Swimming

Cypresstree

Hello all,

Im starting swimming lessons in two weeks, one to one sessions first, then hopefully join a class in September!

You will never meet anyone as nervous as me when it comes to water! I live in a coastal area and am so envious when I see people out surfing and bodyboarding so I decided to bit the bullet and register for lessons.

At this stage (mostly from the coaching of a good friend) I can paddle up and down the pool quite easily........ with a float...... I just cant seem to get past that! At this stage I think its psychological! I dont seem to have any co-ordination?

Any tips/advice?

Money Shot

Cypresstree wrote: »

Hello all,

Im starting swimming lessons in two weeks, one to one sessions first, then hopefully join a class in September!

You will never meet anyone as nervous as me when it comes to water! I live in a coastal area and am so envious when I see people out surfing and bodyboarding so I decided to bit the bullet and register for lessons.

At this stage (mostly from the coaching of a good friend) I can paddle up and down the pool quite easily........ with a float...... I just cant seem to get past that! At this stage I think its psychological! I dont seem to have any co-ordination?

Any tips/advice?

Before I learned, I was convinced I couldn't float. Numerous people had tried to show me how to swim all to no avail.
I took lessons and just followed them through. All I can say is that if you follow what your instructor says, you will be amazed what you can achieve over a course of lessons (6-10 weeks). Just go with an open mind, and do what your told and you'll be swimming in no time.

The one piece of advice I would give is that it is very easy to quite during the first few weeks, so you do need to persevere even when you think your going nowhere fast.

Green Hornet

Money Shot wrote: »

The one piece of advice I would give is that it is very easy to quite during the first few weeks, so you do need to persevere even when you think your going nowhere fast.

Yeah. I got lessons at the end of last year and there were times when I felt I was just not meant to swim. There were times when I got very frustrated but I stayed at it. Its really important to go to the pool a couple of times during the week between lessons to practice what you did at the last lesson.

I'm currently doing about 40 lengths of a 25 metre pool so if I can do it you can too. I did my first length in January and had to get out of the pool afterwards because I was exhausted!:o

40 lengths is not that much but I'm still trying to fine tune and increase the number of lengths. Dont worry if you've completed the lessons and are still struggling. With practice you will get better but dont give up no matter how frustrating it seems. There are some very good posters in this forum (CLseeper for example) and trying to include their advice helps no end.

Money Shot

Green Hornet wrote: »

I'm currently doing about 40 lengths of a 25 metre pool so if I can do it you can too. I did my first length in January and had to get out of the pool afterwards because I was exhausted!:o

That's great going. Don't want to hijack the thread, but can I ask if that's 40 lenghts front crawl continuos or do you take a quick breather every 2,4 or 6 lenghts ?

I managed my first length a number of weeks ago, and am just curious as to how far I can progress by the end of the year.

Green Hornet

Money Shot wrote: »

That's great going. Don't want to hijack the thread, but can I ask if that's 40 lenghts front crawl continuos or do you take a quick breather every 2,4 or 6 lenghts ?

I managed my first length a number of weeks ago, and am just curious as to how far I can progress by the end of the year.

Congratulations! I was delighted when I did my first length as well.

I set myself targets after that. My first was 10 lengths, then 20. Was stuck there for a while but eventually made it to 30. Again, got stuck there for a good while now I'm around the 40 mark. Tips from this forum helped me get from 30 to 40.

To answer your question I usually try to mix it up, especially the first few lengths until I get a bit of a second wind. I generally do 4 front crawl followed by 2 breaststroke (I find that gives me a bit of a breather).

After that I take maybe a short breather every 4 or so lengths but try to concentate on the front crawl. I dont swim at a very fast pace or anything like that. I'm just interested in doing the lengths without getting exhausted and I still have a good bit of improvement to do on my own technique as well.

Funkyzeit

sorry wrong post...ignore..