I've recently been trying to teach myself swimming. I've managed to get myself up to 4 lengths of a 25 meter swimming pool before my body gives up and i start to sink to the bottom. By 4 i mean that i do a length, throw my goggles off and pant for a bit, then do another, pant for a longer period, then another length before i think about giving up for 5 minutes...then a final race against my body as i gasp for air. This final lap has more the looks of a drowning man fighting for his life, and if the pool wasn't 4 feet deep it would probably be close to the mark.
I can't do the breast stroke (tee hee hee), only managing 15 meters max when i try. Are there any swimmers out there that can give a guy a few tips?
My plan is to keep plugging away until i can do 10 lengths in a session, then going to find some one to one lessons. Is this a bad (if cheaper) idea?
Originally posted by huckleberryhound I've recently been trying to teach myself swimming. I've managed to get myself up to 4 lengths of a 25 meter swimming pool before my body gives up and i start to sink to the bottom. By 4 i mean that i do a length, throw my goggles off and pant for a bit, then do another, pant for a longer period, then another length before i think about giving up fo ...[text shortened]... ngths in a session, then going to find some one to one lessons. Is this a bad (if cheaper) idea?
Good for you. Swimming is really good for you.
Tips:
Learn to swim underwater. This will give you confidence and stamina and allow you to practice breaststroke. Just hold your breath duck under and swim along the bottom following the line as long as you can and then stand up when out of breath. Then go again, and again. Before long being underwater won't bother you so your surface swimming will improve and you can focus on your stroke technique.
Get used to breaststroke. Front crawl is all very macho and everything but is a difficult stroke to master as a newbie as you have to have your face in then out of the water. With breaststroke you can keep your head up out of the water. Ok, it's not good form (you should keep your head streamlined with your shoulders and face be rather the surface between strokes) but you can swim slower and focus on your arm pulls and keep your head up.
Originally posted by divegeester Good for you. Swimming is really good for you.
Tips:
Learn to swim underwater. This will give you confidence and stamina and allow you to practice breaststroke. Just hold your breath duck under and swim along the bottom following the line as long as you can and then stand up when out of breath. Then go again, and again. Before long being underwater w ...[text shortened]... okes) but you can swim slower and focus on your arm pulls and keep your head up.
Keep at it.
At the moment i can't crawl with my head under the water either. It's an arm driven mess. I will do the underwater thing, thanks. I did try to breast stroke for a few weeks, i always died before i got to the other side.
Originally posted by huckleberryhound I've recently been trying to teach myself swimming. I've managed to get myself up to 4 lengths of a 25 meter swimming pool before my body gives up and i start to sink to the bottom. By 4 i mean that i do a length, throw my goggles off and pant for a bit, then do another, pant for a longer period, then another length before i think about giving up fo ...[text shortened]... ngths in a session, then going to find some one to one lessons. Is this a bad (if cheaper) idea?
at the same time yer learning to swim, a wonderful thing for you and yours, learn to float...
lay on yer back in shallow water, let yer heels touch to pool bottom, and just breathe normally...
at first, you may need to inhale much more oxygen than usual, until you can feel yer body buoyancy normalizing...
do this for as long as you need to learn how much air you need to keep afloat, and yer swimming strokes will be more natural...
Originally posted by huckleberryhound At the moment i can't crawl with my head under the water either. It's an arm driven mess. I will do the underwater thing, thanks. I did try to breast stroke for a few weeks, i always died before i got to the other side.
I learnt to swim at 10 yrs by swimming underwater first. I look back now and realise it was an epiphany. I kept sinking, as we all do when learning. Actually we don't sink it just feels like it and we panic. So I remember thinking "ok I'll just learn to swim underwater. I didn't have goggles so I started by ducking down and opening my eyes till it didn't bother me. Then ducking down and swimming, within a week I was confident, within another I swam my first lenghth, by 15 I set a school record for 50 Meters breaststroke and at 16 I was school team captain. Then I discovered girls, smokes, beer, and disco.
Originally posted by divegeester I learnt to swim at 10 yrs by swimming underwater first. I look back now and realise it was an epiphany. I kept sinking, as we all do when learning. Actually we don't sink it just feels like it and we panic. So I remember thinking "ok I'll just learn to swim underwater. I didn't have goggles so I started by ducking down and opening my eyes till it didn't ...[text shortened]... aststroke and at 16 I was school team captain. Then I discovered girls, smokes, beer, and disco.
At 8 or 9 i was taken to swimming lessons where a little fecal matter of a man thought the best way to teach me to tread water was to use a big pole with a hook on the end to stop me trying to get to the pool edge.
I've been on sun holidays for the past couple of years (Don't know why i never did it sooner. The club 18-30/ibiza image never appealed, i guess) Now i'm hooked, and a small flat in Albufeira with a communal pool seems like a nice retirement plan. Not the reason i want to learn to swim, but it sure makes for a lovely day dream while i practice 🙂
practice floating, both on your back and on your stomach. Staying above water is the goal, and you'll be surprised how just learning to float will lead to swimming. Find a way that's comfortable for you. If you can float with little to no movement, you're doing great.
One way to float (other than on your back or facing down) is straight up with your head above water. To do this, try moving your arms (outstretched about halfway) from your sides to in front of you and back again. Make sure:
1) Your palms are palms are open (this creates more surface tension)
2) That you are kicking somewhat (left leg back while right leg moves forward, and vice-versa)
3) That you're relaxed when you do it.
If you get good enough, you'll find that kicking requires minimal, if any effort. Hope that helps.
Originally posted by rookie54 at the same time yer learning to swim, a wonderful thing for you and yours, learn to float...
lay on yer back in shallow water, let yer heels touch to pool bottom, and just breathe normally...
at first, you may need to inhale much more oxygen than usual, until you can feel yer body buoyancy normalizing...
do this for as long as you need to learn how much air you need to keep afloat, and yer swimming strokes will be more natural...
The pool i use is 4 feet deep from end to end. Because of this, it seems to be an exercise tool for people as they walk up and down it in some kind of Octogenarian urine spreading ritual. Is 4 feet "Shallow"?
Originally posted by huckleberryhound The pool i use is 4 feet deep from end to end. Because of this, it seems to be an exercise tool for people as they walk up and down it in some kind of Octogenarian urine spreading ritual. Is 4 feet "Shallow"?
I e seen this once or twice in my pool. Hilarious.
Originally posted by huckleberryhound The pool i use is 4 feet deep from end to end. Because of this, it seems to be an exercise tool for people as they walk up and down it in some kind of Octogenarian urine spreading ritual. Is 4 feet "Shallow"?
the olde folks that use my pool also find it a wonderful exercise to walk in waist/belly deep water...
the resistance they get is beneficial and the buoyancy helps take the pressure off joints...
now, i open my pool especially for the seniors, and hour early, two times a week, so they can exercise without the obnoxious lil kids splashing water everywhere...
as for spreading urine, that gets done automatically by the pool equipment...
no muss, no fuss...
As recreational diver I know a bit about bouyancy and depth only makes a difference when the weight of the water compresses the airspace in a wetsuit or bouyancy jacket so that is displaces less water and is therefore less bouyant. Seawater provides more buoyancy because of the salt dissolved in it. It is therefore more dense and will support more weight for the volume of water displaced.
I thought there may be some turbulence effect in shallow water causing
drag. FINA specifies a minimum depth for official pools of just 1 metre
which would imply no such effect. However the Olympics specify a
minimum depth of 2 metres (why?). Perhaps a physicist could help?
10 Mar '16 21:00
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