Love Our Pool, Though Season Over Half Over

Summer in Shiloh... It's great, because we have a swimming pool. And the pool is a short walk from our house.

When we chose the building plot, where we now live, nobody had a clue that it would be such a great location. It's a minute's walk from the shul and in the other direction, about three minutes from the pool, besides being in between two bus stops. I chose it for the sunrise. It faces directly east and doesn't get strong winter winds.

One of the great things about the pool is that not only do we have "separate hours" for males and females, but there are "adult"hours. That means that the opening and closing hours of the pool are for grownups. It's quiet and peaceful, less crowded. We can swim and exercise without distraction and bother. I only go to those adult hours unless my granddaughters are visiting.

I've been taking out membership for years. It encourages me to go, even when I don't have all that much time. When you pay for each time, you end up going much less. I try to go every day, whether hours are in the morning or evening. To be honest, I'm not a "swimmer." I do my own version of water aerobics. Years ago I went to the pool in Neve Yaakov and learned a lot from the teacher there. They had fantastic lessons free once a week. So now add what I learned there with my years studying dance and "movement" to get a lot out of my time in the pool.

Our pool season ends at the end of August unless enough people sign up for September. Gd willing, I'll find a way to get to a pool during the rest of the year. It is so good for my general fitness and wellbeing.

Must get moving, so I can go to the pool.

I Don't Swim, Just Exercise/Dance in The Pool

I'd burn more calories in the pool with this music.


In all honesty I was never a real swimmer, but that doesn't stop me from doing my own version of "swimming laps."

Too Bad The Pedometer Doesn't Count Water Exercise

As many of you know, I have my phone set up as a pedometer, and I happily show off my step count on Instagram and Facebook.

On a day like today, when it was a scorcher, real summer day, my walking partner and I walked two circuits early in the morning, and then I was home until evening when I went to the nearby pool. I exercised in the water for 45 minutes.

According to my pedometer I did a rather lazy under 9,000 steps. And no, my phone isn't waterproof.

Isn't it a bit crazy that I don't feel I've exercised if the pedometer doesn't confirm it?

New Swimming Gloves, Sort Of

A major element in my water/pool fitness routine is wearing swimming gloves. Simply put, they make my hands look like a duck's webbed feet. I first received the gloves from my mother, who began using them in the water when she took Water Aerobics fitness classes a few decades ago. The webbing "enlarges" the hand, which produces both more power and requires much more effort. The more effort, the fitter your arms and upper body get.

Like all other equipment, they must be replaced periodically, as they disintegrate, peel,  get holes etc.

For some strange reason, the gloves are almost impossible to buy here in Israel, so I used to replace them when visiting family in the states. But now that my parents have both passed away, I no longer travel nor have any plans on visiting.

I asked a friend to pick some up for me. She saw a different version on Amazon for an amazingly low price. We figured it was worth trying them out. They are silicon and just partial gloves, just enough to provide some webbing, but they don't cover the entire hand.

At her suggestion, I added a bit of powder to the bag they were in, so they would slip on more easily. Their effectiveness in the water was less than the full glove/mitten, but they did provide more surface area and effort than nothing at all.

Pool Exercise Fitness

I'm pretty low tech when it comes to my fitness routine. I walk all year round, and during our short three month pool season I exercise in the water. To be perfectly honest, I'm not a swimmer, never was.

Somehow the basic "crawl" stroke was never a success with me. I don't suffer fear of water, and even though I don't "swim" properly, I can go from one end of the pool to the other endlessly using my own "strokes."

In recently years I developed techniques using two of these floating things to exercise my upper body reasonably well. In the water, they are like weights when you hold them and try to push them into the water.  The thicker they are the better, and you should make sure you're using the same length and thickness in each hand for an even workout.

Our Shiloh pool has them available for our use during Women's Hours and Water Aerobics classes.

Yes, The Shiloh Swimming Pool is Open!

I was away in New York for the Grand Season Opening of the Shiloh Swimming Pool. I try not to miss pool days, since our season is terribly short, barely three months. And it's closed for what is considered pleasure swimming from the 1st of Av (Jewish Month) until the 10th of Av aka "the Nine Days." But for various reasons, I had to go when I went, so I did. And I must admit that Gd was with me on that and still wanted me to exercise in the water, so He arranged for me to stay with a friend who has a swimming pool in her building that can be used by guests, which I did very happily. In my modest bathing-suit, and the fact that at the hour my friend and I went, there was hardly anyone there but the lifeguard, and the fact that we were there for health reasons, I don't consider it problematic. 

Once I returned home, I got out the outdoor pool gear, yes, as you can see, the dark plastic glasses, hat and a bathing suit which looks more like an outfit I could wear on Shabbat or a trip to Jerusalem. It has a flowered top, 3/4 length sleeves and a regular-looking skirt with "built-in" shorts.

The Shiloh Swimming Pool, as you can see, is actually two pools, a regular swimming pool and a wading pool for toddlers. There's lots of grass for sitting, plastic chairs and playground toys for the kids. In addition, there's a snackbar in which you can buy all sorts of treats and food. And of course, there are toilets and showers.

There is "separate swimming" only at the pool. Children under five (or is it six?) can be with the opposite sex.  Also, children under a certain age must have an older person along to watch. And the best thing is that the first hour and a half and the last hour before closing are "adults" only. That makes it much more pleasant.

PS I don't "swim." I exercise, do my version of water aerobics.

A Kvetch, Trying to Make Exercise Fun

Yes, I'm a kvetch, sorry.

As I wrote yesterday, the pool is now closed. It was so much fun going three or four times a week for an exercise session in the pool. No I don't "swim." I love to dance, my true calling, and I have my based on dance routines for the water. And of course I can chat with friends while exercising there in the pool which is conveniently across the street from my house.

But without the pool being full and open, I'm stuck.

Sometimes I just went for a 15 minute session. It's worth it when you pay season membership and live close-by.

But now it's closed.

Last night I took my earphones and "device" and took a short walk. I didn't want to wait until it wasn't a pool day. I wanted that transition to be immediate. But it's not quite the same to walk around with earphones when the sun isn't high in the sky. It's hard to force myself out even for just one circuit. I can't do it when the sun is too strong or when it's raining. And walking doesn't do the same for my body as the stretches, twists and turns in the pool, sigh...

Sorry for kvetching so publicly...

Why Do People Think I Swim Laps?

Shiloh Swimming Pool

When people hear that I go to the pool for fitness, they take for granted that I swim laps.They are inevitably shocked to hear that I don't swim laps. Actually, I don't even swim, at least not anything that resembles one of the strokes I had been taught well over half a century ago.

And, no, I'm not afraid of the water, not even deep water. I've never had any problems floating and paddling around a pool or lake or whatever for as long as I can remember.

And I certainly had proper swimming lessons, at a Y one year and at all sorts of camps. I was also taught in school. In Great Neck North the junior high school had a pool, and swimming was on the required curriculum.

My head could do the "Crawl" the basic swimming, racing and lap stroke, but somehow, I was so painfully slow and de-energized I could never swim enough lengths or laps or swim quickly enough to graduate from Advanced Beginner. I never, ever passed a "Deep Water Test," the requirement to be permitted into the deeper end of the pool or lake. It didn't matter that I could do the Side Stroke or Elementary Back Stroke for long periods of time. They are both slow relaxing strokes, which I found suited my "swimming style." Of course I did them more slowly than anyone else.

In Junior High we were required to do twenty-five pool lengths of each stroke to pass that part of the required curriculum. I started with the Elementary Back Stroke, and it took me the entire lesson, a lot longer than anyone else. I was so exhausted afterwards that it was decided to exempt me from the requirement.

Here I am over fifty years later, and I probably spend more time in the pool than many who passed Swimming. Nowadays I don't even do the strokes I once loved, because they are bad for my knees. Instead, I dance in the water. I do all sorts of exercises; some I learned and others I've made up.

As a dancer who trained for almost two decades and former dance and sports teacher, I firmly believe that exercise requirements must be flexible. Any activity you do in the water which is more than standing still or floating on some sort of raft is good. The same goes for most any exercise. Fifteen minutes or a few minutes of stretching here and there is better than nothing. It may not be the same as a good workout, but it's definitely worth keeping up!

Enjoy!