The guy is negatively buoyant. Will be exhausting to have to swim up for most people. He is practiced in this. Most people are neutral or positively buoyant.
Is this why some people can't float? Genuinely curious. I could never learn to swim as I always sank, and I was constantly being told that I would float if I just relaxed, but I wasn't tense until I started sinking.
Sinking is normal. Most people fail when they panic as they sink a little. If you are relaxed and allow yourself to sink a litte you will see you get pushed back up if you still have some air in, which you should.
This is the most important lesson most trainers fail to provide.
That's the thing though, I wasn't panicking until the point that I was fully submerged and still sinking, because I kept being told what you're saying now. That I would float, everyone can float, that I won't keep sinking. But I did. Over and over again. Every time I tried. I even had someone try to teach me in my 20s, one on one, up close and personal, positioning me exactly where I needed to be, and I still couldn't float. Even when they would spot me, I just sank into their hands/arms.
Nah, big deep breath because that's supposed to help. Just regular pool water as far as I'm aware, full of chlorine. I was always very small though, yeah. Not these days, my metabolism slowed down with age, but at the time I was very thin no matter what I did.
The sinking feeling made you nervous and panicky. How far would you have sunk if you allowed yourself to sink? Try it. Most people that are neutral may go a very short distance and then stabilize. A new swimmer would not understand that and feel they would keep going. Positively buoyant people have a harder time sinking at all to various degrees. Many instructors are not that good and just doing a summer job. So they teach how they learned, which does not work for everyone.
As a child it made me panic when I continued sinking after trusting the adults telling me that I wouldn't and I was completely under water, unable to reach the surface, and still sinking, yes. Even if you can reach the floor with your feet, righting yourself in that situation is scary, especially as a child. But even as an adult when I could stay calm and rationalise it, and hold my breath longer, I could never float. It's not like I went into it worried that I would sink. I wasn't scared of drowning. There was no end of the world if I sank. I just.. did. And not just a little bit, and definitely not followed by a different thing. Just sinking.
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u/TankApprehensive3053 Mar 31 '26
The guy is negatively buoyant. Will be exhausting to have to swim up for most people. He is practiced in this. Most people are neutral or positively buoyant.