- Are you wearing your swimming goggles wrong?
Perhaps you're constantly dealing with water leaking in,
giving you headache once you're swimming,
or perhaps simply coming off as you're swimming.
These are all things you should not be parting out with.
Googles can be and should be comfortable to wear.
So today, I'm going to be running through a few simple tips
as how you should wear your swimming goggles.
(bass thumping beat)
Now there are a ton of different swimming goggles out there,
all different shapes, styles and sizes.
Some of which may work for you,
whilst others may not,
that's a simple fact.
A little bit like a pair of running shoes,
may work for one person, but not for another.
Now personally, I really like this style of goggle.
Not too big, and fit comfortably around my eyes,
not applying too much pressure on the eye circuit
or the eye itself,
whilst others prefer something a little bit larger
like this and larger again,
and tend to have a slightly softer feel on the seal.
And then there are others out there
that like the good old-fashioned
smaller, Swedish goggles which have
well, very little cushioning or padding
around the seal of them.
But before you go throwing every pair of goggles away
as you attempt to find the perfect goggles for you,
let's just make sure you're actually
wearing them correctly in the first place.
So partly I need to tell you that
this part here goes out the front,
and this bit goes at the back.
But actually how you place these straps
can actually make the big difference to
the feel and the comfort of these goggles.
(bouncy music)
Whether you start by placing the goggles on first,
or the straps is entirely up to you.
Personally I start by
roughly placing the straps from the back of my head,
and then pulling the goggles over,
and gently placing them on my face.
We'll get to the goggles bit in a second there.
Now, you want to place the straps above your ears,
not over them,
and assuming you have a split strap,
you want to place one towards the bottom
of the crown of your head,
and then one slightly higher,
around two to three finger whips higher.
Not far off the nine and 10 o'clock positions
or two and three
if you're looking from the other side of the head.
But the big question is,
how tight do they need to be?
And obviously you don't want them so loose
that they are leaking and letting water in
or slipping off every time that you push off the wall.
But equally, you don't want them so tight
that they feel like they're about to pop your eyeballs out.
Now if you're having to tighten your goggles that much
to stop the water from sipping in,
then I'm afraid the goggles probably aren't for you
and also, it's not normal to experience a headache
after every swim from wearing your goggles.
If so, they're too tight.
Now what you want to do,
is actually start by having it just a little bit too loose,
maybe the point they are letting a bit of water in,
and then just start by incrementally bit by bit
tightening the straps on them
to the point they feel just tight enough,
they feel secure, comfortable and not letting any water in.
(bass thumping beat)
So now let's move back to the actual goggle pieces
and how you actually place them onto your eyes,
'cause that's also the fairly important.
Now ideally you want to have the goggle pieces,
nice and level, ideally not stretching the skin
or forcing your eyes shut.
And you do want to stay away
from pushing the goggles on so hard,
that they feel like they're sucking your eyeballs out.
And obviously how you place them onto your face,
is entirely personal,
everyone has different preferences here.
Now personally I like it
when the goggle piece sits almost
on the edge of my eye circuit.
Some people with particular the larger goggles have it,
so it sits around the eye circuit.
And then others sits inside the eye circuit.
Like I said, that's entirely personal.
Just as you do part the goggles onto your face,
just make sure that you're not trapping
any hair between your skin and the seal of the goggle.
That will essentially break the seal
and could result in water sipping in.
Another area that can cause some discomfort
comes from this part which is the nose bridge.
Now in some goggles, you don't already have a choice on it,
because it just comes with a fixed nose piece,
you can't change it.
But it tends to be a little bit more flexible
so that you can switch the goggle pieces in and out.
But on a lot out there,
you get these rigid nose pieces,
but you tend to find that they come with
a number of different shapes and sizes
to suit different shapes and sizes of faces.
So these can easily be changed in and out
to find the perfect fit for you.
(bouncy music)
But now that you have your goggles on your face,
now is the time to place a swimming cap on over the top,
if you plan to wear a swimming cap or you have to
due to the pool that you're swimming in.
Now if you place a cap on
over the top of your goggles straps
or underneath your goggle straps,
is another topic for debate.
Now personally I'm in the habit of placing on over the top
simply due to the fact that it
holds the goggle straps and the goggles firmly in place,
and also not to mention
was the added hydrodynamics and the streamlining effect
that you get from placing a cap on
over the top of your goggle straps.
Also for those triathletes that might be watching this,
who are pretty well aware of how choppy
and how physical swims and triathlons can get.
It's not too uncommon to find
people knocking your goggles
and perhaps goggles coming off.
By wearing a cap on over the top,
it will hopefully hold these goggles in place
that you don't loose your goggles,
they'll stay with you,
above then sinking to the bottom of the lake or the sea.
Now hopefully that has answered a few questions for you
and solved a few frustrations on wearing swimming goggles.
If you do have any more questions,
drop them in the comment section below.
I just advice try to find
a pair of goggles that fit your face
and if you can follow some of these tips today,
hopefully you'll find, or I'm sure that you'll find
they'll be far more comfortable
and far more pleasant to wear.