Why don't I stay afloat in the swimming pool?

Well.. i have the same thing.. It has something to do with you having too little fat in your bodycells. But you should try a swim in the Dead Sea, (Israel) as it's the saltiest body of water and everybody floats there!

You really don't need to float to swim. When I'm in shape, I sink unless my lungs are full, then I float with just the top of my head above water. If you are moving, you will plane out in the water and stay at the surface. As far as getting out of breath after 2 lengths of the pool, that's just conditioning. Do your 2 lengths, rest 1-2 minutes, then do 2 more. Repeat. As you get stronger, increase to 2, 3, 4, lengths between rests. I also recommend to people that they learn to swim sidestroke while they build up their endurance. It's easier for you to breathe when your face isn't going in and out of the water. As you get stronger, you can alternate sidestroke with more difficult strokes. Sidestroke compares to freestyle the way jogging compares to running. You need to work up to the point where you aren't thinking about how you are going to get your next breath. You want to get to the point where, if you get a mouthful of water, it doesn't bother you, because you know you can get air the next time.

get one of those lil floatation boards that ur hold infront of u

You've got a heavy skeleton. I have the same problem, I look about 13st but actually weigh nearer 15st, not good for floating. Takes all the fun out of swimming. I really hate these people who scoot across the top of the water like a duck with hardly any limb movement at all when I have to struggle.

A VERY common misunderstanding.. If you stick your whole body under water and take a deep breath you will find out whether this is true or not instantly!! If you are densely structured bone and body, you will sink to a certain depth. Nothing to do with fat! Fat floats, whales are awesome swimmers! If you sink to the bottom holding your breathe your just body dense and need propulsion to stay afloat. Rare. If your a runner, gravity fed impact on bones and endurance muscles are heavy in runners, not brilliant for aquatic environment. Fully recommend playing with body position in water. Adults sink by the hips and feet quite quickly as a rule. Try and find a comfortable lying straight position with head fully in water, usually backstroke, hence can breathe all the time and go slow! Not so slow you sink but slow enough so you can tell what's going on. Above and beyond everything relax and take your time, going fast covers the sinking errors in stroke! Summary: no-one floats with there head out of water? Also think about whether you holding your breathe or breathing out all the time.. etc. Keep going swimming is an awesome fitness sport but really hard work!

Everyone has different densities, and muscle being more dense than fat will make slimmer musclular people more prone to sinking than people who have more fat. I think if you are able to relax it could well help, remember if you hold a large lungful of air, this will increase your buonancy no end. Perhaps try doing this in the shallows.

I think a lot of it for me was trying to trust myself and be relaxed in the water. Until you are completely stress free then I doubt you'll do it.

It means you are fit! Seriously, bone and muscle are more dense that water (meaning: they sink). Fat is less dense than water (it floats). So if you sink in water, even with your lungs full of air, you can assume you're in pretty good shape. Think about the bodies of Olympic swimmers versus Olympic runners: the swimmers aren't fat by any means, but they generally do have a little more "padding" than the runners. I assume that is so that they can have a little "assistance" with their floating, so they can use all their energy to swim faster.

if you breathe in and hold your breathe you float if you breathe out you sink, if u cant do 2 lengths will held breathe go to the dead sea! you always float there cos of how much salt there is,,,, warning dont go in with just a swimsuit on tho ;-)