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Is it normal to sink?

fuzzybabybunny

fuzzybabybunny

Moderator<br>Digital & Video Cameras
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Lately I've been spending time at the pool and doing a few experiments to see just how well I can sink. It's always been hard for me to swim because it requires a lot of effort to get to the surface for a breath, and I'm starting to understand why.

1. When I fill my lungs completely with air (including the deep belly breath) and just go motionless in the water, I float vertically, with the top of my head about two inches under the water's surface. This means I float, but I float entirely under the water. So it's more like I don't sink.

2. If I then let out a tiny bit of air, I start to sink very very slowly.

3. If I let out a bit more air, I start to sink quickly, so quickly in fact that I accelerate. When I hit the bottom of the 17ft pool I actually have to bend my legs a little bit when I hit the floor.

In #3, the amount of air that I have in my lungs is still quite a bit. My lungs still feel full, and I can stay underwater for a good 30-40 seconds.

Conclusion: Thus I conclude why it has always been harder for me to swim than anyone else. When I swim, my first breath when I launch off from the side is full, so I have no problem staying close to the surface and getting my first breath. But my second breath is less full than the first, and I start to sink. This sinking means I have to exert a lot more effort than others just to get to the surface to breath, and this in turn tires me out and makes my swimming poopy. It's a bad chain reaction: Less air in lungs, start to sink, exert more force to get to the surface, at the surface for a shorter amount of time, get even less air in lungs, start to sink again, exert even more force to get to surface, etc.

Comments? A lot of people have seen my sinking and they say it's very unusual. When I'm at the pool I love to just relax and allow my body to drop to the bottom, where I'll just chill in the peace and quiet for a while. The lifeguards, apart from being nervous, just kinda stare at me the entire time and I guess wonder how I manage to sink so effortlessly.
 
Originally posted by: MotionMan
My brother in law sinks like a rock.

Some people float, others don't.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

Is he a good swimmer? I'm assuming he must be stronger than average or have better swimming motions than others to be a good swimmer.
 
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Originally posted by: MotionMan
My brother in law sinks like a rock.

Some people float, others don't.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

Is he a good swimmer? I'm assuming he must be stronger than average or have better swimming motions than others to be a good swimmer.
Click to expand...

He was on his high school swim team. He is a VERY good swimmer.

He just happens to sink like a rock if he does not move.

MotionMan
 
Originally posted by: MotionMan
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Originally posted by: MotionMan
My brother in law sinks like a rock.

Some people float, others don't.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

Is he a good swimmer? I'm assuming he must be stronger than average or have better swimming motions than others to be a good swimmer.
Click to expand...

He was on his high school swim team. He is a VERY good swimmer.

He just happens to sink like a rock if he does not move.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

Yay I guess there's hope for me!
 
Ive always thought that more muscular people sank (or those whose bones are a larger proportion of their body) while fat people floated.

 
Muscle and bone sinks, fat floats.

If you are very lean or muscular you will generally sink like a stone. People with more fat will float better.


Edit: go SCUBA diving and see how much weight it takes the people with more fat to sink. They almost had to strap a cast iron tub to one rather large guy in my class.
 
Originally posted by: K1052
Muscle and bone sinks, fat floats.

If you are very lean or muscular you will generally sink like a stone. People with more fat will float better.


Edit: go SCUBA diving and see how much weight it takes the people with more fat to sink. They almost had to strap a cast iron tub to one rather large guy in my class.
Click to expand...


yup I have to use 28 pounds in a 3mil wet suit to dive in salt water.

my fatass needs to go on a diet!!!
 
Originally posted by: MotionMan
My brother in law sinks like a rock.

Some people float, others don't.

MotionMan
Click to expand...

*ding* That's me too. I can swim very well, actually. Odd thing is that I can't float for more than a few seconds before dipping under. I can tread water all day long...but I have to be moving, else down I go. 😱
 
Originally posted by: K1052
Muscle and bone sinks, fat floats.

If you are very lean or muscular you will generally sink like a stone. People with more fat will float better.


Edit: go SCUBA diving and see how much weight it takes the people with more fat to sink. They almost had to strap a cast iron tub to one rather large guy in my class.
Click to expand...

Umm, then explain me. I have VERY little fat on me and am very athletic yet i float like a cork.
 
Originally posted by: chambersc
Umm, then explain me. I have VERY little fat on me and am very athletic yet i float like a cork.
Click to expand...
Body composition analysis generally doesn't take into account fat located between one's ears?
 
It's normal.

You'll learn to control it by how much air you have in your lungs. With your lungs full you should float just barely. You'll sink when you let some out, you sink faster if you let it all out.

When scuba diving you use this all the time to control your buoyancy.
 
I sink when staying still, I can't imagine it happening when moving, though. Make sure you are moving fast enough that your body is horizontal.
 
Originally posted by: spidey07
It's normal.

You'll learn to control it by how much air you have in your lungs. With your lungs full you should float just barely. You'll sink when you let some out, you sink faster if you let it all out.

When scuba diving you use this all the time to control your buoyancy.
Click to expand...

When my lungs are full of air, as described above, I float, but a few inches under the surface of the water. Basically the best I can do is just barely not sink.
 
I'm a twig and I am nearly physically incapable of getting to the bottom of the pool. Like those damned "retrieve the brick" tests in high school I always failed. Even with my lungs completely void of air I have to basically pull myself to the bottom.
 
With all these people who are good swimmers but sink when they stop moving, does this worry you? If you're out in the open water without a life jacket, aren't you pretty much doomed? You're going to get tired and stop moving sometime or another... whereas people who float very well can just lay on their back motionless if they get tired, and still be able to breathe.
 
Originally posted by: fuzzybabybunny
Originally posted by: spidey07
It's normal.

You'll learn to control it by how much air you have in your lungs. With your lungs full you should float just barely. You'll sink when you let some out, you sink faster if you let it all out.

When scuba diving you use this all the time to control your buoyancy.
Click to expand...

When my lungs are full of air, as described above, I float, but a few inches under the surface of the water. Basically the best I can do is just barely not sink.
Click to expand...

So you are really skinny I take it? I'm pretty muscular and drop like a rock. It has to do with how much fat you have.

You should be able to do a dead mans float. Fill your lungs with air, face down into the water, arms out...and you'll float. When you let air out you'll start to sink.

Ever think about swimming classes? that will teach you how to breathe.
 
OP's true identity has been exposed. OP's NOT a fuzzybunny. OP's a fattybunny.

I sink 'cause I'm lean.
 
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