I did six weeks of cold showers, which have really helped me to climatise to the cold weather and now I can walk straight into the Atlantic sea. I’m 61 and am amazed at the benefits I’m finding. Thanks for this video.

Thanks for bringing Dr.Heather in. Congratulations to the idea to have her explaining in such a Swimterview! Great video!

such wonderful ideas not just about swimming as an activity but as a philosophy of approaching things in life, inspiring 22 minutes - a great upload

Great video. I started outdoor swimming 4 weeks ago and have slowly built up to swimming 1200 meters, with the help of my local open swimming group. I absolutely love it. And your videos have helped me understand what I’m putting my body through too.

Helpful! Thank you! Best tip I got from you Rachael is getting in the water slowly, going under and just sitting/standing there for a minute or two. Best tip! I get to observe my surroundings, the sun ☀️ and acclimate. Thank you 🙏🏽

Excellent video provides a great insight into cold water swimming. Nice clear delivery no boom music or I'm coming at you guys type of commentary.

A lot of good sense and listen to one's body.

Rachel I’m new to outdoor swimming and I’m finding your videos so useful and inspiring. Thankyou.

This was incredibly informative. Thank you both so much

Honoured to see Dr Heather. Much in demand. Lucky rach to have her on!

Great advice . Always enjoy.

I always wear my trusty swim shoes, ever since I stood on a weaver fish a few years ago!

Loving your videos 😊 They are so informative, especially to newbie chill swimmers like myself. Thank you ❤

Yes to swimterviews! Brilliant idea, and so informative. I will *definitely* take cake along to my next swim.

Love your channel Rach. It’s a breath of fresh air and full of good advice, especially as a beginner. Thanks

This was a great video. Dr Massey is fabulous and I was absorbing her every word! I also love Lee-on-Solent as I was brought up in Gosport so I know the Lee promenade very well. You could tell which way the tide was flowing by your drift. You both made it look like summer, which was fab. Eating ginger cake with a spoon! I wouldn't be able to do this in the winter with my numb hands. Thank you for the video. Lindsey

Thanks for these, am just about to start swimming outdoors and your friend Karen sent me the link to your videos. Am busy reading and learning as much as I can before I actually dip my toes in!

Very interesting video...and yes the best way to warm up is hot drink, food and a chat (even if that chat is to the local black headed gull called Limpy). I must try that stewed fruit.

Thanks for sharing the link, the article was very interesting and informative, shedding light on the physiological aspects if cold water immersion, recommended reading for all🤓

Thanks for the informative video. I always thought cold water shock was just me, so very helpful to understand it's just a natural response and to take things slowly. Really enjoying your videos. 🙂

Excellent advice and extremely helpful.

Perfect timing for this topic when many people are trying to get back into swimming or start fitness swimming rather than winter dipping. Very informative and well presented video (as usual 😀). Another relevant topic for the season is sun protection. I've been recently involved in a discussion on the oss facebook page and feel it would be worthwhile to share experience as well as science on this. What is eco friendly? How much is really necessary? How dangerous is exposure to the sun and how much is panic mongering? Are there scientifically approved alternatives to sun screen and sun blockers?

Gratitude for the conversation, lots of great advice 🙏

Bravo!

Brilliant video. I have learnt so much from all your videos. Also lovely to meet you last Wednesday after my swim.

I came for the info and the shared knowledge... I stayed for the Spicy Ginger Cake and the amazing beach scenery. I had fun swimming virtually with you two gals. I was thinking during this video... having had 5 orthopaedic surgeries on my left knee and foot, I have metal screws, plates, and joints... I would be interested in hearing Dr. Heather’s take on cold water immersion and how, or if, the cold water affects “metal body parts”? Thank-you for this one Rachel, it was excellent and awesome!! PS - I am dreaming of 11 degree water... hopefully soon... maybe in June 🏊‍♀️💦😃

Great video as always ! 💙💦🥶🧊🤍❄️

Brilliant video!

Another great video many thanks to Dr Massey for her knowledge

Rach, your videos are fab. I arrived here thanks to a link shared by a friend who is a much more experienced sea swimmer than me and now I much better understand what was going on in my body when my fingers were going numb after 30 minutes in the sea this morning... (I was right that it was a sign it was time to get out!) I'll definitely be ordering some neoprene boots - currently using cheapo "beach shoes" which are good for walking on the shingle, but I worry they'll fall off in the water and they certainly don't keep my feet warm. I've got a lot to learn about cold water swimming, but having started in earnest a few weeks ago (previously a summer-only sea swimmer), I'm really loving it and hope to make it a long-term habit - I've already watched several more of your videos too and have subscribed, so much really useful and accessible information.

Brilliant, I was getting the most discomfort getting out of the sea, really like it, although its been a nightmare on my patients n temper, cos it makes me feel so good, once I get out it dawns on me, its uphill again from hear, every bit of stress n tension I have in my daily life hits me before the stress n tensions started, I've actually lost my cool twice in the last fortnight, an I mean lost my cool, unforgivably so on both occasions, but I don't know if its getting in the sea that's made me realise I don't like the world I'm living in, my personal world that is, an some of the ppl I'm related to, I'm the family scapegoat/blackshoop...it defiantly has stilled my mind n given me a brief time to think clearly, maybe its not cold enough yet, so its made me feel good, but it doesn't last half hour after getting out, I literally am in arrears with my supply of paitents

I don't seem to experience cold water shock at all until I reach my torso. That's the bit that makes me sharp intake of breath 🙂 if I leave it too long though, I seem to chill too much and don't want to get in

Fab video again! Priceless info.😎

Sent to a couple of friends who might need inspiration! Well done!

Ganda nang snow keep it up

Thank you for this video. I am loving ny cold water swimming and am finding that although I feel fine in the water, if I'm in for a while (40 mins was my longest) and I felt a bit drunk, everything was heavy and it took effort. I am swimming in the pool to improve my technique.

really enjoy your videos, this one no exception, I started last summer and have found your vids so informative and helpful. Thanks!

I have just started open swimming a couple of months ago and hoping to dip year round. I wear my gloves and boots too and a cossie. I’m nervous about the coming winter (currently October and a balmy 13c in the river and 15c in the sea). I’ve decided to take hubby to help me as it gets colder, and never swim alone. Did someone say cake! 😁

As always great vid, very informative. Gracias 👍

what a interesting video! Thankyou!

A helpful video Thanks to you both

Hardest bit for me is from the lower back to neck. I can stand there for ages but still gasp when I punge

Most interesting and Thank you. Dr Massey’s point about the double edge sword of getting a lower shiver threshold raises a question about acclimatisation ! Presumably cold water is going to cool the body , any body to a set temperature if immersed for a length of time , so when we say people are used to cold water are they actually any less likely to become hypothermic or able to swim longer ?

Just loving these videos. Great info and I will read Dr. Massey’s paper with my coffee later !! Might have to make my late Scottish Mother in-law’s ginger cake to take along for my next swim - From Duncan BC (Vancouver Island) Canada - where the sea temp is a balmy 11 deg C let me know if you want me to send you a touque (= bobble hat) for your collection

Great video, really enjoyed it

2 absolute legendesses in a very honoured body of water - she's fab and is to outdoor swimming what professor Van Tam has been to Covid. You would have made a fab Blue Peter presenter Rach you even have cute dogs :D Awake early this morning so await your video for this week :)

Great stuff!

Brilliant video

One more thing I would love to know, being a personal trainer myself, how long can acclimatization after the change during the after drop is optimal. I.E. in muscle training, you need between 24-48 hours between muscle groups to allow maximal growth, and the rest period between sessions is paramount to allow the adaptions to occur, otherwise, the results are heavily slowed. So I guess I am asking for maximal adaption do you need to swim x number of times week with y amount of rest etc... I hope this makes sense.

Really enjoyed this and top-notch information... did you forget to put the link to Heather’s paper? 🤓

I would like to comment. I swim all year around ,but more in winter time ,the only reason it is to crowded in summer. I have found out about 25 years ago that before I go in, I do some beading exercise, in and out from my mouth and nose. The other thing the air has to be at least one degree higher then the sea at last. The only reason is ,you are coming up to a little warmer air, instead the other way around. I just like to jump in and hope for the best to swim it. I have found this cold shock it is only for beginners , may be i am wrong or more confidence for my swim.The other thing with nothing on me except to cover him up. In 14 digress . I can make an hour slow relaxed snorkeling swim with no problem's at all .The other thing how you feel that day most important thing . happy swimming.

Really great information on acclimatising and getting in slow. Also if new to open water swimming what time of the year to start

I never get in slowly, I feel it extends the discomfort so instead I opt to plunge in all at once.

Great vid! Salute from Greece. 🏊‍👙

brilliant

I am still in the acclimisation stage. I go in for a few min at a time. I live in pnw and the water has dropped temp considerably. I have no idea what temp it is but it feels colder everyday i go in. The day before yesterday my hands began to tingle. Yesterday, my arms and hands were extensively tinglly. It felt very clearly nerve related. I only stayed in 2 minutes once I felt the intense nerve tingles. Any insight on this intense tingling? Thank you

Water temperature? (Did I miss it? I've skipped around the video looking for it) . It's mid October and I'm still swimming in Long Island Sound (New York, USA) but I suspect the water temp here is far above what you had when you shot this video. I'm trying to get a sense of how far into the winter I'll be able to keep it up.

Great video thank you! .... could you do a video on Jelly Fish, i’m pretty sure i got stung today, not badly, not even as bad a stinging nettles but similar. I think the storm may have brought them in. Was a first for me! Any tips?! Xx

I have Adrenal Insufficiency, I can’t make cortisol naturally.. I want to start swimming, but I can’t seem to find any info S to whether it is safe to swim with this condition.. I live in Brighton and it is July. So I am starting now

I'm seeing this video with my wife and she asked me : why they are taking all this time to swim 🏊‍♀️?! I told her that the water is so cold 🤧🤧🤧

Hai Rachel, I have a question. I'am now winterswimming for the 3rd year in a row and have only had this experience twice so far and am curious if you have heard this from other people? At such a moment (after having been in water for 15 minutes) I swim in the water and everything still works well and my speech and stroke is normal and stuff. And after a while I feel so relaxed, no longer cold, euphoric almost and want nothing more than just staying there and almost feel like falling asleep , or wanting to lay down on the bottom of the sea while I don't feel tired at all ... a very uncanny deeply relaxed feeling of which my gut suspects that this feeling is probably not to be trust or no longer a good indicator of a phase of a wich your friend is talking about in this video ... and so far I have always gone out (for safety)when I feel myself going in this state and it feels unfortunate because The state that I am then feels so wonderful. Did you ever heard this from other people or what do you think about this ...?

I have just started cold water swimming. Even with a neoprene hat my head doesn’t like the cold water. I notice you keep your head dry. Are there any risks if you do swim with your face in the water as you would do in a indoor pool?

From india

It seems 'Swim Failure' IS my swim technique.. 😂

Very disturbed that you weren't wearing 7 layers of badly fitting warm up clothes :) Liz

So REALLY good advice. I would love to read some of Dr Massey's papers. Academia.edu here I come! If Daniel Craig did spend too long in the water you could hug him to raise his temperature... I am guessing that would be hard to do so take one for the team. ;) I, like Caroline Saxon (The Swim Tribe Podcast), have a lower body temperature (more towards the 36c) than normal it would be interesting to know if this affects how long I could spend in the water.