A few of my FAVORITE things!

We have to start with Malibu C: Swimmers Wellness Shampoo and Conditioner. I have been swimming in chlorinated pools my entire life. Since I’m a blond my hair becomes saturated with pool chemicals. This turns my hair crunchy. It feels like straw and is impossible to comb or brush. It breaks. It’s miserable. I’ve tried everything and the only thing that works is Malibu C. It removes all the pool chemicals and returns my hair to NORMAL!

Fortunately now I don’t swim in chlorine pools. My pool is a salt water pool so between that and Malibu C my hair is super silky soft in the summer and finally healthy and growing long again.

The only places I’ve found it is Amazon, Walmart Online and Sally’s Beauty Supply Store.

I’ve spent so many years toiling away in an office that my skin hasn’t had much skin exposure as an adult. Why change that now?! I quickly learned that nothing beats a cute UV sun shirt. Notice the thumb holes! I specifically get ones that cover my hands. You don’t want to pre-age your hands by not protecting them. I use sunscreen AND cover my hands. I’ve been burned plenty of times using sunscreen. I’ve never been burned wearing a UV shirt. Keep in mind that they do not last forever. Once they start stretching out they lose their UV effectiveness and need to be tossed. I have a stack in every color so I’m always ready to grab a fresh new one when needed. You can also get these with a hoodie for extra head and ear protection.

I love wearing baseball caps, but some times they just aren’t enough. You need to cover those ears, neck and lower face and give your eyes a rest. This Sun Shade hat is excellent. It really reduces the sun’s glare in my eyes. I can pull my hair up into a pony tail and keep it dry a little longer. The wide brim all around gives my whole face extra sun protection and even covers my ears and neck. The adjustable cord has saved the hat from blowing away in the Vegas winds more times than I can count. I hate taking off the baseball cap but it’s worth the trade.

These are a few of my favorite things “toys” for the pool. Swimming is a fun way to exercise, but these toys make swimming even more fun and more challenging.

I love fins because when I’m working out and swimming laps my arms do most of the work. Fins are a great way to engage your legs more. You can use them in so many ways to create resistance without swimming laps so you get get a great, fun workout without swimming laps by just putting on a pair of fins. Oh and boy do they make you swim fast and there is NOTHING better than swimming fast. It’s why we swim! I feel the need…the need for SPEED!

These AqtivAqua goggles are the best I’ve ever used. I love the large frame. It spreads out the pressure so it doesn’t start to hurt the eye socket no matter how long you wear them. The larger lens gives you a wider field of vision. And they come with the beautiful hard case, shown above, to protect your investment.

Want to workout but don’t know what to swim? This book is perfect. The Waterproof Coach. First of all IT’S WATERPROOF!! ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. Inside you can mix and match your warm up, workout and cool downs. Since the book is waterproof you don’t have to memorize your workout. You just leave it at the end of your lane to refresh your memory during your rests. It keeps swimming laps from getting boring. It has a one - three goggle code to indicate the difficulty of each workout so you can pick how hard you want to workout each day or pick an easy workout for a rest day. I’ve had this book for 20 years and I still use it and it’s still in great shape.

These are Poolmaster Swimming Pool Underwater Surf Boards. No, they don’t allow you to “surf in a pool”. They are balance boards for a pool…in the shape of a surf board. These kids are actually too small to use them properly. The way you use them is you stand on them like a surfer with your knees bent and you practice balancing on them. It sounds easier than it really it. I up the difficulty level by turning on the Fastlane Pro in my pool. That makes it nearly impossible to stand up on for very long, but it makes for a super fun work out. This is a GREAT CORE work out and will work out every little muscle you have. You’ll use muscles you didn’t know existed to stay on this board!

FINIS Iso Swim Training Paddle, Black Gold. These are new that I just added to my bin of toys recently. I love these so much because they are so ergonomic and comfortable. I love increasing the resistance when I swim to get a harder workout and build up muscle. What’s super cool about these is that if you switch the hands they work different muscles! So you can double the workout effectiveness just by switching the hands they are on. Brilliant. They come in 3 sizes. Kids can wear either the small or medium depending on their hand size, skill level and amount of resistance they want in their workout. There is an adult size too. I will wear any of the three sizes depending on how much resistance I want in the workout, but my favorite size is medium.

If you REALLY want to work those arms you need a PULL BOUY! Put one of these between your thighs to keep your legs bouyant, but not kicking and your arms will have to do all the work. Then combine them with a set of paddles and you’ll really work those arms. This is my favorite lap workout. You can really feel your arms working and you can feel it when you catch the water with a perfect pull.

A Kickboard WITH HANDLES! There are THOUSANDS of kickboards out there. This one is one of my favorites. Poolmaster 50509 Advanced Kickboard Swim Trainer and Swim Aid, Small. I like it because it is inexpensive, but well made and has lots of handles so you can use it for lots of different workout drills. Kickboards without handles reduce your ability to get a good grip and you’ll end up not using it much. Two sets of handles like this is ideal.

Swimming is a great cardio workout. I use paddles and fins for some strength training, but I want to incorporate some more strength training and I want to work on increasing my breath control this summer so I got a set of water weights. You can fill them with water, but I fill them with sand because sand is heavier than water. I’m curious to see how long they hold up in this desert environment. Like with all my equipment I will keep them out of the sun and pool when not in use. I’m looking forward to having some fun with these this summer.