Can you teach yourself how to swim?

[SPG]

The trick is only breathe out underwater, start by standing in the pool face in water and slowly breathe out through your nose or corner of your mouth and empty your lungs, on raising your head our of water slowly inhale and duck your head back under the water and repeat. You should not be holding your breath at any point ! work on this and everything else will follow.

 

[Guest2]

That’s part of what gets me. I’ve got lung capacity so I can do almost a full length in a pool holding a breath but I know this isn’t gonna translate into open water.

Getting a breath after a good length is such a problem for me. It’s all or nothing, either a long hold or up and down like I’m drowning. I’m hoping the lessons will improve this.

As said, don’t hold your breath or you’ll need to gasp when you come up for air.

If i did say to do that it was just to get used to having your head in the water.

Try normal breath, push off underwater then breath out slightly from your mouth, surface and take a breath. You’ll need to gauge the out breath so its not too much and not too little - about the same amount as you’re going to breath in.

I personally hate noseplugs so i breath out slightly through my nose aswell sometimes. Usually before my surface inward breath. Breathing will need to change / be adapted for different things in the pool too e.g. tumbleturns and tumble onto back / into backstroke

Its all about figuring out when to breath and how much/little. This just takes practice and is easier when you’re in a pool

 

[bainbridge]

Is this a thing in the UK?

I’d be willing to pay for lessons in this if there was somewhere in London or within commuting distance between London on the weekends. I would love to go snorkelling on holiday.

That’s part of what gets me. I’ve got lung capacity so I can do almost a full length in a pool holding a breath but I know this isn’t gonna translate into open water.

Getting a breath after a good length is such a problem for me. It’s all or nothing, either a long hold or up and down like I’m drowning. I’m hoping the lessons will improve this.

You need to always be breathing:

Slowly breathe out while facing downwards. If you do this through both your mouth and nose, no water will get in.

After you've finished exhaling, inhale and repeat.

I don't know the exact science behind it, but I think holding your breath causes a carbon dioxide spike in your system, causing you to take another big breath and then hold that. You get another co2 spike and in no time at all you're out of puff.

That's my technical explanation!

By constantly breathing you're keeping a steady flow of oxygen/co2 and you'll be able to sustain your swimming.

This was a massive leap for my swimming and I think this differentiates swimmers who do a few lengths and have to stop for a rest from swimmers who do length after length without seemingly getting tired.

 

[Guest2]

This was a massive leap for my swimming and I think this differentiates swimmers who do a few lengths and have to stop for a rest from swimmers who do length after length without seemingly getting tired.

I’m not sure.
Sometimes when I swim when hungover, havent swam for a while and general fitness is worse or when a bit ill (man flu) I need to stop after 10 or 20 lengths.

When i’m in good health and swimming and gymming I can swim without stopping fine - as long as not sprinting of course.

So it’ll be down to general fitness and lung capacity too.

 

[jpaul]

educational video -
now wondering if I breathe out all the time - he asserts you shouldn't be , just when rotating head before next breathe in (ie discontinuous like above water)
also predominately breathe out using nose and don't empty lungs (both of which you'd do above water too)
need to keep some in case there is a wave or splashes from others, anyway.

will have to pay more attention in watching how others are breathing during sunday session

watch to count lengths is best piece of kit I bought - you can just daydream then - as opposed to continuous counting soundtrack
gave up taking a watch running or hrm years ago too much hassle but for swimming watch is a religion.

 

[weta]

I've never been keen on pools, I often picked up infections when I was a kid. The best place to swim is the sea (if it's an option), you'll build up your strength much quicker than doing endless lengths in a pool. My mother taught me to swim in the sea, just be careful of the currents, they can be brutal at some beaches.

 

[Deibu]

@explicit4u How are you getting on with your swimming, any improvement?

 

[explicit4u]

@explicit4u How are you getting on with your swimming, any improvement?

Only had a couple of sessions before getting COVID for the 3rd time in less than a year which has put a stop to my sessions.

Instructor did flag up and recommend some tricep weight workouts as my strokes were poor. Also pointed out that I was anaerobic swimming as I suspected. I’ll be working on it with her when I return. I can swim fast but I was recommended to swim slower and work on my breathing and lifting my head up more often.

I’ll report back when I rejoin the sessions.

 

[Deibu]

Best of luck with it and hope you improve when you rejoin the sessions again.

When I first started swimming again many years ago I was fortunate my physio was an ex professional swimmer and his advice in terms of breathing was what helped me the most.

Breathing control is the most important thing to master first and then the rest can be focused on after in my opinion.

 

[RobDogDog]

You can get swimming aids, like a small snug life jacket with long pockets filled with polystyrene rods. As your confidence grows the rods can be removed one by one.
Probably an air type version available for novice swimmers.

I thought for a second there that this was some crazy medical comment .

 

[Mr Jack]

If you can swim, but badly, just go to a local pool regularly and you'll rapidly improve. Pootle up and down with backstroke and breaststroke as you need.