Hi,
My son is 14 and a pure swimmer. His body fat is quite low so he can get really cold when swim training in outdoor pools, even when the air temperature is quite high. A wetsuit top would interfere too much with his stroke, but are there any other options out there?
Thanks,
Tubs
What air/water temperatures are we discussing?
In my “pure swimmer” days I don’t remember ever getting cold in a pool while I was in the water and working. Initial plunge? Yep, but that went away as soon as I started my warm up. On the deck after the swim or during drill sets? Once in a while but that just made me want to get back in the water quicker.
I’ll ask at master’s tonight, but I don’t remember anyone on any of my teams complaining of being cold while in the water and working.
I don’t have a solution but understand the problem
I too often get cold in outdoor pools even here in FL
.
What air/water temperatures are we discussing?
In my “pure swimmer” days I don’t remember ever getting cold in a pool while I was in the water and working. Initial plunge? Yep, but that went away as soon as I started my warm up. On the deck after the swim or during drill sets? Once in a while but that just made me want to get back in the water quicker.
I’ll ask at master’s tonight, but I don’t remember anyone on any of my teams complaining of being cold while in the water and working.
His 14 year old son may be way leaner then you were and may be swimming in an unheated pool. I spent the better part of an entire week in January freezing during a swim camp in Cancun. I needed to come back to Canada to swim indoors while it was minus 20C outside to warm up from all the cold water swims in Cancun. If I go next year, I am taking a 3mm shorty suit at least for the early morning swims. Afternoon swims were bearable as the ambiant temp was mid 20’s C. When water temp is 18-20 C and air temp is 13C it does not take much to get cold for smaller athletes.
Dev
Hi,
My son is 14 and a pure swimmer. His body fat is quite low so he can get really cold when swim training in outdoor pools, even when the air temperature is quite high. A wetsuit top would interfere too much with his stroke, but are there any other options out there?
Thanks,
Tubs
My 11 year old with minimal body fat also suffers despite a heated pool and moderate temps. We have not found a solution at this point, he just has to grin and put up with it.
Hi,
My son is 14 and a pure swimmer. His body fat is quite low so he can get really cold when swim training in outdoor pools, even when the air temperature is quite high. A wetsuit top would interfere too much with his stroke, but are there any other options out there?
Thanks,
Tubs
I used to wear a couple of suits on top of each other and wear a cap. Nowadays though you might want to look into compression gear that is lycra based. 2XU calf and arm sleeves might help. At the end of the day though, there’s not much. I used to up the kicking speed (i.e. 6 beat kick) to increase internal temps. Worked for a few minutes…
I swim in an outdoor pool that gets quite cold in winter so wear a 2mm neoprene swimskin similar to this one. I find it doesn’t hinder my stroke at all but it keeps me that little bit warmer and swimming is a pleasure.
https://www.swiminn.com/swimming/zone3-neoprene-kneeskin/136719953/p
Wish we had that problem here in Hawaii, our outdoor pools can be in the upper 80s and even into the 90s sometimes…ugh!
Double up your swim cap and put in custom ear plugs. You lose a tremendous amount of heat through your head and ears.
Hi,
My son is 14 and a pure swimmer. His body fat is quite low so he can get really cold when swim training in outdoor pools, even when the air temperature is quite high. A wetsuit top would interfere too much with his stroke, but are there any other options out there?
Thanks,
Tubs
What about a swim skin bottom??? IIRC, some of the OW swimmers at the Oly were wearing long bottoms (down to their ankles) with a bare torso in the 10K swim. Further. he could wear a wetsuit bottom. As you may know, Desoto makes 2-piece wetsuits and prob a few other companies do also. I have no financial interest in Desoto but rather just think they make innovative stuff. 
Hi,
My son is 14 and a pure swimmer. His body fat is quite low so he can get really cold when swim training in outdoor pools, even when the air temperature is quite high. A wetsuit top would interfere too much with his stroke, but are there any other options out there?
Thanks,
Tubs
when I was your son’s age we struggled through some brutally cold early May outdoor practices. The coldest I remember was 63’ water and 45’ air temperature. We resorted to costing our bodies with Crisco. I don’t know how effective this was, but at least it was gross.
My son is 13 , 5’3 and probably 90 lbs… He swims outside year round ( NorCal) and yes he gets cold!
Pool is 78 and air temps can be anywhere from high 40s to 70s. They get really cold in February that’s for sure. Maybe you could try a rash guard but I can’t imagine they would let anyone swim with a wetsuit top or anything. I think the coach just says stuff like " If you’re cold you’re not going hard enough"… not helpful I know. I do know they really look forward to the hot shower after!
Also wearing a swim parka/ugg boots to and from practice.
Also grew up swimming outside in NorCal, and wasn’t a particularly lean child, and still was almost always cold. I learned to grin and bear it. (And I’m under 30, not old enough to mis-remember this particular discomfort.)
The time between sets were the worst. It’s true, when you’re actually swimming and moving and working hard, you’re not too cold, but on slower days or drill-heavy days, I remember my hands going numb. This will still happen to me now - I stopped between sets just last week in 90+ degree weather to chat with a friend, and was shivering by the end of the 5 min conversation.
The only solutions I had then and then later for kids who I coached was the same as Mrnchk - warm clothes before and after, hot shower, and hot car. If it’s happening especially between sets, treading water can be helpful. Vertical kick will keep him warm. If your son notices he’s feeling the effects of the cold after he’s moving again (like, shoulders won’t loosen back up, etc.), I’d say he (not you) should ask the coach if they can keep moving between sets.
Getting cold is part of the deal and is a really difficult mental hurdle.
Thanks for all the replies. My son usually swims indoors, but a couple times per year they go on a swim camp and swim outdoors. The last time he went the coach had to pull him out of the pool on a acouple of occasions when his lips started turning blue. Drill sets are definitelty the worst but if it is a windy day it laso makes it worse. Using a hat, even 2 swim caps, double up on jammers and vertical kicking between sets are good ideas thanks. Also making sure his core temp is warm before he starts is a good idea. Thanks for all the replies.
Will
only thing i’ve found is putting on fat.
i swim daily in a 26c pool and when i’ve shed my winter fat and during the tri season i’m literally shivering in the water after about 60 mins. i grew up with 28c pools which i’m completely comfortable in for 2 hours or more. (and i appreciate 26c isn’t even that cold!)
i was injured at my last race and had to take 3 weeks off completely from training. by the time i got back in the pool i was 4kg heavier, all fat, plus the extra to take into account muscle loss. completely comfortable in the 26c pool again for 90 mins+.
i’m generally a skinny guy and always have trouble with cold water, unless i put on a good chunk of fat, even though i don’t have any trouble with cold temperatures out of the water.
if any one has tips other than fat for staying warm in the water, that would help!
Tell your kid to learn to be uncomfortable. I was always cold as F during outdoor season. I turned out fine.
Never had this problem as a swimmer after about age 10 (except when the heater broke) . I would turn a little blue during practice, have a warm shower and went back and swam some more.
I would get a read on the actual temperature and see if there is an underlying issue if it’s in the normal range.
only thing i’ve found is putting on fat.
i swim daily in a 26c pool and when i’ve shed my winter fat and during the tri season i’m literally shivering in the water after about 60 mins. i grew up with 28c pools which i’m completely comfortable in for 2 hours or more. (and i appreciate 26c isn’t even that cold!)
i was injured at my last race and had to take 3 weeks off completely from training. by the time i got back in the pool i was 4kg heavier, all fat, plus the extra to take into account muscle loss. completely comfortable in the 26c pool again for 90 mins+.
i’m generally a skinny guy and always have trouble with cold water, unless i put on a good chunk of fat, even though i don’t have any trouble with cold temperatures out of the water.
if any one has tips other than fat for staying warm in the water, that would help!
All the people who say tough it out don’t understand physics. Even a fat person can die from hypothermia in 33C water stranded in the South Pacific…eventually the ocean will suck the calories out of the person. Heat transfer is very simple math.
I calorie heats up 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius
This is the math. No one can cheat it.
If you have a lot of mass, then your body can generate more heat to slow down the time it takes for your core temperature to drop. Small skinny people well they don’t have that much heat to transfer over to the pool.
We converting the potential energy in the form of stored glycogen into a combination of mechanical work (how hard we swim) and approximately 4x the number of joules that we generate in mechanical work in the form of heat. Big athletes generate more work and more heat. If we use cycling math, a person with a 200W FTP generates 800W of heat. A 300W FTP athlete generates 1200W of heat. The big athlete is generating 4x 100W lightbulb of heat compared to the small one. This is not negligible and allows that athlete to stay warm while working even though the small athlete may be going just as fast at 200W as the big one at 300W. The big athlete, will survive in the cold pool longer.
The next set of equations that govern heat loss rates for humans are surface area to volume ratio…generally smaller athletes have greater surface areas to volume ratios. They therefore benefit during really hot marathons but suffer in an English Channel crossing swim since their large surface area acts like a really efficient radiator for losing heat.
So its all bullshit talking about toughening up. I can tell the same people to toughen up in 38C heat in mile 23 of a marathon and stop complaining…different body types for different ranges of temperature. Heat transfer equations are determined by physics, not some stupid “toughen up” statements by misinformed people who don’t understand basic math.
Well at my “pure swimmer” time in case I as cold ( had 5% body fat at that time ) my coach always had two options -
Either you swim faster or ask everybody to start peeing.
I usually would warm up as a extra trying to escape the Shark in JAWS.
Not boast, just context. We are swimming at the moment in our winter in outdoor pools - varies but in last week then it’s varied from 0 degrees to 7 degrees air temp at 5:30am when we start. Pool is 26degrees. You can’t see more than about half way down the pool as the steam is coming off it which makes it interesting for squad when you can’t see where everyone is.
When ‘swimming’ then it’s not too bad with a cap on. Not great, but ironically feels like getting into a bath as you get in as standing on the side you get cold. However, if you are doing too many drills, or are waiting for others to finish the sub-set then you get cold real quick. The solution is to have a good coach that recognises this and modifies the set to prevent people being stopped for too long. We’ve had to change to do some more endurance swims even for our technique sessions as otherwise people get too cold and makes the session pointless. People also know that it’s fine to just do a quick 50 (2x25m) if we are stopped for some reason and they need to get some warmth.
One thing that does tie to the above comment is that it’s important to eat before/after. Doing it pre-breakfast is a total no-no and then I am really hungry straight after too.
Sorry, can’t help with rash vests/ etc. Whilst I’m way older, then there’s normally 4-5 lanes of teen swim squad beside us and they seem to be managing in the same way - keep moving.
When I swim in my unheated pool early in the season, if it’s too warm for a wetsuit, I put on a long sleeve rashguard, 2 caps and neoprene gloves. I always wear earplugs too. All those things together seem to keep me warm enough, even in between sets.