F these days. Its not for old people but rather the daycare instructors who are in the pool for hours on end helping the kids. During the school year though, varsity makes sure its closer to 80. (I wish it was the opposite. I hate getting into a cold pool on a -20C winter morning…)
The pool at the university I attend is a very nice cold during swimming seasons, then it heats up during the winter and summer months. The elders here do their water aerobics year round.
Older people are at a higher risk for hypothermia than younger people, that may be their reasoning. Unfortunately it is difficult at all he$% to have a good workout when your pool is the temp of your bathwater.
I joined a gym right about the time that a pool was added on to it.
The first aquatics director was an aquarobics type and the pool was 86 degrees. It was kinda the same thing, why do we need an 86 degree pool when there is an 88 degree arthritis pool right next to it.
We got a new aquatics director from a swim background. In discussions we came up with the fact that fina recommends 78 and the water aerobics people recommend 86, we split the difference and got 82. I find 82 to be quite alright for swimming.
I will preface this post by saying I count myself fortunate in having a pool conveniently available. I am deployed right now in the Middle East and our pool is brutally hot. Everytime I jump in, it’s definitely hotter than body temp. It’s so funny to me that I have to “cool down” by getting out of the pool into the breezy 110F heat.
The work-outs are slower, but at least we got a pool.
We have an indoor therapy pool (aerobics and swim lessons) that stays around 88, an indoor lap pool that is 80-81 and an outdoor summer only pool (both laps and play) that varies with the weather. I tried to swim in the therapy pool once when the lap pool was closed. Couldn’t do it.
