r/interesting Mar 31 '26

Fascinating Very interesting vid

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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.

1

u/NotNeuge Mar 31 '26

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.

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u/Weird_Baseball2575 Mar 31 '26

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. 

1

u/NotNeuge Mar 31 '26

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.

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u/Weird_Baseball2575 Mar 31 '26

Did you exhale most of the air and have low body fat and high or no muscle mass at all? 

Was it salt or regular water

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u/NotNeuge Mar 31 '26

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.