Musings on Water Aerobics

I recently started going to water aerobics, mostly in solidarity with my mom, who is also going.

I like that, in contrast to a lot of other fitness classes, I’m not one of the fattest people in the class, and the instructor is also fat; I don’t feel like I stand out or like I’m out of place.

I don’t like that most of the small talk centers on weight loss/weight management.

I’m surprised that I don’t float as well as most of the people in the class, including ones significantly thinner than I am. (Fat is lighter than water.) If I take a deep breath and close my mouth and eyes and relax in deep water, my head goes under water (the water just covers the top of my head). About 10-20% of the women are like me and need to use a floaty-noodle-thingy when we’re in the deep end of the pool. The one time I saw a man at the class, he had to use two floaty-noodle-thingies. Like me, he was fat but not unusually fat. Men tend to have less fat and more muscle (and I think more bone mass) at a given weight than women.

I think I used to float better in the past. I think when I dog-paddled before, my mouth was usually safely above the water. When I dog-paddle, my mouth is just barely above the water. Being low in the water feels different. It makes me think of crocodiles.

I like to pretend I’m a crocodile.

Crocodiles don’t spend most of their day swimming, but then, neither do I.