Learning To Swim As An Adult

HellsKitchenmanNYC

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I think that there is an assumption among those who offer swimming classes that swimming is FUN and that people want to learn to swim because they also want to have FUN--actual swimming being more FUN than treading water. Well, fuck fun! It would be more realistic to accept that many if not most people who have reached adulthood without learning to swim will never enjoy swimming even if they learn how to do it, and would receive greater benefit from learning the more valuable survival skill of treading water.


It's really really, hard for it to be fun while you're trying to learn it. It's plowing into your fear and trying to watch yourself when you cannot. I hope someday it will be fun. Maybe in Acapulco where the water will be warmer. For some reason I thot this would be easier but I left out the fear factor. Once your head is under water you forget that there are 11 other people that can help you if something goes wrong. It's just plain, flat out fear. I'm past alot of that now after lesson 4. I have 16 more to go. I plan on being some sort of Aquaman by the end. I have it in head that this is not going to get the best of me and it HAS to be done. I HAVE to get over this fear. It's on my bucket list lol!
 

B_Nicodemous

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So damn proud of you Hells! I never had a fear of the water. Nearly drowned a few times, as a kid ( twice in the ocean. Once in a riptide, once I got disoriented by the waves and kept swimming down and sideways) I never feared it though. I did fear riding a bike. Stupid but then most fears are. Learned at 16. Broke my jaw flipping over the handle bars, lol after thar the fear was kinda gone for good ( thank god I was over it before hand otherwise ...lol) so while I can't empathize with you and water, I can sympathize with the fear to an extent, and root for ya every step of the way!

Way ta go! Mega ultra super :hug: !
 

funnyguy

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Hells, I am so proud of you. (Been missing the site due to Taxes) I nearly drowned when I was 7-we fell through the melting ice- and one of my friends with me DIED! So, I never tried ot took lessons. Finally, I just made up my mind to swim out to a raft where my friend were in a very deep water quarry. And I MADE IT! After that I gained confidence and can swim and float and loved body surfing in LA.
You have taken the first BIG step! And going under water after a time will seem OK. because you will know that you will not be underwater for too long. I am sure you will gain confidence and learn to puddle around in the water-even if you don't become a great Australian crawl swimmer--LOL I sure am not one!
Good luck and I am sure you will be able to drop one of those dreaded fears. And we all carry around some of them! Just keep it up and I wish you the best luck with putting that fear of the water behind you. Big Supporting Hugs, fg
 

dandelion

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i learnt to swim as an adult twice as old as most people at the pool because it was a hot summer and a mate insisted we go swimming. Had a few lessons as a kid but mostly hated it because the water was too cold and likely too deep. Did not learn to swim and avoided it studiously thereafter. So anyway, as an adult did learn to swim and got to liking it and did quite a bit of swimming.

The pool i went to ranged from about 3ft to 4ft 10 deep so anyplace I stood up my head was out of the water. What i did first was just get used to being in water and being underwater. I dont float well so the difficult bit is coming up for breathing while you flap about trying to do something. So i didnt bother with breathing at first. just took a breath and went underwater, or lay on the water and flapped a bit, and then got up. The important thing for me was to get comfortable in the water. to be secure that i could always stand up and breath watever I did. Learn to roll and rotate in the water so i could always turn head pointing up. Once i was sure i could do that, then I tried taking a few strokes before standing up and taking a breath. After I got able to move in the water I started to work on taking a breath while swimming. I did breaststroke because it seemed easiest and is fairly level swimming. I still only do breaststroke really, though I have tried others. Oh, and this was not done in five minutes.

I am not too impressed by the idea swimming might save my life. Guess I could swim ashore from the middle of a river but much more sensible not to get dumped into one. I kept at it because I got to enjoy the feel of the water. i think it was important I started doing this in a hot summer. Cold water is horrible, and i would class 80F as cold. Leaves me gasping if I walk into water at this temperature, which is not a good start for something involving breath control. On the other hand, 85F is ok. Just a small difference matters. My best day was when their heating went wrong and ran on all night. the pool was truly glorious for me but most of the swimmers were complaining! Yes, I do now swim in the sea sometimes and it will be colder than 80, but I am used to it now. If you are moving then its ok once the initial shock has passed. I think being warm is important for being comfortable, and being comfortable in the water is essential.

I dont like zooming up and down in lines. Its boring. i do like rambling around in and under the water. It feels good, and I feel the hair all over my body rippling in the water. Its easy so long as its enjoyable being in the water.

Goggles are a must. My eyes turn red from the water if exposed but more importantly I cant see without goggles. You need to be able to see underwater both so you can tell what you are doing and because being able to see makes you feel more in control.

It is easier to swim under water. professional swimmers are required to come up for a breath every stroke or per regulation because it is easier not to. Maybe I am biased because that is how I learnt, but I find it much easier for my head to be underwater most of the time instead of trying to hold it out of the water. That is harder. I would rationalise it as because I am working to push up against the water and not just push back. So you get more tired more quickly. If the head is down then you are lying flatter on the water and it is supporting you more. But of course, your mouth and nose are under water. So it is a must to get comfortable with that first.

learning to breath is important. I think i read that I breath the wrong way round. I hate having water in my nose, so best to blow out through nose. Take a gasp through mouth when above water. Easier to deal with a mouthfull of water when it happens than a nosefull. Also important to learn not to cough when you just swallowed some water at a bad time, because it will just make matters worse. Whatever you do, like I said, for me it was important to learn to be comfortable just being in the water and under the water before learning to get around.

Cant imagine anyone does swimming classes like this.
 
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hud01

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Used to go in the water using floats from about 6. Took formal swimming lessons at about 12. It is so much tougher as an adult. Congrats

Edit....at about 14 or 15 we used to try to touch the bottom of the 12 foot (4 meter) end of the pool
 

NCbear

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Having been a lifeguard and swim instructor who worked mostly with kids and adults who were learning how to swim, I can tell you that:

(1) It's not just about fears, it's about people who are or aren't "at ease" with their bodies in the water. By that I mean that there were people who were extremely awkward in the water because they'd never even been in a bathtub, so they didn't have any idea how trying to move in water would feel. With adults, I often had to ask people to walk with me across the shallow end so they could feel how the water would "pull" at their arms and legs.

(2) It's not about floating if people have too high body density to float well. I taught several bodybuilders and several other people with rather low body fat ratios; those people always sank like rocks to the bottom. For those men and women, I had to explain that their fitness levels were working against them and that unlike the fatter people in the class, they couldn't expect to lean back in the water and float on their backs as though they were on a bed. Instead, they had to learn how to push against the water and propel themselves along in a coordinated set of moves almost like a dance.

(3) Everyone can learn how to swim, regardless of whether their fears or their bodies give them a challenge. They might not all learn how to perform a flawless crawl stroke or an impressive butterfly, but they can learn how to propel themselves across the top of the water or under the water (coming up for air with regularity, of course :smile:) with maximum efficiency for their skill level, body type, and general level of fitness.

NCbear (who was once a completely scared little kid who'd rather shout beside the pool and have meltdowns than get in the enormous Olympic-sized town pool about three blocks from my house; it took a while before I realized how fun it could be :biggrin1:)
 

Q Vee

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This is awesome Hells. Like a few others here I was a former lifeguard and taught adult swimming. I really enjoyed being a part of another person's journey to conquering a major fear. It sounds like you have a good instructor who is able to meet your needs to overcome your fear. No matter how great the swim teacher, it is the student that brings the determination to push their own envelope. However much you progress it seems that you have already overcome the hugest hurdle. Congratulations and good luck.
 

someperson

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I recently have had learning to swim thrown on my plate for a project I'm working on. I've never gone past my knees in the water and spent my life petrified of it. I've had a bunch of family members drown, some under ice so the tales kept us all not learning how to swim despite the fact we have a beache house.
So I decided to take an adult beginner swim class.
It was let me say, metally horendous and the thing I've discovered is that I can't talk to people that do know how to swim because they've either forgotten what is's like or they just want to make fun of people that can't.
Basically we're a pool full of the Bad News Bears of swimming. 8-10 adults that are petrified of the water.
The teacher is great.. In lessons 1-4 I went from being petrified, and I can't even tell you how bad, but it was BAD, to a person that is now putting his head under water w/no problem and using the kickboard to paddle across the pool.
The water even at 80 degress is way colder than air at 80 degrees. I THEN had to spend money on neoprene clothes just to het THRU the class. My fingers are not having any feeling by the end of the class.
This class has 20 lessons, 2 each week for 10 weeks. I think I've made ALOT pf progress in 4 lessons. Considering I would never even go past my knees in water before. I ACTUALLY, even using the Noodle went INTO the 8 foot depth of the pool for a doggie paddle exercise. Before now that would have been UNHEARD of in my life...
This week..lesson 5 in the start of week 3 we're gonna start trying to swim w/o any device. I'm SCARED but I feel now I can probably get thru it maybe?!
The weird thing about a class like this is once you are under water you forget there are people around you that can help you and save you and it prevents you alot from going at it whole hog. It takes time,,,,esp. for someone like me so afraid of the water. but I'm getting better and more comfortable!

Self taught swimmer here. Almost did drown once in a back yard pool I remember everything form that day too.. Many years prior to learning how to swim.