Learning to Swim as an Adult: 5 Things to Practice 

Stephen Woodcock Good point about learning submersion! It is a very important skill to master (one that takes a great deal of practice). What I was hinting to in the video is that there is NO secret ingredient to learning to swim - just swim skills that you learn and then work to master one at a time! Oh, and the average human head weighs 10-11lbs.

Thanks.

Interesting! Thanks!

My husband and I discovered this today. Last summer he taught me to float but I was still tense and afraid because I couldn’t have my face underwater. My husband who has swam since a child, didn’t realize that my aversion to being submerged was the main problem.

i understand that but the breathing part always gets me, not easy when you got water all around you and at the back of your head you're thinking if you open your mouth logic says water is going in :) but anyhow i still think learning to swim is something i would like to accomplish one day :D

Wow, I'm tearing up! I'm so proud of you for giving the water another try! I'm so glad my video helped you. Please be sure to check out the other ones for more tips and tricks. Getting accustomed to the sensations of the water takes time, but it will get better! Keep me updated!

Stephanie Rainey nice to see such sincere replies from u. m taking admission in a swimming association next week, I've got the form already. m nt scared of water though I've drowned myself several times and saved my own life. Be it the beach or the pool it thrills me, but not scared.... m only troubled with my obesity. do u have a video for obese beginners. I'm 31 and m not lazy though, i follow a clean diet and sporty enough. love to walk and run. but my limbs are too heavy

Aww.. pebbles, good for you! Keep it up. Really it is a matter of trying, practicing and mastering one small fundamental skill at a time. Take you time! Do the skill and repeat it until you feel like it is second nature to you, then add on another skill :) Best of luck!!

Hey Monideepa, great to hear from you. First off, good for you for continuing to learn swimming! You do bring up an interesting point about different body types (and composition) which does have an effect on how you swim. Truth be told, the higher your body fat percentage the more you float! And women naturally have a higher percentage of body fat. Now, depending on where you carry your extra floatation it can make performing swim strokes tricky. When I work with a client, I pay careful attention to how their body moves through the water and based on what I see I will modify their stroke to best suit their body.

pebbles030393 At 52 I went to my first swim lesson today and I had so much fun!! Can't wait for the next one!!! 😁

Way to go, LSlade1207! Good for you for taking on this challenge! Remember, no need to hurry through the fundamentals, you have the rest of your life to learn ;)

That's great I'm 40 and just learning how to swim and all of the instructors are young. Good luck on your journey!!

LSlade1207 im the same way

In 1985 I was a freshman in high school and the fad in the baseball world was ho jo from the Mets. Who had out of no where hit 25 home runs. When asked he said I'm swinging bats under water. So the whole baseball team went to join the swim team. When my high school clash said he would not allow it. They all quit except me. He said ok, put on this styrofoam tube and start swimming. First day I swam a 250 500 1000 and 2000. Swam for 4 months. Then I quit.

Hi I’m 42. I want to learn. Are you a good swimmer now?

Keep at it! And try for next term to coordinate lessons with your favorite instructor on both days!

5SOSonedirection Fangirl Take your time and be sure to find a great swim instructor that will help guide your progress! Best of luck!

Oh my, sounds like you need a really GOOD swim teacher! Here's hoping this new teacher is a great one!

I was panicking before my first lesson and now I can navigate underwater. Struggling with coming up for air, but I will get there with practice... So don't worry I was in the same place and now I am here!

Once you learn how to breath you will feel but better. I thought you had to hold your breath under water which is NOT true. When I leaned how to breath I begin to relax. I was having panic attacks and my swim instructor taught me how-to get over them. I am much more relax and begin to enjoy my class.. Stay with it. Practice is the key.🔑

Hey Nora, Good for you for taking lessons! How is it going so far? So, first off let's talk about having body fat. Believe it or not, in swimming a higher percentage of body fat (up to a certain percentage) is an advantage! It helps you float. That can mean you don't have to work as hard to keep your head above water when you tread water or in a stroke like front crawl. Drop me a note and let me know how you're doing!

How amazing is it that you are learning to swim?! Good for you! Paddle boarding will be a great way to enjoy life in the water. Drop me a note and let me know how your lessons are so far!

Stephanie Rainey with anxiety I thought i would struggle but as you said it’s built me confidence. Trying to get my head up to take a breath then back down again with out grabbing the side of the pool like I am off balance.

@@merchant746 Just getting in with a good instructor can really fast track getting used to the water and learning new skills. I hear you about getting a breath! It is tricky and takes correct movement and timing. What have you learned so far? Front float, back float, flutter kicking?

Stephanie Rainey yeah all those

How scary! I'm sorry that happened to you. Congrats on bravely continuing to learn how to swim and to overcoming your fear of the water. Wishing you the best!

thank you Miss Stephanie, i'll try my very best!

Congrats! I have a phobia, too, but I am going to try today :-)

I have a phobia too. I went under as a teenager and it put me off. I am getting a little comfortable now as we have a pool and my husband is in it all the time. I feel like I'm missing out. He loves all water activities and i am scared to death when Somone suggests anything involving water. I miss out on so many good things.

But it is fun

@@carlavv5302 Anything is fun if you enjoy it.

My pleasure! Best of luck learning to swim. Stay tuned for more videos to come.

It's true having a pool to practice in is a luxury.

Thanks for your kind words! We love figuring out the best way to help beginners get comfortable in the water. Basically, you just have to take it one swim skill at a time! If you are ever in Ottawa (which is not that far from NY) write me at info(at)theaqualife.ca and we will have you in the pool. And who knows we just might put together Learn-to-swim retreat in the next few years and you could join us for an intensive 10+days to get you moving in the water with ease.

Neenja7 I

Sorry to hear that!

Steph

Neenja7 message mi thru messenger, I might help you in your swimming skills. Elpidio Hermoso Bayo.

Good job getting in and learning, Eddah Grace! Keep it up. Figuring out breath control in the water can be tricky. Check out my other video with tips on going under water :)

Hormoz Akhavan Thanks, Hormoz, So glad you found the video helpful!

Hormoz Akhavan r

You're welcome 😊

Helen Chapman Hey Helen, I glad this helped! Let me know how practicing submersion goes. Wishing you the best!

You go girl!

Glennife Mena Thanks! I’m lucky my family is so helpful and entertaining ;)

Hey! Thanks for your question. Learning to swim at the beach can be a great experience as long as you engage a trained swim instructor with whom you have confidence. You also need to familiarize yourself with the water conditions at this location and take necessary precautions to be sure you practice safely. Knowing things like where the water drops off, if there is an undertow, water temp.. Ect is very important.

Oh, I hear you! It can be tricky to figure out your floats and recoveries! The movement and distribution of your weight can make it tough to figure out on your own. Do you have a good instructor to support you?

@@theswimologist not really,, ill try again with a better one.

@@sxyngel Keep me posted on your progress!

madhumitha manjula Excellent, glad to be of help!

Keter Malkut Oh, glad it was helpful!

Très belle vidéo. Thank you for the video. Very interesting. Very good coatch. Cela me motive pour mon club de natation. A condition d'avoir l'accord de mon cardiologue. Car je désire faire un stage de formation natation en tant que nageur en mer. J'68 ans

En plus on me demande de passer la visite médicale pour valider mon activité natation loisirs mer piscine pour ça je suis obligé de passer une radio du thorax

Glad to hear that, Shiek! Keep on practicing!

RobinBlue, it can be very hard to learn to swim when you don’t trust the water. The combination of finding the right teacher to support your learning and reprogramming your mind to let your body relax in water can be tricky. It also takes time. Lots of time in the water. I hope you find the right teacher!

Hi Cee, Thanks! We try :)

FlatbedDriver My pleasure! Best of luck!

Hi Ashish, Water up the nose is a challenge that lots of adults and kids alike face. Here is what I'd recommend: 1. Master clearing your nose: It is inevitable that you will at some points in learning to swim (or doing a swim workout!) you will get water up your nose. To clear, you blow out your nose hard in one spurt. You can do this as your face exits the water or once your face is out of the water. Basically, you blow like you would blow out into a kleenex. 2. Practice bobs (exhalations) through your nose. Start this exercise with your face in the water (so, just barely submerged) then as you get better at this pattern of inhale out of the water through your mouth, nose and mouth in the water, exhale hard out your nose and come up as you are finishing the exhale exiting the water. **It takes a surprising amount of blowing to push against the pressure of the water, so blow hard! ** **never linger in the water past the time you are done exhaling! If you do, you increase the chance that you will pull in water from your nose.** Increase the depth of your submerged face as you get good at having your face under the water. This increases the water pressure on your face and proves more challenging :)

SimpleSwim with Hugh So true!

Tracy Ken My heart goes out to you, Tracy! Get some one on one help from a professional swim instructor if you can!

Stephanie Rainey thank you so much. I talked to my teacher about it and she made my school employ a professional to teach me and with the help of your videos and the professional, ive been doing great so far. Thanks! :)

Tracy Ken Yay! Good for you speaking up for yourself! Keep practicing with your swim teacher. Wishing you all the best! Xo

Hey Nora Brown, thanks for writing me with your challenge! Exhaling underwater is more challenging because water is so much more dense than air, so when you exhale underwater you need to push the air out through a more dense substance- that’s why it requires more force. Think of exhaling out your nose like blowing your nose - you need that kind of “push” to get the air out. If you’re exhaling from your mouth, think of it like blowing out birthday candles - you need that kind of force to push the air out underwater. Something else you should know is that the water pressure increases the deeper underwater you are and the more force you need to exhale. So, practice exhaling using a progression - a) practice blowing your nose into a Kleenex in intervals - inhale from your mouth, exhale out your nose b) practice in the pool or tub - inhale from your mouth above the water, then blow bubbles from your nose at the surface of the water (basically, just your face underwater), c) increase the depth of your submersion (which requires more and more force for your exhale) in stages - exhale, then come up for a breath and repeat. This will build your ability to exhale at greater depths!! Hope this helps, Nora!

Jayesh Soni, It really depends on what activity the beginner is undertaking. A person who is not comfortable or fully capable of swimming in the deep end should wear a pfd for all water sports. If they are learning with a professional swim instructor, the instructor will decide if floatation equipment is necessary.

Hey Tracy, Don't get down about it! It's so normal for either the front OR the back to be hard for an adult learner! The biggest thing to remember is to bend your knees and bring your feet to the bottom FIRST. When you do, it will bring your bottom down and make it easy to stand. Here's a link to a video I did just on front float and recovery! Check it out: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iciDp9n4U38.html

Stephanie Rainey I’ll keep trying. Thank you.

Mahmoud Alshaaer Enjoy!

The best advice I can give you is to find a really good swim instructor that specializes in teaching adults in your community to guide you in learning to swim. Practicing with your teacher once, twice or even three times a week will set you on the road to mastering fundamental swim skills and then putting them all together to learn a swim stroke. Best of luck! Our school is located in Ottawa, Canada www.theaqualife.ca.

I'm from Kerala, India.. I heard that there are many institutions which teach adults in swimming.. But, I couldn't find where to go.. I want to learn swimming because of three reasons.. First of all is as a safety measure, second as an exercise and finally to give awareness about water pollution and find appropriate solutions to it, so that my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren can enjoy swimming..

Finally, I have found it..

Please do update me! And let me know if you have questions you'd like me to answer.

ronald fernandes Hey Ronald, Kicking is tricky. If your legs are too tense you won't move forward - it's like your leg movement is fighting the water and the water can't flow over your leg to move you forward. It this is the case, relax your legs and bend slightly at the knee and try again to see if you move forward. As for your head being under water, this is what you want - your body should be completely horizontal in the water which usually means your face and ears are inline with your body under the surface of the water 🏊🏽. Hope this helps! Be sure to practice with a spotter or instructor and lifeguard present!

Hey Joke Ade, First off, congrats on getting started learning to swim! It is tougher for muscular bodied men to learn swim simply because they are less buoyant, but it’s not impossible. Without seeing your kick it is hard to advise you on what to do differently. Here’s a deal, if you post a video of your kick on RU-vid and leave the link in the comments here OR post a video on our FB page the @AquaLifeSwimAcademy, I’ll give you some feedback and things to try. :) Hope to see your video soon!

Well and Fit 1 Now Great job getting in to practice! I love the way swimming and being in the water tires me out too. Keep it up!

Keep trying! Don’t give up! Look for an instructor who has integrity and knows what they’re doing.

Florence Olorunfemi The secret is good breath holding, a completely horizontal body position and knowing how to recover to standing! Check out my other video on how to front float here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iciDp9n4U38.html

@@theswimologist Thank you Stephanie.

Aww.. Thanks! Enjoy! And check out our other videos :)

Aww.. thanks!

No, worries Hugo. Keep looking for a good instructor until you find someone who can help you! Best of luck!

Hi Shari, What would you want to see in Part 2 & 3?

Freptboy That’s a great problem to have! Keep it up!

Yes it is! But my good instructor told me to slow down.

Thanks, Jovan!

Boy, Heather that is a tough introduction to the water! I'm sorry that happened to you. Sadly, it's not an uncommon story. Many of my students have suffered some sort of water trauma when they were young and lost confidence in learning to swim. There is no easy fix for fear, but I have found that gentle, consistent practice (2 to 3 times a week) with a really strong, knowledgable instructor can help you acclimatize to the sensations of the water, grow in confidence (because your positive experiences are counter-acting your negative, past experiences) and learn the basic swim skills you need. Basically, baby steps with a great instructor! Wishing you much healing xo

Lessons can be expensive especially if they are one on one with an instructor. I am actually in the process of creating a video e-course which I'm hoping will make learning to swim much more affordable and accessible for so many people like you who would like to learn to swim. If you have any ideas for what to put in that course - what you'd like to see in the course, let me know!

How do you convince people to relax in water. The body is a buoyant in deep water as it is in shallow water.

Well I have now moved house so have to find another pool so I can join the waiting list. However there are issues. 1) None of the pools are accessible by public transport and as I don't drive slight difficult. 2) Finding someone to " Hold my Hand". My wife is a very proficient swimmer but has refused to help me as she says its a waste of time as when on the very rare occasion that we have been to pool I don't do anything.

Basher Faker No need to be shy! You are right, many people only get around to learning to swim later in life. Find a good teacher and hop in and learn :)

Thanks, Adeola! Let me know if there is any other adult-learn-to-swim subject you'd like to see us cover!

All Stephanies welcome ;)

omolemo khomoatsana Hi, Don’t panic. See if you can ask for an experienced swim instructor to help you learn. Best of luck!

I’m upset this GOLD isn’t being appreciated.

Gail Viechnicki Lol! You’re not alone :)

Exhaling through your mouth is usually easier and perfectly useful for a short swim above or under the water however if you want to learn to swim a longer distance or to side breath in front crawl you will need to learn to exhale through your nose! And remember breath in through your mouth always! Not your nose.

Ndubisi Mathino thank you for watching!

bahamn15 Amen to that. Unfortunately, it can take an instructor a long time to become an effective and supportive swim teacher and most instructors are not challenged to improve their skill beyond their initial qualifications. At our swim school, all in instructors are considered to be on a continuum of development and their teaching is evaluated once a month and we mentor them with a focus on improving one new skill at a time. If you’re ever in Ottawa, message us. We’ll get you in the water learning :)

wait...Ottawa as in Ottawa, Ontario? What a coincidence?

Breath control is one of the strangest things we learn in swimming! No other sport (except archery and biathlon) forces you to change your natural breathing pattern. Drinking water as you learn is normal! As is getting it up your nose ;)

Salty water is the worst

Both are great to practice! Most people find it easier to exhale from their mouth when first learning to swim. However, you will need to learn to exhale from the nose for when you start learning front crawl, diving or deep submersion!

@@theswimologist thank you for your reply..very helpful

Hi N Jones, I'm setting up an intensive lessons swim tour for 2019. Perhaps I should put NYC on the destination list?! Can you email me with what you'd like help with, where you're located and a suggested pool we could get you learning in - stephanie (at) theaqualife . ca? I'd love to swing by NYC on my tour!

I sent you an email. Thanks

T Mst Yes! Practice is key.

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RzAWCtokMzo.html

Richard Kunstman Save it to your favorites.

Ashley Mitchell How sad 😢 Many people never learn to swim in deep water. It’s a life skill everyone needs!

The Aqua Life Swim Academy Brookstreet yes, I'm almost 32 and don't know, I'm going to learn, thank u, have a great saturday

Why blue of course! Shout out to my mama for those ;)

Hey Gotah Gemini, It really isn't that scary if you have someone to assist you. Is there someone in your area that could instruct you?

Hi! Thank you for replying. I bought some intensive lessons and have finally learned to float on stomach and back! It was scary at first but with a lot(!) of practice i can finally do it standing near the corner of the pool :) I'm struggling with doing rotations from side to side, front to back and vice versa. Could you please make video on that too and also on how to keep head out of water when gliding on stomach. Your videos are very helpful!

Way to go, signing up for lessons!! Glad your floating is coming along. Those are great suggestions for videos! Thanks!

James Kusi Yes, learning to swim 🏊‍♂️ takes much courage (and some good help)!

thanks . I think you should do more swimming videos. may GOD bless you

D B thanks!

misoman Ah, thanks!

Don E Sometimes a little humour is just what is needed before getting down to business :)