Learning to swim??

[Talus]

I kind of feel like the ability to swim is one of those things that everyone should be able to do, and like other people have said you shouldn't be ashamed that you can't swim. It's not a big deal. I would agree that private lessons would probably be better suited for you, I know there are some adult swim classes but they're usually oriented towards kids, so it could end up being you and a bunch of 5-8 y/o's for an intro class.

The fear of drowning is probably the hardest part for most people that need to learn to swim as adults. As you get more comfortable in the water though, you'll worry less and less about it, and you can take classes to teach you the different strokes, doing flip turns if you want to take it that far (which are nice if you want to swim laps for fitness), etc.

[Mojo]

I was fortunate enough to have lessons when I was like four, so maybe I'm a bit jaded, but I'd say you could probably teach yourself with some effort. There is plenty of published material about learning how to swim. You could take a look over it and go to a pool and just practice (or you could pay to take lessons from someone.) Learning how to float and swim on your back is probably something you should learn first. It requires very little energy compared to other styles (it's the difference between walking and running, honestly.) If you know how to do that, your fears about open water will pretty much go away.

[Max™]

Oh fuck yeah, kudos for pointing that out Cads, totally fucking forgot that.

Seriously, best tip in the entire thread, and possibly a life saving one.

If you're in the ocean, and start getting pulled out into deeper water by the current, trying to swim towards the beach will only wear you out. Swim parallel to the shore til you are able to get out of the outward flow, then you can head back in easily.

I don't care much for swimming on top of the water, probably due to the sinking/being used to holding my breath for long periods of time, I usually dart around underwater like a seal, pushing off the sides/bottom with my hands/feet, and dolphin kicking for speed.

[Skeeterxi]

My sister didn't know how to swim and she was afraid of the water as a kid. I threw her in the pool and told her to sink or swim, she swam. I always viewed swimming as instinctual. She was in the pool almost every day after that. Go with a friend to a pool and just do it man.

[kisada]

a lot of people are making snarky comments and stuff but there's a fear of water that a LOT of people develop as they get older, if they don't already know how to swim. i have a friend who worked as a lifeguard and swimming instructor for several years and he told me that the hardest people to teach are adults. swimming's instinctual if you're a younger kid because you don't know better and the pool's a fun place to be. once you're older and you equate being unable to swim = drowning = death, it's a different story.


for someone who's a beginner there are a lot of things to figure out: which way do i move my arms, when do i breathe, where do i place my legs when i want to get air, etc. there's so many things to keep track of when you're new it's very easy to panic. what you wanna do is start with just one thing and add on more and more as you figure it out. you start by using your arms to crawl through the water. then you learn to use your legs to keep your body steady for smoother movement. then you learn use the momentum of your body to grab air.

what i'd suggest doing is just trying to go from the short side to the other completely underwater, at the 3 feet deep section. hold your breath at the shallow end and try the breaststroke (youtube to see exactly how the technique works) without popping up for air until you've reached the side and can stand up. basically you just wanna be teaching yourself how to get from one side to the other without worrying about breathing. go to one side, pop up for air, turn around and repeat. once you've caught on to that and have at least one method for moving straight through a pool, you'll realize that it works from down to up too. and once you realize THAT, you basically can't really drown since you can just aim yourself straight at the surface and grab the edge even if you're at the very bottom of the pool.

after that, try the breaststroke for real so you can get the timing right as far as breathing. or just keep your head over the water (which can be hard to do for some people) so you have a method of moving without holding your breath. and once you're at THAT level, you can try all the other methods of swimming.

[Kerberoz]

It's 10x easier to learn in saltwater if you have access to a bay or reef or something without big waves/riptides. You literally can't sink.

[Tristam]

Most of the snarky comments don't really have anything to do with learning to swim either. Being able to stay alive after getting tossed in a shallow pool isn't the same as truly learning how to swim properly to prevent fatigue and in time actually move efficiently in the water. The OP wants to learn how to swim, so we're assuming he means more than stay alive in a 6 foot deep community pool. And like everyone has said, if you don't learn how to swim you're missing out on lots of really cool stuff you can do in open water, to say nothing of it being exceptional exercise.

[Kaylia]

Most of the snarky comments don't really have anything to do with learning to swim either. Being able to stay alive after getting tossed in a shallow pool isn't the same as truly learning how to swim properly to prevent fatigue and in time actually move efficiently in the water. The OP wants to learn how to swim, so we're assuming he means more than stay alive in a 6 foot deep community pool. And like everyone has said, if you don't learn how to swim you're missing out on lots of really cool stuff you can do in open water, to say nothing of it being exceptional exercise.

Yes, but you have to start somewhere. Going to a community pool and mess around is still the best (and cheapest) way to get familiar with water and learn the basic. Once you can keep your head out of the water, go read about the techniques on the internet and optimize your movement.

And really, if you have semi-athletic, most movement will come up naturally after spending a few hours in the water.

[Heavencloud]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think I'm going to go the route of private lessons just so that I can learn how to swim properly rather than just being able to survive in water. Life would be so much easier if my parents had just thrown me in at a young age though, grrr.

[oldoldman]

Black people problems.

[Aesctaa]

This stuff might be irrelevant for you OP, but regardless heres some extra experiences.

Once you learned the obvious stuff in a pool, and have your endurance up(even as an exceptional long distance runner and cyclist i could never contemplate a triathlon, my swimming endurance was always poor), its worth remembering that there is more to work on if you are learning to swim for survival purposes.

Tropics excluded, most people who go overboard on a boat or ship are more likely to die from shock and/or the cold than they are to drown through outright lack of buoyancy, its something you can prepare for a little on controlled survival courses, but the important lesson is just because you can swim nonstop in the pool, don't expect to be able to do the same in the north Atlantic without some serious experience. A life jacket will keep you afloat for a long time, but it wont stop the cold.

Also, you are going to need practice in falling in with a full set of clothes on, and learning what to do in that situation. Outright Buoyancy becomes a bit more of an issue in this circumstance.

Buoyancy is going to noticeably change depending where you are swimming, salt water makes it easier to float than in a calm lake, extremely salty water makes it effortless.

Swimming with sharks and manta rays is bad. Large jellyfish are unbelievably numerous in many coastal waters, if you don't like them, don't swim in the sea.