Last summer I decided that Swimmers had the best bodies. The continuous fighting of resistance every time you moved your arm through the water whilst performing a freestyle stroke made for broad shoulders, and the twisting of the torso as you glided through the lightly chlorinated water tightened the abs.
With this in mind, this shameless attempt at vanity, I started doing research as to where the best place to start swimming would be.
The beach was out of the question, living in Leichhardt I didn't live close enough and what I wanted to do were laps, not frolicking in the waves. Whilst looking for the perfect swimming venue, I took a multiple things into account.
Location: It had to be in a good location, not out of the way, ideally, somewhere I passed often. (The constant passing of the site would ensure that not only would I be reminded to attend, but also, I would be able to slot in random laps on my way to and from places I already had attend.)
I found Victoria Park Pool with its proximity to my house and scenic location in the middle of a beautiful park and with it being slotted half way from home and from the city, the perfect centre point.
Next I looked at Price: Yes I was working at the time, but I was working in a Video Shop and I had to be wary of how much this new habit was going to cost me. A lot of gyms and pools required hefty payments monthly in order to keep membership current and I simply couldn't afford that, nor could I afford the day to day fare, which while potentially cheaper, would also be less motivating.
Victoria Park Pool had a one off joining fee and then $16 per fortnight taken from my bank through direct debit, a price I could definitely agree on.
And finally, quality of the pool: The pool was quality. Not knowing much about pools, I wasn't able to judge this element so precisely, but it has an Olympic sized swimming pool, broken up into the standard eight lanes, the fast lanes, slow lanes and recreational lanes.
All in all my Victoria Park Pool experience, once I had made a few adaptions to my schedule, was a good experience. I had to avoid going in the afternoon, once school was out the place was crawling with children, screaming, possibly urinating children. I couldn't go early mornings in Autumn and Winter, the water wasn't the issue, but the cool winds that came through were, and I had to avoid that creepy guy who would just stare at my Speedos and objectify me. With this in mind I was on my way to a swimmers body. read more