Anyone into swim rings? What do you do with them?
I got my start with swim rings. As a kid I had a friend who liked to lay on them and he asked me to join him. We weighed perhaps 200 pounds between us, way more than half of it me, and I couldn't believe it held that much. I've often wondered if it turned into an obsession for him. Sadly, he's not alive, so I can't ask him.
When I was much younger and much smaller I liked to sit on one side of the ring to stress the other side as much as possible. As I got heavier I'd bottom out more and more easily, and I learned to spread the weight over as much of the inflatable as was required to keep from bottoming out, to keep all my weight on it, but still all on one side. I loved how big and hard the other side would get, and how stretched it would be when I got up.
It was in high school that I got too heavy to do this. I could only buy so many of them, so to make them last longer I had to spread the weight out more. Now, at about 600 pounds, I can still sit on a 30 or 36 incher, but I have to take it slow and cover the whole ring to spread the weight evenly. And they still pop or go flat, but I can buy as many as I like now.
I still like to load them unevenly. I can't just sit on one side like I used to, but I'll put the edge of the ring under a leg and lean into it to stretch it, then roll more weight onto it and stretch it some more, and just keep going until it springs a leak or pops.
My partner is the size I was when I graduated high school. I like watching her sit on swim rings, too, and sometimes she'll load them unevenly pretty heavily before it bursts. Mmmmm. We've been on 45 inchers together. That's a fun but expensive exercise.
I'm using up a lot of the intex 36 inchers these days. They seem to have a lot of permanent stretch to them. If I just keep inflating them to keep them full they just pop, so I like to let them recover for a full day before inflating them again. But the more they've been stretched the more likely they are to pop no matter how not hard they feel and no matter how slowly I load them.
There are two women other than my partner who know I'm into inflatables. One is about 200 pounds and the other 270. I like to see even the smaller of them load a swim ring unevenly. I've taught them to sit to one side, sit upright and lift their feet to get all their weight on it. They're both screamers when the thing pops. I've seen the heavier of them bounce without popping and I've seen the smaller pop them immediately. Swim rings are so unpredictable.
In the pool 45 inch rings will float someone my parter's size no problem, and they'll float me looking overloaded. I've seen someone half my size pop a 36 incher in the pool, and I've seen someone a lot smaller than that pop a 30 incher. I popped a 30 incher in the pool when I was a kid. My partner has popped a 45 incher in the pool. But usually swim rings just don't pop in the pool, even if they are so heavily loaded that they sink completely. It takes less than 200 pounds to sink a 30 incher if you sit on top of it rather than through it. It takes about 350 pounds to sink a 36 incher.
I got my start with swim rings. As a kid I had a friend who liked to lay on them and he asked me to join him. We weighed perhaps 200 pounds between us, way more than half of it me, and I couldn't believe it held that much. I've often wondered if it turned into an obsession for him. Sadly, he's not alive, so I can't ask him.
When I was much younger and much smaller I liked to sit on one side of the ring to stress the other side as much as possible. As I got heavier I'd bottom out more and more easily, and I learned to spread the weight over as much of the inflatable as was required to keep from bottoming out, to keep all my weight on it, but still all on one side. I loved how big and hard the other side would get, and how stretched it would be when I got up.
It was in high school that I got too heavy to do this. I could only buy so many of them, so to make them last longer I had to spread the weight out more. Now, at about 600 pounds, I can still sit on a 30 or 36 incher, but I have to take it slow and cover the whole ring to spread the weight evenly. And they still pop or go flat, but I can buy as many as I like now.
I still like to load them unevenly. I can't just sit on one side like I used to, but I'll put the edge of the ring under a leg and lean into it to stretch it, then roll more weight onto it and stretch it some more, and just keep going until it springs a leak or pops.
My partner is the size I was when I graduated high school. I like watching her sit on swim rings, too, and sometimes she'll load them unevenly pretty heavily before it bursts. Mmmmm. We've been on 45 inchers together. That's a fun but expensive exercise.
I'm using up a lot of the intex 36 inchers these days. They seem to have a lot of permanent stretch to them. If I just keep inflating them to keep them full they just pop, so I like to let them recover for a full day before inflating them again. But the more they've been stretched the more likely they are to pop no matter how not hard they feel and no matter how slowly I load them.
There are two women other than my partner who know I'm into inflatables. One is about 200 pounds and the other 270. I like to see even the smaller of them load a swim ring unevenly. I've taught them to sit to one side, sit upright and lift their feet to get all their weight on it. They're both screamers when the thing pops. I've seen the heavier of them bounce without popping and I've seen the smaller pop them immediately. Swim rings are so unpredictable.
In the pool 45 inch rings will float someone my parter's size no problem, and they'll float me looking overloaded. I've seen someone half my size pop a 36 incher in the pool, and I've seen someone a lot smaller than that pop a 30 incher. I popped a 30 incher in the pool when I was a kid. My partner has popped a 45 incher in the pool. But usually swim rings just don't pop in the pool, even if they are so heavily loaded that they sink completely. It takes less than 200 pounds to sink a 30 incher if you sit on top of it rather than through it. It takes about 350 pounds to sink a 36 incher.
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