The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Teach my ass to swim
Tetsugen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm an adult and I haven't learned how to swim. I can flop around in the water, and doggy paddle but that's just embarrassing. My spouse and I are planning to go to either Hawaii, the Caribbean or Bora Bora within the next year and I don't want to embarrass her.
Now, other than taking adult swim courses are there any recommended ways to learn how to do very basic strokes? I'm having trouble timing/co-ordinating my head to rotate breathe when doing the front stroke, any tips on this ? Perhaps some specific websites or books?
Now, other than taking adult swim courses are there any recommended ways to learn how to do very basic strokes? I'm having trouble timing/co-ordinating my head to rotate breathe when doing the front stroke, any tips on this ? Perhaps some specific websites or books?
Tetsugen on
0
Posts
As for books/internet, no. That won't work. Swimming is one of those things that you learn by doing - and you need an instructor. Everything else is just a waste of time.
That being said, if you dont' want to take lessons, I'd recommend the basics. learn how to kick first. Take a kickboard, get into the water, stretch your arms out on top of the kickboard in front of you, and kick your legs. Try to keep your legs mostly straight, don't bend them too much. Then, try front crawl. you combine the kick, with what ammounts to arm circles. It's kind of hard to describe over the internets, so just look for a quick youtube video of either "Front crawl" or "freestyle" swimming, and you'll get the idea.
To be honest, I think you're trying a bit too hard at first.
What it sounds like you're talking about is a freestyle stroke...and a racing one if you're trying to coordinate head rotation with the movement of your arms to breath.
Start basic. Backstroke and breaststroke, hell...even the (I think it's called) Australian Crawl (aka sidestroke).
You'll have to worry less about timing your breathing.
As far as the how too? hmm..
Can you tread water? What I mean is can you keep yourself fairly verticle in water that you can't touch the bottom of and keep your head above it? I'd start with that if you're hell bent on teaching yourself to do this. I say this only because you're going to have to be comfortable in water over your head and if you find the swimming thing not working for you, being able to tread and not panic can spare you much energy and flailing.
To learn? (I'm going to try to be as basic as I can, again...this is in no way a replacement for taking a lesson)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2YN3irK1N8
I found that video of a breastroke. Were I you, I'd focus only on the arm motions that they are making. You can do this stroke and do a basic leg kick and get yourself moving through the water. Don't worry about bobbing underneath or anything like that. Get the arm motion down, do a bit of kicking, and there you have it. You can keep your head up and facing forward the whole time.
Good luck!
This is actually a lot less stupid than it sounds. If you are relaxed enough in water that you can mess around happily forever without fear of getting tired & drowning, you can teach yourself how to swim very quickly by experimentation. Be sure that you aren't progressing onto learning strokes before you are really at ease in water, this is the mistake most swim instructors tend to make with their charges.
Also:
http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=23164
then, honestly, you didn't get good lessons.
Teaching someone to swim, so long as they are willing to learn, is not difficult, and any competent instructor should be able to do it no problem.
Same for me. I always took swimming lessons in the summer when I was a young (like 6-10), and never really learned how to swim from it. In between them one year I just kind of figured it out on my own.
When raising your arms out of the water, try to make them as "Small" as possible to get the least amount of drag. If you get too much drag on your limbs, it will be like "reverse swimming." Youll push yourself down instead of up. Keep this fact in mind, as that is the major mistake people make.
Breathing and..I don't know the name of the stroke, but its the one the olympians use in the "free style" swim.
Float on your stomach. Place your left arm straight out vertical. put your right arm like in "t-rex" position by your body. You know what I mean. As you push down with your left hand bring your right hand out of the water and try to limit the drag. as you extend your right arm vertical, turn your head to the left and inhale.
To do this effectively, you must not make large splashes of water when you cut into the water. When you breath, you will just inhale drops or small waves. Professional swimmers can keep their head under the water for a long time without breathing. Do not bother with that. With every stroke, or every other, rotate your head away from your extending arm and breath. As far as the legs, keep the vertical out behind you and do tiny kicks to help propel yourself. Your arms should be doing most of the work, legs only paddling to add a small bit of momentum and keeping them selves closer in line with your body to not slow you down.
As for a backstroke, float on your back, ears submerged and keeping your mouth and nose out of the water. Rotate one arm, in a full circle, back and over you to cut into the water and propel yourself forward while your feet kick. turn your head away from your extending arm to breath.
Forgot to add edit: Seconding a later post. Only try swimming in the shallow end of the pool. While there is very little chance to drown for someone above the age of 8 in a public place...It is much better to be able to just stand up if you accidently inhale water than to flail around in the deep end trying to get to the edge.
The first step to learning to swim is learning to float on your back and front.
Get that down first, and then add in your arms and legs.
That's how I learned.
As others have said, the most important step is to learn to float. Speaking more generally, it's important to be comfortable in water first. It might help to get a kickboard first, maybe put it under your torso so that you're free to just move your arms and legs about, and paddle around like a turtle.
But yeah, swimming is not something you learn by theory, so the best advice is just to get into a pool and potter around a bit.
These guys are absolutely right though, the most effective way to learn to swim is just find a shallow area, deep enough for you to test your bouyancy with. Once you've gotten down basic floating, you'll learn to propel yourself about from there.
Yeah, some people find backstroke easier, some breastroke, but some actually do find the front crawl the easiest. And sidestroke is not the Australian crawl. Australian crawl=front crawl=what Olympians swim in 'freestyle', because it's the fastest known way to swim.
Wouldn't advise this at all. Putting a board under you is going to give you a very messed up idea of what your natural buoyancy is, and you'll likely find it makes swimming more difficult, even if you can manage to float on it.
Using a board to kick, the best way to learn is to hold it straight out ahead of you by the edge, don't put it under your arms until you can kick fairly well. Kick with your head down and trying to keep as close to the top of the water as you can, legs mostly straight. Once you can kick OK, putting the board under your arms will force you to drive your legs down harder since your body is on an angle.
A huge part of swimming is stability, and the way to learn that is by mucking around in the water and being comfortable. And head position. If you can't get your head down in the water, you'll just sink. Your head is really heavy, so are your legs, the air in your lungs is what's going to help you float. So if you get your head and your legs level (in the water), you'll balance, if your legs are always under your head (as it is with most beginners, because they try to lift their head away from the water), you'll constantly be sinking towards your legs and have to struggle to stay up in the water. You need to be comfortable with your mouth very close to the water.
http://newnations.bandcamp.com
I started by submerging myself in the shallow end with my eyes open and exhaling slowly through my mouth. I'd feel how my body would sink as the air would leave my lungs.
Then I learned to float on my back by having a friend hold me up in the water until my body relaxed enough to float, then she'd slowly pull her arms away. Eventually I learned to relax in the water enough to float.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
1. Get relaxed and float on your chest, streamline if possible.
2. From the streamline pull your left arm back, with your elbow bent at an angle, picture a very gentle "s" motion.
3. You should finish the push with your hand below your armpit
4. With the left arm still at an angle, pull it out of the water and stretch it forward, begin the motion with your right hand when the left passes it.
4. Kick enough to keep afloat.
Have you looked on Wikipedia? They probably have pics that blow my description away.
Oh, and if you are doing snorkling, scuba, etc at your tropical destination, learn the dolphin kick, Which is essential to moving around with fins. Just keep your feet close and ungulate from your hips and thighs, feels wierd at first, but trust me, its the most efficent kick you can do underwater.
Good luck, again I apologize if this is too longwinded or cluttered.
Honestly the best thing to do is first learn how to float effectively like mentioned earlier. Then, I would really suggest that you take some swimming lessons (stroke clinic), so you can learn how to do freestyle and probably breaststroke. Practice is the key, because to truly "feel" the water you need to swim for years. Good luck, hawaii is a blast.
Try to learn how to tread water effectively, being as a good portion of the time you spend swimming with people, you're just swimming in one spot talking.