Winter lido swimming tips

With winter now well and truly here, you may have already decided to bid farewell to outdoor swimming until next year. But despite the unappealing temperatures, there’s still so much you can get out of going for quick dip outdoors at this time of year.

Here are a few handy tips that might even persuade you to become a permanent winter lido member!

A chillier pool, particularly the unheated lidos, will make longer swims that bit harder to manage. Reduce your session time but pick up your frequency. This will also help with building up your tolerance to the cold if you plan to swim throughout the winter.

One benefit of the evenings drawing in is that if you head to the lido for a post work swim, you’ll have a better chance of catching a sunset swim, a glorious thing to be part of!

As the temperature starts to drop, it will be your extremities that notice and suffer from this first. Keep them toasty with gloves and boots and this will keep your winter lido swims much more pleasant.

Tea and cake are always a welcome part of any swim recovery, but your flask full of something warm on a winter evening will be appreciated even more as the nights grow a little cooler.

If you’re after some in-depth advice on swimming in cold water, then check out this great Q&A from a host of cold water swimming experts.

The festive dip season is also almost upon us and could be a great first introduction to winter swimming. Visit our Festive Dip Listings to find an event near you!