Exercise — Things to do nude on True Nudists

Tom DOriginal Poster

Apr 14, 2022

There is a lot of discussion here and elsewhere that before the 1980s nude swimming was the norm and being nude for other athletic activities was not uncommon at male only locations. I am not aware if same was true for females. Could anyone comment on their experiences about this?

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Paul
Apr 14, 2022
The photographs from that era show nude boys at swim meets with girls in swim suits. Lots of images of nude boys in and around swimming pools. None of girls.
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Tom DOriginal Poster
May 6, 2022
[quote]There is a lot of discussion here and elsewhere that before the 1980s nude swimming was the norm and being nude for other athletic activities was not uncommon at male only locations. I am not aware if same was true for females. Could anyone comment on their experiences about this? I was always allowed to swim nude at the local county operated pool and at two different public lake swimming locations. Very few boys did this and the practice faded away by the time I was 17. The girls always wore bathing suits and the boys always wore small swim trunks. I recall busy days of 50-75 kids and adults of evenly mixed sexes with an average of 5- 10 boys naked. Of those more than half were little dudes under 10 I remember about the time I was 14 or15 Id often be the only nude boy over 10 or 11 years old. By the time I was 17 I was often the only nude boy of any age. Then came the signs,Swim suits must be worn, No Cut off jeans. Seems cut off clogged pool filters. My mother told me I was made In Gods Image and raised without shame.[/quote] Did adult men ever swim nude or just boys?
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Paul
May 6, 2022
She was right about that. [quote]My mother told me I was made In Gods Image and raised without shame.[/quote] There is no part of the human body that is shameful, disgusting, or that needs to be kept hidden.
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Paul
May 8, 2022
[quote]I lift weights Nude at home, so I understand why others did it.[/quote] Honestly, it's so blindingly obvious, it's a wonder so few people can see it.
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nudie_iq7721
Dec 23, 2025
my wife went to a naked water aerobics class with a friend of ours. there was about 15 people in the class,5 men.
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StevieLorna
Dec 24, 2025
[quote]There is a lot of discussion here and elsewhere that before the 1980s nude swimming was the norm and being nude for other athletic activities was not uncommon at male only locations. I am not aware if same was true for females. Could anyone comment on their experiences about this?[/quote] You lived through the 80s, grew up before it, and yet you have no direct experience of nude swimming and other activities as the norm for boys. Why is that?
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 24, 2025
[quote]There is a lot of discussion here and elsewhere that before the 1980s nude swimming was the norm and being nude for other athletic activities was not uncommon at male only locations. I am not aware if same was true for females. Could anyone comment on their experiences about this? You lived through the 80s, grew up before it, and yet you have no direct experience of nude swimming and other activities as the norm for boys. Why is that?[/quote] I had some experience with boys and men swimming nude and a little of men exercising nude when there were no women present. I have never heard reference if women also swam or did other athletic activities nude when no men were present. That is what I was asking about,
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StevieLorna
Dec 24, 2025
[quote]There is a lot of discussion here and elsewhere that before the 1980s nude swimming was the norm. I had some experience with boys and men swimming nude /quote] So which of your two statements is true? Was it the norm to swim nude, or only sometimes as both cant be factual.
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ShavedNudist27
Dec 24, 2025
In the 50's & 60's, there was a YMCA and YWCA. At that time swimsuits were of cotton and other natural materials. These can clog the filters, so nude swimming was to be used, wish it was still that way! Today suites are mostly nylon and there is no problem with them.
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StevieLorna
Dec 24, 2025
Yes, I get that and Ive read people state that here before but the OP says, he somtimes encontered it also that it was the norm.
Both cant be true, thats why I asked.
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John
Dec 24, 2025
[quote]You lived through the 80s, grew up before it, and yet you have no direct experience of nude swimming and other activities as the norm for boys. Why is that?[/quote] I was born in 1963. Neither my school in California (Elementary) nor my schools in Illinois (middle and high) had a pool, and to the best of my knowledge, there was no YMCA in either location (I know there wasn't one in Illinois). The only pools were outdoors and in public view. No nudity.

John aka cobeachbum
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StevieLorna
Dec 24, 2025
We are a similar age John, and public nude swimming was not done anywhere in the UK at that time, either.
I find it surprising some US members claim it was normal there.
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J.
Dec 24, 2025
[quote]In the 50's & 60's, there was a YMCA and YWCA. At that time swimsuits were of cotton and other natural materials. These can clog the filters, so nude swimming was to be used, wish it was still that way! Today suites are mostly nylon and there is no problem with them.[/quote] Well, there IS a problem with today's suits... just not a problem for the filters! I have a real problem with wearing a swimsuit :) I grew up just a little late to confirm or deny nude swimming was a thing in the 50s and 60s. By the mid 70s it definitely wasn't a thing at the YMCA or Boys Club where I learned to swim.
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 24, 2025
[quote]In the 50's & 60's, there was a YMCA and YWCA. At that time swimsuits were of cotton and other natural materials. These can clog the filters, so nude swimming was to be used, wish it was still that way! Today suites are mostly nylon and there is no problem with them. Well, there IS a problem with today's suits... just not a problem for the filters! I have a real problem with wearing a swimsuit :) I grew up just a little late to confirm or deny nude swimming was a thing in the 50s and 60s. By the mid 70s it definitely wasn't a thing at the YMCA or Boys Club where I learned to swim.[/quote] It varied from place to place. I experieced it a 2 different men's athletic clubs in the 80s. and a close friend of mine did at 2 others. Two men I know who were Boy Scout leaders in different councils said that it lasted at summer camp into the 80's and even after it was stopped for the scouts, the weekly after curfew leader's swim remained clothing optional until they started to allow female leaders in camp in the 90s.
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StevieLorna
Dec 24, 2025
The two men you know..were they ever reported to the police for inappropriate behaviour with minors?
Or as usual, are you just making this shit up as you go along?
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nudeyooper
Dec 24, 2025
A number of articles I have read suggested that even though men swam nude, women wore suits. Swimming was not coed at most pools.
Our local school had a pool, and we wore suits for open swims. They were not cotton, but I do not recall what the synthetic material was. It did have some stretch to it. I started there as a junior and had my PE requirements from the previous school so have no experience as a student there. Never heard of swimming nude and there was an observation window in a small adjacent room that enabled anyone in the building to view the pool area. I doubt there was any sanctioned nude swimming.
As a college freshman in 1968 at a school where men outnumbered women by a huge margin, PE classes were segregated with the exception of a few like archery and golf. We guys were required to attend classes in the pool in the nude. That changed as more women were enrolled and new facilities were built. Off campus, my girlfriend and I swam nude when we would not likely be seen at her parent's lake property. Years later and after being married, I was invited to shed my shorts if I wanted, and I wanted to. Her mother shrieked, her dad laughed.
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nudeyooper
Dec 24, 2025
A number of articles I have read suggested that even though men swam nude, women wore suits. Swimming was not coed at most pools.
Our local school had a pool, and we wore suits for open swims. They were not cotton, but I do not recall what the synthetic material was. It did have some stretch to it. I started there as a junior and had my PE requirements from the previous school so have no experience as a student there. Never heard of swimming nude and there was an observation window in a small adjacent room that enabled anyone in the building to view the pool area. I doubt there was any sanctioned nude swimming.
As a college freshman in 1968 at a school where men outnumbered women by a huge margin, PE classes were segregated with the exception of a few like archery and golf. We guys were required to attend classes in the pool in the nude. That changed as more women were enrolled and new facilities were built. Off campus, my girlfriend and I swam nude when we would not likely be seen at her parent's lake property. Years later and after being married, I was invited to shed my shorts if I wanted, and I wanted to. Her mother shrieked, her dad laughed.
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 25, 2025
[quote]The two men you know..were they ever reported to the police for inappropriate behaviour with minors? Or as usual, are you just making this shit up as you go along?[/quote] There would have been no minors present. It was after curfew and all minors would have been in their tents.
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 25, 2025
[quote]The two men you know..were they ever reported to the police for inappropriate behaviour with minors? Or as usual, are you just making this shit up as you go along?[/quote] There would have been no minors present. It was after curfew and all minors would have been in their tents.
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 25, 2025
[quote]The two men you know..were they ever reported to the police for inappropriate behaviour with minors? Or as usual, are you just making this shit up as you go along?[/quote] Also up until shortly before that, nude swimming by youth and adults together was common at scout camp. I hated camping so I never went. However, the what to bring list included something like " No need to bring a swimsuit since very few scouts wear one.
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 25, 2025
[quote]A number of articles I have read suggested that even though men swam nude, women wore suits. Swimming was not coed at most pools. Our local school had a pool, and we wore suits for open swims. They were not cotton, but I do not recall what the synthetic material was. It did have some stretch to it. I started there as a junior and had my PE requirements from the previous school so have no experience as a student there. Never heard of swimming nude and there was an observation window in a small adjacent room that enabled anyone in the building to view the pool area. I doubt there was any sanctioned nude swimming. As a college freshman in 1968 at a school where men outnumbered women by a huge margin, PE classes were segregated with the exception of a few like archery and golf. We guys were required to attend classes in the pool in the nude. That changed as more women were enrolled and new facilities were built. Off campus, my girlfriend and I swam nude when we would not likely be seen at her parent's lake property. Years later and after being married, I was invited to shed my shorts if I wanted, and I wanted to. Her mother shrieked, her dad laughed.[/quote] Who invited you to shed your shorts? Did her dad ever mention if he swam nude?
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 25, 2025
[quote]A number of articles I have read suggested that even though men swam nude, women wore suits. Swimming was not coed at most pools. Our local school had a pool, and we wore suits for open swims. They were not cotton, but I do not recall what the synthetic material was. It did have some stretch to it. I started there as a junior and had my PE requirements from the previous school so have no experience as a student there. Never heard of swimming nude and there was an observation window in a small adjacent room that enabled anyone in the building to view the pool area. I doubt there was any sanctioned nude swimming. As a college freshman in 1968 at a school where men outnumbered women by a huge margin, PE classes were segregated with the exception of a few like archery and golf. We guys were required to attend classes in the pool in the nude. That changed as more women were enrolled and new facilities were built. Off campus, my girlfriend and I swam nude when we would not likely be seen at her parent's lake property. Years later and after being married, I was invited to shed my shorts if I wanted, and I wanted to. Her mother shrieked, her dad laughed.[/quote] Were any of the other men's athletic activities clothing optional ?
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StevieLorna
Dec 25, 2025
[quote] Also up until shortly before that, nude swimming by youth and adults together was common at scout camp. I hated camping so I never went. However, the what to bring list included something like " No need to bring a swimsuit since very few scouts wear one.[/quote] Where did they pin their badges? I looked up scouting in the 70s and found absolutely no references to any nude activity. As you never went camping Im more inclined to believe my research rather than your imagination. After all youve read on this thread, do you still believe pre 80s nude swimming was the norm for men and boys?
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Tom DOriginal Poster
Dec 25, 2025
[quote]Also up until shortly before that, nude swimming by youth and adults together was common at scout camp. I hated camping so I never went. However, the what to bring list included something like " No need to bring a swimsuit since very few scouts wear one. Where did they pin their badges? I looked up scouting in the 70s and found absolutely no references to any nude activity. As you never went camping Im more inclined to believe my research rather than your imagination. After all youve read on this thread, do you still believe pre 80s nude swimming was the norm for men and boys?[/quote] The norm may be too strong a statement, but I do believe that it was reasonably common.
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