- We're taking things back to basics today
and looking at the very beginnings of how to swim.
And I'm going to be making no presumptions here,
so we're going to include the basics
of what you might need,
how to get into the pool and how to get started
whilst focusing on building your confidence.
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First up we need to make sure you've got the right kit
and the appropriate swimwear is obviously essential,
but any kit beyond that is usually optional,
although check with the pool you're swimming at
'cause some actually insist that you wear a swim cap.
And if you're like me,
you might not like opening your eyes in the water
so I don't want you to invest in lots of kit right now,
but buying a pair of comfortable goggles could a good idea
as you'll be able to open your eyes underwater
and that normally just naturally
will help with your confidence.
And then there's floats,
now I personally prefer to use a woggle or a noddle,
whatever you want to call it,
'cause you can simply place that underneath your shoulders,
under your arms or underneath your hips,
and then as you start to get more confident
and find the right body position in the water
you can actually take that out.
But note, these are floats, they're not safety devices,
so if you are coming to the pool for the first time,
I'd recommend seriously bringing someone with you
who's confident in the water already.
And also finding a pool that's shallow enough
so that you can stand up with at least
your head and shoulders above the water.
The biggest barrier when it comes
to learning to swim is usually confidence,
so make sure you come prepared and as you naturally
become more confident you'll find that you become
more relaxed and that in turn
will help with your body position quite naturally.
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So we're going to keep it simple to start with,
and I just want you to place your face into the water
for a count of five
whilst continually exhaling through your mouth,
you can hold onto the wall for this,
just give yourself some orientation.
If that's simple then progress onwards,
but if you're just sort of finding this
a little bit of a challenge,
then continue until you start to feel more relaxed
and you've really got that breath under control.
And now if you have been holding on,
step away from the wall and this time
you're going to put your whole head under the water.
So take a nice deep breath
and this time bend your knees,
so you're just going to put your face and head under the water
whilst still doing the exhalation for five seconds.
Comfortable with that?
Time to progress again.
And this time,
you're going to bend your knees and you're actually going to let
yourself sink right down to the bottom of the pool
so that your bottom hits the ground and continual exhaling
and once you've got the end of that breath,
simply straighten your legs
and you'll come back up to the surface.
And then just to ensure you've got that real confidence
and have it mastered, repeat it several times,
but making sure you get your breath back
in between each one.
(gentle upbeat music)
Now you've got the hang of underwater,
it's time to focus on being able
to be relaxed on the surface,
yip, the all important floating.
Now with enough air in your lungs
and the right body position,
pretty much all of us can float
but you can actually increase your chances of floating
by making yourself larger,
so by this I mean spreading your arms and legs
out wide into a star shape.
Now once you've made this position while standing up,
I want you to very gently push your feet up off the ground
whilst putting your head back
and trying to look at the poolside behind you.
You want to aim to have the waterline sort of
in the middle of your forehead
whilst simultaneously getting your hips,
focusing on them moving up to the ceiling.
Now it is tempting once you're in this position
to kind of check your body and say, "Yeah, I'm floating",
soon as you lift your head up and look,
you won't be floating anymore.
In fact, your body acts like a seesaw when it's in the water
and it pivots around your torso,
so if one end is up,
then the other end is likely to be down.
Now once you found this equilibrium position
and you're nice and level in the water,
you can start to really concentrate
on relaxing those shoulders
and thinking about your breathing,
as you breath in you might notice
that you rise slightly in the water
and then as you breath out, you'll lower slightly.
And this could be,
if you're struggling to find that perfect position
where an aid such as a woggle or a noddle
will come in handy,
you can place it under the area
that might be struggling to float,
which is usually your hips,
but try not to become reliant on this and still focus
on keeping your head and then once you're ready
you can simply remove that.
Now we have started this by going face up,
so on your back,
now it's time to flip it over and go face into the water,
and some people actually find it easier this way around
as it's slightly easier to get your hips up,
so you will need to take a deep breath
but start as you did last time,
make that star position and gently push off
the bottom of the pool, putting your face in,
so again that pivot, try to aim to have your face
looking down at the bottom of the pool,
maintaining that star position.
And again, if you need the woggle,
then you can simply place it under the areas
that you want.
And just a reminder, practice this in the shallow end
so as soon as you feel the need,
you can simply stand up if you want to.
(gentle upbeat music)
Moving on, let me introduce to you mushroom floats
and sink downs.
So step away from the wall,
and you need to tuck yourself up into a small ball,
so bring your knees to your chest
and you're going to hug those nice and tightly
with your arms and tuck your chin down onto your chest
whilst taking a big breath of air.
And you'll find that you just float on the surface
in a face down position like this.
And now once you've nice and relaxed,
I want you to gently exhale,
and you'll find as the air leave your lungs,
you should very gradually sink down towards the bottom.
Once you're at the bottom,
find the ground and then simply push yourself back up
to the surface. And once you're comfortable doing this,
practice a few times,
then it's a good idea if you've got the option,
to progress to the deeper end.
And this will start to really help you have
that body awareness in the water
which will transfer later on
when you come to learning the stroke.
(gentle upbeat music)
Right, I think we've done enough floating,
sinking, staying on the spot,
it is time to start moving forwards, literally.
So we're going to use the wall as momentum to help us here,
and changing that star shape float we've had
into more of a pencil shape.
So simply put one hand on top of the other
and then extend your arms above your head
so you're in a really nice streamline position
and stand with your back against the wall.
And from there, you're going to simply move forwards
so you're trying to put your face in the water
with your arms in front of you,
whilst gently kicking up off the bottom
until your feet place on the wall
and from there you're going to very simply straighten
your legs in a sort of explosive type movement,
which will push you forwards.
And with the combination of lifting your hips up
and pushing off the wall, and your head being in the water,
you should find you naturally get
that nice horizontal position.
And with a nice lung full of air,
I want you to just float and see how far you can go
until you need to take a breath,
and that point simply stand up and then return to the wall.
And practice this a few times, you should feel that,
you find that you actually can start
to get further on each attempt,
concentrating on your streamlining,
pushing of a little bit harder,
and maybe even taking a slightly larger breath.
I am aware that this is a lot of information
on overload for you to concentrate on,
so understandable if you're getting a little bit tired,
but if you're concentrating
and actually going through the actions,
and just take your time and make sure
you perfect each stage before moving onto the next,
and I'd rather you did it that way
than try and rush through it all
and miss some of the key points.
If however you still with me and you feeling good,
then we've got one final bit to add into this session,
we're going to progress onto the doggy paddle.
This is as it sounds,
and it's probably the most natural way
of propelling yourself forward if you are a first timer.
So we're going to use the wall
and the push off momentum that we've already practiced,
and from there you're going to alternately extend
one hand out in front of you
and then you're going to pull it underneath your body
all the way back towards your hip,
whilst the other one is doing the opposite action.
Once you reach the end
of the doggy paddle propulsion phase at your hip,
simply bring your hand close to your body,
all the way back through to the front of the stroke,
and you keep repeating this.
Now your legs need to be doing
a small alternate action out behind you,
but we'll concentrate more on the leg kicking
in a different video.
And to start with you can do doggy paddle
with your head up,
but once you've been able to progress
and put your face in the water,
you'll find it much easier to get that position.
And again, the key with this
is really just taking it small parts at a time,
and always having a rest when you get tired
so you can concentrate on perfecting it each time.
These are the beginning stages of learning to swim,
and if you've got through this with ease
then congratulations.
If not though, stick with it
because you don't learn a new skill overnight,
and with plenty of practice you'll soon
find that your confidence and your body position improves,
just trying to really master one of the phases
before moving onto the next.
If you've enjoyed this, give us a thumbs up like,
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And that video,
if you want to learn move about how to kick for freestyle,
you can find that just over here.
And if you want a move of a overall video
on how to swim the stroke of freestyle,
you can find that just here.