So, I’m always hoping I can find some kind of exercise that I can enjoy rather than “forcing” myself to do it. For a while, I was doing well with some light hiking but my feet (which have always been bad) have gotten worse over the years and hiking now results in too much pain.
I recently moved into a new apartment and the apartment building has a nice pool. I’m usually up early in the day when there’s almost never anyone using the pool. I’m wondering if swimming for exercise could end up being the answer.
Trick is, I can’t swim.
Now, by “can’t swim” I mean that I can’t swim properly. I don’t mean that I’m a drowning risk. I can keep my head above water, and I can move myself from point aqueous A to point aqueous B. If you dropped me off a boat in a small lake and said, “So long, sucker!” I ought to be able to get myself to shore without my mother having to shop for a black dress.
By “can’t swim” I mean I can’t swim with athletic form the way I’d think I should swim for a good workout. I blame the swimming teachers I had as a child, they all yelled a lot and I spent every swimming lesson wishing I could go home. I do remember the basics of form as far as instruction goes, but I was never able to get it down.
It’s the whole Face in the Water Turn Face to Take a Breath thing that I could never get down. I would turn my face to the side but only half my face would be above the surface of the water. When I’d take a breath the swimming teachers would race to call “Not It!” at the prospect of phoning my mother to tell her to buy a black dress.
But, if I take the basic instruction that I remember from childhood, might I soon enough be able to teach myself to swim?
Or, if I really wanna do this, is it better for me to seek out formal instruction?
NOTE: I am quite good at swimming under water. But I never think of people swimming under water for exercise, so I imagine it isn’t much of a workout (I myself have never felt like I was exerting too much effort to do it).
I think you should look into a brief refresher course at the local Y, or a gym. It will make your life much easier, and the instructors probably won’t yell quite so much now. From your description you don’t have enough of the skills mastered to do laps in any stroke. I’m not sure that self-correction is possible in a meaningful way without some help. An instructor who can watch you and give you immediate, specific feedback will help you progress much faster.
My wife is the same way. She swims “frog-style”, as she would put it, with her head always out of the water. She asked me to teach her how to swim “properly”, but we came to the conclusion that there wasn’t much point at this late date. Like you, she can get from point A to point B, and the possibility of theoretically increasing her top speed by a fraction didn’t seem worth the hassle.
It’s my understanding that, for exercise, all that really matters is that you’re moving around, not that you’re using any sort of “proper” stroke. Doggy-paddle, backstroke, underwater, whatever: It’s all good.
You can do it. Chronos is right. You don’t have to do any particular stroke, and you don’t have to do it perfectly.
A few basic classes will get you started–it’s not as complicated as you seem to think. However, if you really like it, you’ll probably want to move to a longer pool eventually.
Chronos’ take appeals to my general desire to make as little effort as possible.
guizot seems to split the difference.
(…and hogarth seems to be trying to set me up with his wife? We’ll come back to that one later.)
I think, when I have the time, I may look into formal instruction but get started in the meantime with dog paddle basics rather than doing nothing until I can find time for something formal.
Well good for you! I really enjoy swimming but don’t have the access to a full-sized (25 yd. X 50 m) pool any longer . No matter, I just do breast stroke in the pool at my apartment complex. It works nice because breast stoke is fairly low speed so the laps are not silly-short (and I don’t kick off from the wall to start a lap).
I would say getting some instruction is a good idea. I learned to improve my strokes and it’s not a matter of “doing it right” or anything snooty. It’s just a lot of fun to get better at something and the workouts get longer and more demanding. I would suggest getting some swim goggles. There’s something about having clear vision that takes away the uncertainty of having your face down in the water and not being able to see well. If you can get easy (and I do mean easy) access to a full-length pool by all means do so. And instruction in basic stroke mechanics will make swimming more fun (in my experience) and learning a new skill is always fun.
Breaststroke (frog style) is the easiest for a beginning swimmer to learn. I’ve read that it is the most natural way to swim and that in fact in emergency water situations, even people who “can’t swim” will instinctively use a breast-stroke motion to propel themselves in the water.
@**Shoeless **- backstroke is one in which you may likely panic and inhale water. The head easily recedes back under the water’s surface.
I don’t swim due to an incident I had years ago when I almost died due to drowning. I still freak out in the water.
But I remember that the easiest, most stress-free way of swimming for me was on my back. My face stayed out of the water as long as I kept moving. I could breathe as usual. Only problem was I couldn’t see where I was going, but if I was swimming a lane in a pool that’s not a problem.
bienville good for you! Can you do a freestyle (AKA crawl) with your head out of the water, or a breaststroke? Either of those two would be good places to start. I think dog-paddling is quickly going to get frustrating. You won’t move very fast.
I just went to YouTube to pull a couple of videos for you to look at, and there are a LOT. Take a look for yourself and see if there are any that look helpful to you.
PM or ask questions in this thread. I was a swim instructor at one time. I can give you some simple drills to keep you moving, and I and others are more than willing answer questions.
One thing you should pick up in addition to the goggles is a kick board. It will allow you to work on your kick, and to practice your breathing.
There is a swimming protocol called “total immersion” and at one time there were lots of instructional videos on the internet. This is a great way to get better at swimming, check it out.
But you don’t have to have good form, or any form, to get lots of benefits from swimming, particularly if you like it. You can just tread water and get a moderate workout.
I’m exactly like you in many ways, OP - I can swim passably enough, but I feel like professional swimming instruction could definitely improve my form, speed, and enjoyment - just haven’t got round to doing that yet. I don’t let that stop me doing 10-20 laps of breaststroke with my head above water, in the “slow” lane at my local pool. It’s still a decent workout. I do know how to swim with my head underwater but need some decent goggles and a bit of coaching to be any good at it.
Start up on your own, check to see if there isn’t an instructor or lifeguard kicking around to offer you pointers maybe? If not ask about instruction. Consider instead of a course, just getting private instruction now and again as you feel you need for input.
As a former competitive swimmer and holder of a Bronze Medallion I can assure you that poor swimming technique will not limit your chances of a vigorous workout. In fact nothing encourages brisk energy expenditure in the water like a spot of drowning.
In all honesty good technique makes swimming much easier and less tiring so to get a good workout simply takes longer. It is a nice feeling gliding through the water but doing long stints for fitness is, in my experience, pretty damn boring. So stick to thrashing around a bit mixed with a little aquarobics.
Oh, wow! This Thread got a new bit of attention after I thought it had died!
Thanks for all the helpful responses!
I didn’t intend any precise description with the phrase “dog paddle”, I was just using it as a catch-all term for unartfully moving about in the water, not drowning by not graceful.
Velocity put the parenthetical (frog style) when using the term breaststroke. Picturing a frog swimming, I suppose a half-assed kind of breaststroke is my natural go-to. So, I did a few laps of breaststroke yesterday and it definitely gave me quite a workout if my heavy breathing could be trusted as any kind of indicator. It felt great until…
<Flashback Scene> We see bienvilleNOT doing any stretching before his swim
</Flashback Scene>
As I mentioned, my previous preferred exercise before I started having problems with my feet was to do some light hiking. I knew how to do some good stretches for my legs before hiking. Apparently, I have to learn some good stretches for my arms before swimming!
Although I felt great immediately after the swim, later in the evening (conveniently just before bedtime) my arms, shoulders, and neck ended up being extremely sore. I was so sore that I could barely sleep. It was really terrible.
So, lesson learned, I gotta do some good stretching of my arms and shoulders before exerting myself with a good swim!
I’m going to follow this thread just to freeload the advice you’re given.
I am the same way, I learned to swim at a later childhood age (picture being 13 in a group full of 6 year olds - yeah) and I realize now that I wasn’t taught properly. Instead of putting my face in the water and turning to breathe I was taught to bring my face up with each stroke to take the breath. Turning my head from side to side and barely putting my face in the water at all. Which is exhausting and definitely not productive.
I see there’s a way to swim called “the lifeguard” method, where you keep your head up and look in front of you.
Anyway I wish you all the best. Just getting into water is a feat for me.