swimming?

[sophinisba]

I have a few friends on LJ and Dreamwidth who like swimming laps for exercise. For a while I would read their posts and think "Yuck!" because my main association with swimming is humiliation in junior high gym class. Only lately I've been reading them and thinking "Huh," because, hey, I used to have the same associations with running, but that is now something I enjoy and get a lot of satisfaction from. So, I've been wanting to give it a try and would love some advice from those in the know about how to get started.

This week I've taken steps! On Monday I went to the gym and asked about their schedule, which has open laps time and also learn to swim lessons. I'm not good enough to swim laps, but I can't take lessons because I won't be around all summer. They said it was okay to go during laps time and do swimming-like things. If it was busy I could just talk to the other person in my lane and let them know I'd just be hanging out at one end. Yay!

Yesterday I thought about going to the pool, but I put on my old bathing suit and realized it was way too big and I would need a new one. My roommate told me about a good deal at Marshall's, but they only had one suit similar to the one she'd bought and that one was too small for me. Then I went to Target and I was even more frustrated, because they had this big section for swimsuits and lots of mix and match tops and bottoms (a lot of which were actually pretty cute!) but very few one-piece suits of the kind that would actually, you know, stay on while you're swimming!

(I also noticed that of the few one-piece suits most were in larger sizes, and same thing goes for more modest styles of two-piece suits, like if you're bigger you're supposed to cover up but if you're small you'll automatically want to wear something skimpy? WTF, Target? It was disappointing because I get a lot of my clothes there and I usually like their styles and prices.)

Then I went to Sports Authority and they had a few different suits that were nice and simple and practical but they all cost more than $50, and that seems like a lot of investment for a sport that I'm not even sure I'm going to get into at all. Bah. I gave up and came home.

Today I decided to go ahead wearing my old suit that's too big. This went a little bit better than I'd expected. I looked pretty bad but since I was in the water most of the time no one could see. :) The water was warmer than I'd expected and the pool was not at all crowded, so there were a few people swimming laps but there were also a bunch of free lanes, so I didn't feel like I was getting in anyone's way. I was embarrassed, mostly at the thought of the lifeguard watching, but since I didn't have my glasses on I couldn't see her face, so I could forget about that most of the time.

Unfortunately, I don't really know how to swim. I mean, sure, I took swimming lessons when I was a kid, and then there was gym, but that was mostly about horror and humiliation so how was I supposed to concentrate? I was always so far behind everyone else and I could never breathe right. The last few days I've been looking around for some kind of instructions for beginners. It's easy to find websites and books with advice for beginning runners and weightlifters, but I can't find anything about swimming. Do you really just have to go to lessons and have someone show you? That makes me sad. I like self-taught kinds of things.

What I did when I went in today, I tried just kicking forward and keeping my head above water...is that the doggie paddle? I don't know. Anyway, that didn't work so I got a kickboard, and then I would mostly hold on to that with my left arm and do that big swimming motion with the other arm and try to remember to breathe in when my arm was up, and I kicked. This seemed to be working okay so I tried putting my face in the water to breathe out and that was pretty awful. For a while I was switching which arm I used to hold on to the kickboard, and that went better, and I was breathing in on both sides and kinda sort breathing out into the water as I turned my head.

I stayed in the water for about twenty minutes and then I left. My legs were a little tired but it was mostly okay.

Is this a reasonable way of getting started, or am I wasting my time? Should I go back and try the same thing or something similar in a few days, or should I wait until the fall when I can sign up for lessons? And where the heck can I find a reasonably-priced one-piece swimsuit?

Comments

[woldy]

I think if you're getting exercise in the water then it's probably worthwhile. I learned breaststroke and backstroke at school, but taught myself front crawl by watching other people & practicing a lot. It probably does require some visuals, though - have you tried looking for videos? There seem to be some at ehow.com

Doggie paddle involves an up-and-down kick with your legs and an up-and-down motion with your arms without them leaving the water, and from what I recall as a kid it's hard work! Most of the slower fitness swimmers I see are doing breaststroke (which looks like a frog swimming), and you could definitely learn the breaststroke kick with a float before working on the arm movements.

Not sure about where to buy a swimming costume, but you could try asking the pool for advice. Or maybe just a sports shop? I seem to remember there being cheapish Speedo ones in plain colours, and there's probably a stockist list on the speedo website.

[sophinisba]

Yay videos yay, that is just what I needed. Or at least one of the things I needed. I will try to figure out that breaststroke business, especially if I can do it without the rhythmic breathing. The sports store I went to last night was charging more than I wanted to pay for Speedo suits, and I don't think I want to send away for one without being able to try it on, but I will keep an eye out at other stores.

Thank you so much!

[woldy]

I think I bought a youth speedo suit because they were cheaper and I'm pretty small. If there's anywhere near you that sells school uniforms then you could try asking if they have cheap swimming costumes.

[glass_icarus]

Hmm, I don't know if this is necessarily your best bet, but... if there is a Costco near you that has a clothing section, you might be able to find something there? Pattern/color/fit might be a bit of a crapshoot, but last time I looked the swimsuits were somewhere between $20 and $30.

[sophinisba]

That's an intriguing idea. My mom has a Costco membership and she goes there fairly often. I'd be a little nervous about buying one without trying it on, but a good deal on a trusted brand might be worth it.

[sophinisba]

We went to Costco today and I got a suit that I liked for $20! :D

[eruthros]

I've picked up swimsuits from Lands End before -- they range from about $15 (in Overstock) to like $120, and they might be available in Sears stores if you wanted to try one on. They often do body-shaming, though, all that kind of "minimize your..." "look slimmer for..." sort of stuff.

[sophinisba]

OMG there's a Lands End outlet at the mall where I went last night to shop at Marshalls. I walked by it and thought, "Nah." /o\ I'm there often so I can check it out. The "tugless tank" at the website looks promising. (But yeah, a whole lot of talk about "anxiety zones" and "control".)

[schemingreader]

I am big, so a modest suit was just right. (I'm not slim, even though I eat salad every day and swim 3 days a week, and even at my slimmest I'm really top-heavy.) I sized one at the department store but then bought Speedos online at Swimoutlet.com. My friend at the pool who is small wears a brand called Uglies? I think. Swimoutlet.com has suits sorted as "fitness"--those are the ones that are very modest--and "competition"-- mostly still modest but with skinnier straps! I think that's the main difference. If you aren't particularly big, just get one of those. They have sales.

I was already a good swimmer before I started this year of revamping my stroke. I'd taken a class on teaching swimming in college. I know all the strokes and feel comfortable in the water. The book I used to make my crawl stroke more ergonomic was Total Immersion by Terry Laughlin. He has a unique method of starting the swimmer on her back for front crawl I've been thinking it might be a good method for beginners, because he goes through a different process of getting you into the water. There are some free demo videos online.

Lessons seem like a good plan, though. Ask at the pool if they are going to do a class for teachers and need guinea pigs.

[sophinisba]

Thanks so much for the swimoutlet link. I'm going to keep looking in stores around here (if I can find a suit like my roommate's in a better size I would love that - she paid less than $16) but the option of trying on a Speedo at a store and sending away for a better deal is great to have.

I might be able to do lessons in the fall. For now I think messing around will be fine.

[shopfront]

My mother has just started learning to swim after a lifetime of watching me do competitive training and yet being terrified of the water and not giving it a shot herself, and she's feeling really confident about it already, so definitely don't give up! What she's doing is a water confidence class, rather than diving straight into swimming lessons. Which is basically a lot of practicing to float to get comfortable with the feel of how the water works when you're moving through it. Try sticking to using the board and either doing a front crawl or a breaststroke kick. Maybe even try doing some laps or half laps like that, once you feel comfortable. Then you can move up to working out how to breathe.

From memory when I was learning as a kid, we did a lot of work with the board and kicking, and then graduated to doing the same thing but holding the board at a full arms length ahead of us while doing a front crawl kick. That gives you enough room to put your face/head in the water between your arm, without having to co-ordinate extra new movements at the same time like a one arm stroke. Just practice putting your face in the water to breathe out and turning it to the side to breathe in, and if it gets too much you can just kick along with your head up for a while and pull the board a bit closer for balance. I think it'll probably be much easier on you to work on being confident with breathing out under water before you start worrying about rhythm and matching it to strokes and all that.

[sophinisba]

That is really awesome about how well it's going for your mom!

I tried breathing out underwater yesterday and it made my nose hurt, but I will keep trying!

[shopfront]

Ouch! That sounds like you're perhaps not keeping the water out of your nose very well when you breathe out? Maybe try one of those little nose pinching devices some people use when swimming if it keeps bothering you.

[schemingreader]

This is the suit my skinny friend got:

http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/9512.htm

It has little sushis on it--a little over 20 bucks. Everything is covered. Voila.

Via the network

[rydra_wong]

Breaststroke is definitely the way to go if you don't want to have to learn how to breathe (I hate putting my face in the water, so it's my stroke of choice as and when I swim).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/swimming/skills/newsid_2099000/2099612.stm

That's a basic guide; bear in mind that you don't have to put your face in the water at all (assuming that maximum speed is not your goal).

With swimsuits, I've found that "legsuit" is my magic search word; then you get those old school suits that come halfway down your thighs. The USA equivalent seems to be "unitard":

http://www.swimoutlet.com/Womens_Unitards_s/219.htm

Re: Via the network

[sophinisba]

Thank you, that bbc link is really, really helpful!

I normally f-lock health/exercise posts but I thought, hey, someone might stop by from network or Latest Posts and have something helpful to say! I'm so happy it worked!

Re: Via the network

[rydra_wong]

The one thing that the BBC link doesn't mention is that you can learn the frog-kick while holding onto a float (kickboard?).

Then basically you alternate the frog-kick and arm-sweep (with some overlap in timing so your momentum stays smooth).

[emei]

I'd say don't worry too much about the breathing - if you're doing it for fun/exercise and not for top speed, keeping your head above the water all the time works fine. Especially with breaststroke. I've been taught to breathe out underwater when crawling, but I dislike getting chlorine in my nose, so I don't.

But then again my swimming comes mostly from spending every summer day as a kid splashing around at the beach, and watersports things, so my philosophy re: swimming is pretty much Everything Goes, as long as you're afloat and moving. Good luck with it!

[sophinisba]

Thanks! That's really encouraging. I used to go to the pool near my house a lot when I was a kid but it got bad in school when we had to do the front crawl and I never did get the hang of the breathing. I'm going to try to figure out this breaststroke business.

[bell]

I can't really help on the swimsuit front (I used to stand by my team uniform, but then it got old, and now I have a bikini that prefers to stay off than on me :PP), but as far as getting better at swimming via learning, I think it's possible! I've always loved water & swimming, but my parents pulled me out of classes before I learned the strokes properly. In high school, a friend tutored me for a couple of weeks, showing me the strokes and then con-critting my form. I joined swim team that year, and I was never *good* at it, mind you, but I got better.

One of my sisters did something similar; I gave her some pointers in how to do the breaststroke, and she kept practicing. She was really slow at first, but in a few weeks she became a lot faster. :D

So, yeah! I think you're off to a good start. It can really help to have someone tell you how to do it in person, and to see if you're doing it right, but after a while you get the hang of it and then it's the same thing over and over. I find that backstroke & frog-kick are easiest to pick up by yourself; breastroke might need a bit more help; and the butterfly.... well I never did succeed in doing the butterfly. *__* Hella pretty to watch, though!