Indoors vs wild - where is the best place to swim?

Question: Tell me about your experience with swimming.

Answer: "I learned to swim when I was about 10. However, I was not a particularly strong or interested swimmer.

"In my 30s, I started running regularly and even completed a couple of marathons. As I entered my 40s, I struggled with a lot of running-related injuries and was recommended swimming as a good alternative.

"I typically swim 3 times a week and complete short distances of 500-1000m during my lunch hour."

Question: What do you think the benefits of swimming are?

Answer: "Swimming gives me the same positive feeling of a workout as I get from a run - but without the impact issues that can come from running. It uses every major muscle in your body. The top half of my body is now stronger and more toned too, which it wasn't when I was mainly running.

"Swimming also helps me compartmentalise my thoughts. I don't do it consciously, but I feel the benefit afterwards. My thoughts are more ordered and I have a better sense of perspective. This can be as much about my personal life as work life. It's definitely a positive to my working day when I go swimming at lunchtime."

Question: Do you use any specialist kit or equipment?

Answer: "I wear swim goggles, a nose clip and a sports watch. The nose clip in particular is a game-changer for me as I really couldn't get my breathing sorted until I started using one. And that's what helped me turn swimming from a hobby to a habit."

Why do you prefer to swim indoors?

Answer: "I'm really fortunate that I have an indoor pool near where I live and the membership is really cheap. So it's really just convenient to go indoors. Plus, an indoor pool is warmer.

"I'll happily snorkel for a couple of hours or more in Majorca, or visit my local lido on a warm day. But I'm a bit of a fair weather swimmer, who lives in a city, so it's often easier to just go to the indoor pool."

Question: Tell me about your experience with swimming.

Answer: "I learned to swim as a child. I remember 'doggy paddling' when I was 6 years old and then receiving certificates for doing a half length and full length of the pool when I was 9 years old. In my early 20s my friend taught me how to do the freestyle swimming stroke properly and from then on it took off. I now swim twice a week, three times if I can squeeze it in."

Question: What do you think the benefits of swimming are?

Answer: "I returned to swimming after a hiatus during Covid and was going swimming occasionally. However, in January 2024, I decided I wanted to swim regularly. I combined this commitment with a training programme.

"In the programme, I learned about aggregation of marginal gains. Essentially making small adjustments in your life can create a large impact. My commitment was going swimming before work, that way I found my body was rested and I performed better. Plus, I didn't need to carve out time from work to swim.

"Aside from the immediate physical workout, the effect of those endorphins provides a kind of well-being. My swim is quite meditative – I become conscious of intake and output of breath and totally absorbed in the activity. At the same time, it gives an energy boost to the day."

Question: What is something that people might be surprised to know about swimming?

Answer: "The good thing about swimming is that you can make it as social as you would like. I am not a big chatter at the pool because of time constraints and I don't tend to stop during my swim. However you do build up a natural camaraderie with people you see at the pool regularly. Plus, you can always discuss technique with fellow swimmers!"

Question: Where do you prefer to swim?

Answer: "I mainly swim indoors, but also sometimes in the sea. Each experience is so different from one another.

"For me, indoor pools are for the swimming experience and true exercise - improving technique, stamina and mind.

"Outdoor swimming is more interaction with my physical environment - body surfing in the waves, diving into them and swimming parallel to the coast.

"However, I mainly outdoor swim in warmer environments like the Atlantic coast around Spain, or the English Channel on the South coast."

Question: Tell me about your swimming experience.

Answer: "I became a keen swimmer in my teens, much to the surprise of my Mum who had endured tears every Saturday morning before swimming lessons when I was a child!

"My new-found interest in swimming largely stemmed from my recent diagnosis of a rheumatoid condition affecting my joints and muscles. Swimming is an empowering way to stay active and healthy, and manage symptoms and progression of my condition.

"In 2017, I stopped swimming to care for my mum, who sadly died from cancer in 2018. It has taken a number of years to get back into swimming. But returning to swimming has helped me in more ways than I could have ever predicted.

"I aim to swim twice a week, but I'm always led by what is best for my body. I started wild swimming in 2023 following a deeply inspiring conversation I had with someone about the benefits of outdoor swimming following their cancer diagnosis and treatment."

Question: How do you feel when you are swimming?

Answer: "I feel calm, empowered, strong and entirely in the moment. I feel like my stresses are left at the poolside or lakeside. When swimming outdoors, I also feel a huge sense of awe being immersed in such beautiful surroundings.

Question: Have you ever taken part in a swimming challenge?

Answer: "Shortly after I started wild swimming in 2023, I saw that Macmillan was a charity partner of the Great North Swim. I thought how special it would be to raise money to support Macmillan's vital work in memory of my Mum, who encouraged me to get in the pool all those years ago.

"It was amazing to do the Great North Swim to raise funds for people living with and affected by cancer. Through carefully training and managing my health, at the time of the swim I was without a doubt at the healthiest and strongest my body has ever been.

"It was an incredibly empowering and humbling experience. I raised over £1500 for Macmillan and this is an achievement I will always carry with pride.

"If I could go back in time and do the Great North Swim again then I would in a heartbeat. For now, I'm focusing on giving my body time to fully rest and recover."

Question: Tell me more about becoming a wild swimmer.

Answer: "Even as a confident indoor swimmer, outdoor swimming felt in some ways like learning a whole new sport. I knew it would be colder, but the weather and size of the body of water you're swimming in makes a huge difference. There are a lot of things to learn about to swim outdoors safely and comfortably.

"I've been really lucky to have met lots of people who have helped me out with so much advice, including a very helpful tip from my father-in-law to drink a full fat coke after a swim to neutralise any nasties accidentally swallowed in the lake!"

Question: Tell me about your experience of swimming.

Answer: "I started swimming when I was 6 years old. I grew up in Australia and swimming was a key part of my early years. It was even part of the sports curriculum at school.

"Swimming played a big role in my social life growing up. I would go swimming with my friends and family at the local outdoor pool. It was a big part of my life until the age of 13 when I moved to the UK.

"When I was in my 20s, I picked up swimming again because I worked for a company that had a swimming pool nearby. I'd go with my colleagues once a week during lunchtime. Then later in my life when my children were old enough we would go to pool.

"In 2021, my friend wanted to go for a swim at a lake nearby. I was always very tempted to go, so went with her and have become an avid wild swimmer ever since. I now swim 2 to 3 times a week at a local farm that offers wild swimming in their ponds."

Question: Can you tell me about your cancer experience and swimming?

Answer: "Soon after I started open water swimming, I had a routine mammogram. Then a biopsy which led me to being diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time.

"I had a mastectomy so couldn't swim for a few months. It was a single mastectomy without reconstruction. So normally I'll wear prosthesis, but I don't when swimming.

"At first I was self conscious, but realised nobody cares because where I swim people are looking at the beautiful countryside. It found it different from swimming in a gym pool where I have felt like I was being stared at a little bit.

"I feel comfortable swimming at the farm - I don't have to worry about how society expects me to look."

Question: How do you feel when wild swimming?

Answer: "Sometimes I can find it difficult to unwind, but swimming has taught me about letting things go. For instance, if I am swimming in the quiet lake and people are talking I usually just think 'shush!' However, over time I've just learned to let it go. Instead I just enjoying being in the water rather than thinking about what's going on elsewhere.

"Open water has helped me to switch off from the noise going on in my head."

Do you have any advice for people interested in wild swimming?

Answer: "Don't overthink it and enjoy it. Open water swimming is an amazing experience. Yes, it can be cold when you first get in, but you will acclimatise.

"I also think that it can be helpful to find someone to swim with or find a community to join. It can help to build up your confidence."