# Is it possible to teach oneself how to swim? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 5, 2011, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250 "2011-09-05T08:38:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/41 "2011-09-06T17:56:38Z")
> [@OneMissedPost](#): > > I want people to cite claims about people magically learning how to swim. I never had swimming lessons and for the longest time I thought I couldn’t swim… Turns out all I had to do was try. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/42 "2011-09-06T19:29:06Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I started out just hanging around in the shallow end, got comfortable going underwater, figured out how to tread water, and eventually managed to move myself around in deep water by age 8 or so. I didn’t have (and still don’t have) Olympic form or anything, but it wasn’t some unattainable skill to the uninitiated. If I put you on skis as a 7 year old, and let you fiddle around on the mountain for hours every day, by 8 you’d be a kickass skiier. If you put skis on a 40 year old and say “have at it” the results are not nearly so ideal. Will you learn to ski after a fashion? I suppose you will – if you don’t give up in frustration or injure yourself first. You just cannot compare the raw learning abilities and fearlessness of a school aged child to that of a middle aged and fearful adult when it comes to learning physical skills in mildly hazardous circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/43 "2011-09-06T20:25:48Z")
_Damn_, why didn’t I learn to ski at age 7? Oh yeah… no mountains. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/44 "2011-09-06T23:22:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Benjamin Franklin taught himself how to swim, using insytructions rom a book. He even invented his own swim fins. > > Another of those facts about the Founding Fathers they never old you at school. > > “When most people think of Ben Franklin, they don’t usually think of an athlete. However, Franklin was an early proponent of physical fitness. **In an age when few people knew how to swim** , Franklin taught himself how to swim. He was an avid swimmer all his life and even contemplated becoming a full-time swim instructor. Benjamin Franklin is the only founding father in the Swimming Hall of Fame” Bolding above is mine - so, **few people knew how to swim**?! Really? This is totally new to me - I just always figured most people learned to swim at some point! ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/45 "2011-09-07T00:34:34Z")
I taught my Chinese roommate to swim at 26yrs. She had tried a lesson or two and had not had any luck, was completely convinced she’d never learn. I taught her in the ocean, and I am not an instructor. It’s not that hard, really. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/46 "2011-09-07T02:37:10Z")
My cousin kinda-sorta taught me how to swim when we were at the local pool once. I was having trouble putting my face underwater (because I kept choking), and she pointed out that I needed to blow bubbles. So once I figured out how to swim UNDER water, I figured out how to swim above water as well. Then we all had to take swimming in high school. I’ll never be an Olympic swimmer, but I love to swim. (Diving on the other hand, I absolutely SUCK at. I can dive if I have to, but I’d rather just jump off of the board. And I can do a mean cannonball!) I say take lessons – it won’t hurt, and no one’s going to make fun of you. **Hari Seldon** , one thing you never ever tell someone is that they can’t drown. You can drown in an inch of water. While that’s probably not going to happen to the OP, you don’t want to go into swimming lessons with that idea. Have fun! ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/47 "2011-09-07T17:35:18Z")
My advice is suck it up, ego-wise, and take an adult beginners class, or pony up for a little private lesson. But, one other option is to by yourself practice floating (stomach and back) and learn to doggie paddle in shallow water, then practice treading water once you’re comfortable in deeper water. But then take a few classes to learn real strokes; you’ll be much more comfortable and confident if you can do a good breast stroke and side stroke. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Full\_Metal\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Metal_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/48 "2011-09-07T21:07:17Z")
My advice matches most of those here. Take a class, at least to get started. Getting the foundations right, at the start will go a long way in ensuring your future succerss, pleasure and ease of learning should you wish to self educate in the future. That being said, I couldn’t help but mentally adding “…need answer fast!” to the title of your post… Best of luck… ---
**Author:** ![ecseas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ecseas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecseas)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/49 "2011-09-08T10:10:16Z")
I’d say you’d be better off doing a Swim-to-survive course, if anything . I did one in primary school, but I’m sure there is ones for adults too. It teaches you how to put on life jackets, in and out of the water. how to converse energy what to do if you’re alone in the water what to do if you’re in a group in the water how to enter to the water how to tread water how to do side stroke, how to use ropes to save someone and how to improvise to save someone how to act while being saved how to wave for help floating plus being able to swim a good distance ( IIRC, it was 4 laps of 50ms without stopping in freestyle,breast stroke and back stroke) ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250/50 "2011-09-08T15:19:30Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Well, my uncle taught all his kids to swim by tossing them off the end of the dock. It worked every time, not one drown. Yes, it was many years ago before such things were frowned on. He lived no where near any instruction, as well. We all took lessons. But we saw them every summer and they were always, and are still, much stronger swimmers than us. > > How’s that for a cite? This is the way it was done in the country. For me the hard part was not learning to swim but getting out of the bag. It is certainly possible to learn how to swim on your own. I used to teach swimming to 5 year olds and if two people can teach 6 kids to swim, one grown up can teach himself to swim. It is just not that hard. However, it is slightly dangerous and would take much longer to learn than with an instructor. It is his time and his life and if saving face means that much by all means teach yourself. However, the first stroke you should try to learn is definetly not the breast stroke I would recommend the sidestroke since it is relatively easy and keeps your head out of water. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-teach-oneself-how-to-swim/595250.md?page=2)