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Why are Some Individuals Unable to Float; and How to Learn?

Why can’t I float on my back in water? Or we could even ask: Can everyone float on their backs?

Have you been learning how to swim and you just cannot hack floating on water? It can be very frustrating!

After all, knowing how to float on water is one of the biggest achievements in swimming.

Being able to float on your back is special because it is a comfortable position. You can remain in this position for a long time without having to paddle too much.

But:

A few things might hinder your ability to float. Here, we are going to look at the most common causes of the inability to float on water, even after you have been training so hard.

Learn to float on your back to prevent drowning

According to Wallen Swim, you should not be frightened of drowning because you should not drown if you know how to float.

If you have been swimming and your energy runs low before getting out of the water, you can float until you recover.

If you were in a boat that capsized, you could float until rescue came! Learning to tread water can help you a great deal.

If you are asking whether floating on your back can prevent drowning, it can! When you have no energy, it is better to float on your back because that way, your face is in the air.

This is better than floating on your tummy because then you could drown easily if you felt too tired to raise your head to breathe.

If you get into any accidents in the water, try to tread water (float vertically) for as long as possible. Also, try to float on your back until rescue comes.

These flotation devices can help you learn how to float:

Why can’t you float on your back? Several Reasons

There are rare cases of people who just can’t float in water, no matter how long they train for the feat. However, even such people can float if they have a certified trainer.

Once you know the things that could be preventing your ability to float, you can try to find a solution for them.

So… here goes:

1. You are all muscle with minimal body fat

Finally, a place where getting fat pays! Just kidding, though, it is vital to stay on the lower side of the bathroom scales because… heart problems, obesity, and so on… you get the gist.

Honestly, though, having a bit more body fat percentage helps! Fat is lighter than muscle and bone. Thus, people with a higher body fat percentage tend to float better and more easily than slim ones.

If you are slim, do not give up hope of floating on water. You can still do it. You will just need to do more work than the guy with more fat, but you will do it.

Perhaps you can start by learning how to tread water, which is the same as floating vertically. Once you master that technique, you can then move on to learning how to float horizontally.

To your knowledge, men aged 20 to 39 should have a body fat percentage of 8 to 19 percent, while women of the same age should have 21 to 39 percent.

Fat people have more surface area, so they float easily on water. Slim people are the opposite.

2. You are floating in freshwater

If you have been struggling to float in your above-ground swimming pool filled with fresh water, that could be the problem.

Thus, when swimming in the open water, you will find it easier to float in the ocean than in your swimming pool at home. However, again, the inability to float well in a freshwater pool is easy to overcome with good training and a lot of practice.

Saltwater has a higher density than freshwater. Therefore, it gives more buoyancy to objects than fresh water.

It is for this reason that swimmers can swim at higher speeds in saltwater pools than in freshwater pools.

If you are learning how to swim, you will learn faster in saltwater than in freshwater. This also includes knowing how to float.

If you have been asking: Is it easier or harder to float in saltwater? Now you know the answer. Please note that if you do not know how to float in pool water, it does not mean you will automatically be able to float in saltwater.

You need to train properly to know how to float in all types of water. If push comes to shove, you might also think of converting chlorine pools to saltwater.

4. You get too anxious in the water

The reason you cannot float could be attributed to anxiety and stress. This happens if you are not confident in your swimming abilities and skills.

Also, some people are just anxious about being in a lot of water, despite knowing how to swim. If this is you, the nervousness is going to affect your ability to float.

If you are nervous and you are learning how to float, it will be hard for you.

Try to calm your mind before getting in the water. Convince yourself that nothing is going to happen. You can also swim with a trainer or a person who is more qualified than you so that they boost your confidence.

5. You learned to swim in adulthood

Remember that saying about not being able to teach an old dog new tricks? Well, this could play a role in your inability to float well.

Do not fret though. It is never too late to learn a new sport, and swimming daily has many benefits. As a grownup, you will have to work harder than a young one would.

If you have children, teach them how to swim at a young age. They will learn new tricks and techniques faster, and they will not forget them even in adulthood.

Some things, such as swimming, riding bicycles, and playing some games, are best learned in childhood. However, if you did not have that opportunity, just put in the time to learn how to float. You can even go for private swimming lessons.

5. Men find it harder to float

Well, it is not a secret that women float better than men. Sometimes, nature just favors one gender with one quality and the other one with another one.

In this case, women float better than men because they have less muscle mass, and this means less buoyancy. This affects the floating ability of a man.

While it can be hard to put a number to it, a man will have to work harder than a woman to learn how to float.

Once again, we refer to the section where we discussed the body fat percentages of men and women.

6. You can’t swim

You can only learn advanced tricks in the water when you know the basics. In this case, the basics are knowing how to swim and knowing how to use the 5 basic strokes of swimming.

A person who does not know how to swim is bound to feel more nervous in the water, and they will not be able to float properly.

Many people ask: Can you swim if you cannot float? The answer is yes. However, you should first learn how to float, and then you should learn how to swim.

When you are swimming in a pool that’s 9 feet deep, the one thing that keeps you afloat is your ability to float in water. So, we could rightly say that there is no swimming without floating.

If your body fat percentage is high, you might not even need someone to teach you how to float. It will come to you naturally, with some struggle, but easy enough. However, it is a good idea to have someone watching over you.

People with a lower body fat percentage will take longer to learn how to float.

Please note that trying to learn how to float when you do not know how to swim does not only affect your ability to float. You can also swallow pool water, which could be harmful.

7. You are not inhaling deeply and holding the air

If you learn how to breathe when in water and hold your breath, you can float easily. Okay, it only contributes a small degree of success, but it helps things move along faster.

Draw a lot of air into your lungs and hold it in for as long as you can. More air makes the lungs expand, and you will displace more water. This increases your buoyancy rate by a margin.

8. Your swimming clothes are absorbing water

If your swimming attire absorbs water, it will contribute to pulling you down! That is why you should never swim in home clothes. Also, you cannot swim very well because the heavy clothes will create more drag and hamper your speed.

Today, there are so many types of swimming costumes. For instance, even if you are weighty and you are feeling too conscious of your body, you can get the best swimming trunks for love handles for men.

If you are a woman, get the best swimming costume for a big bust. Under no circumstances should you swim in home clothes since they become too heavy when waterlogged.

9. You are trying too hard to float

Some people cannot float in water because they do it all wrong. For instance, some try too hard to float in water, and when they fail, they try even harder.

Before you get into the pool to learn how to swim, you need some information. When it comes to floating, people have this picture of floating perfectly on the water, facing upward, with only the back touching the water.

This is far from the truth. In most cases, floating on your back without floating chairs or mats might mean just keeping your face above water while the rest of your body stays slightly submerged.

This happens especially for people who achieve what we call neutral buoyancy, where the density of their body is almost equal to that of the water.

How long can you float on your back?

In the ocean, you are going to float longer because of the saltwater. Saltwater has more density than freshwater.

However, the idea here is not to float on water forever or until a shark eats you. Rather, it is to save your energy so that you can swim back to the shore after resting.

If you have been in a mishap, you should float on your back until rescue comes.

Floating on your back has many benefits. For instance, you can breathe better because your face is out of the water.

It is also a very comfortable position, and if there is no danger of sharks, you could float as much as you need to.

Please note that water is cold, and floating too long in one position will start to make you go numb.

Therefore, you might want to keep changing positions. Besides, even in the summer, you don’t want to keep your tummy exposed to the sun too much.

If the sea is calm and the water is not too cold, you might even float for a full two days! This is not a guarantee, though.

To float, you need to breathe well because the air in your lungs will play a big part in keeping you buoyant.

Why can’t I float in water if I’m vegan?

Being able or unable to float on water has nothing to do with your diet or orientation. Therefore, whether you are a vegan or you love your steak, you can float. Or you cannot!

If you are vegan and you are not floating, it means that you meet any or all of the reasons we explained here. Perhaps you do not know how to swim, so you do not feel confident enough to float.

It could also be that you do not know how to time or hold your breath. These and more factors are going to affect your ability to float well on water.

Being a vegan does not give you special swimming, treading water, or floating abilities. You must learn how to float in water.

If your body’s density is higher than that of water, your legs will drop under you when you try to float. This will send you upright.

Can you float in water without moving?

This is a popular question on the web. In some cases, people ask the question seeking to know whether they can float for hours on their back without moving.

Some ask this question regarding the rescue if they have an accident in the water.

When floating, you use your limbs to maintain balance and stay afloat. Therefore, it is impossible to float without any kind of movement.

Floating is not very different from treading water since the latter is about floating vertically, and the “floating” we’ve been discussing here is about staying in water horizontally without sinking.

When you tread water, your arms help to keep you balanced and floating. It is the same as floating on your back or on your tummy. You will have to make movements of sorts.

For instance, if you feel as if the water is reaching your nose, you have to lift your head. If you feel your legs wanting to give under you, you will move them.

Floating without sinking is a serious balancing act! You have to keep finding the best position—the sweet spot—for your body in the water.

Bone density floating in water

If you have high bone and muscle mass, you are a natural sinker. High bone density means you have heavier bones.

This does not mean you cannot float. Indeed, you can. However, you will have to do more work than a person with lower bone density.

It all comes down to specific gravity. This is the same or a synonym for relative density, meaning that we are expressing the density of one thing in relation to another.

To put this into proper perspective, water has a density or a specific gravity of 1. Therefore, any other matter that has a lower density is going to float.

Fat density is less than 1. That is why it floats in and on water.

On the other hand, bone and muscle can have a density of 1 or slightly more. That is why you have to breathe deeply and hold air in your lungs to float.

Why can’t I float in saltwater?

Believe it or not, some people just can’t float in water. Such people cannot float in a freshwater or a saltwater pool.

Most people can float, so it is only a small number that cannot. Again, this comes down to the bone and muscle density of such people.

Another question we might ask here is: Can bodybuilders float in water? Because of their low body fat percentage and low lung capacity, they might not be able to float on water easily. This does not matter whether it is freshwater or saltwater.

There is something else to bear in mind here… salt water has salt and water molecules, giving it a higher density than freshwater, slightly above 1. Therefore, it should be easier to float in the sea. If you cannot float there, it means you need more practice.

Why do my legs sink when I try to float on my back?

From the knee, the legs have the hamstrings and a lot of bone. As we mentioned before, muscle and bone have high densities.

The legs contain a lot of bone and muscle. That’s why they are likely to give under you and pull you into a standing position. This is going to happen whether you are swimming in saltwater or freshwater.

To control your legs, you need more practice. You also need to know your limits so that you do not stretch yourself too far. If you feel tired, take a rest.

Can everyone float on their back in the water?

Once again, not everyone can float on water. This is due to factors such as bone density, and, of course, muscle.

If you are more muscular, you could have trouble floating in any kind of water. On the other hand, men and women with higher body fat percentages would find it easier to float in the water.

Most people float well in water anyway, but there are some exceptions. However, the degree of flotation might differ from one person to another.

If you try floating in water a few times and fail, try again! If you can swim, you can float, because swimming is basically a floating sport. You cannot swim if you sink immediately when you get into the water.

Keep practicing how to float, and you will get there eventually.

Final Thoughts

Why can’t I float on my back while a ship can float well enough? Well, it all comes down to the density of your body versus that of the water.

There is that 0.00-something percent of people who cannot float, irrespective of the type of water they are swimming in.

The good thing is that while floating is important for swimming, you can still swim considerably well without knowing how to float on your back.