How to start swimming

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Swimming can be difficult to get started. Today we will tell the beginner swimmers how to overcome all the difficulties and still swim.

Sometimes it seems that everyone around goes to the pool and swims for a long time. But how do people start swimming? Today she will tell us about this, who took up swimming just two years ago and has already achieved incredible success for a beginner.

Are you not 15 years old and would like to start swimming or just started? Then these tips might come in handy. I'm 35. I've been learning to swim from scratch since August 2013. She swam after 2 months. Six months later, she swam 7.5 km in the Persian Gulf, twice swam the Bosphorus in Istanbul (6.5 km), participated in the Capri - Naples relay (36 km) and in the Oceanman marathon (8 km). I am swimming slowly but surely. And I will swim just like that. I do it two or three times a week.

Many of my friends and acquaintances have recently decided to swim too. Remembering all the difficulties that I encountered, I want to share tips that may be useful to those who are just getting down to this path.

How to choose glasses

1. There are many manufacturers of swimming goggles. Good ones to remember are Arena, Speedo, TYR, Finis, Aqua Sphere. Glasses from any of these companies may suit you, you need to try specific models. It is not worth chasing cheapness out of principle. Good glasses cost from 1,000 rubles, but they will also last a long time. Sports supermarkets are not for you. It is important to find a dedicated swimming store. Type in the search bar, for example, "buy glasses tyr" and look for the closest offline store to your home.
2. The glasses should not squeeze the eye sockets and the bridge of the nose. Be sure to try them on! When trying on, check that they don't press anywhere and that they stick easily to your face. After you find glasses, about which you want to say "Mine!" Once again: glasses must be measured.
3. If your goggles fog up during training, take them off, lick them with your tongue (yes!) And rinse with water.
4. Do not wipe your glasses with your hands or tissues. From this they quickly become cloudy.
5. Sometimes, as a preventive measure, after a workout, you can pour liquid soap or shower gel into your glasses and rinse them and then dry them. This helps the glasses to fog up less.
6. There are special means called "antifog" (literally - "fog"), with which glasses are sprayed before swimming so that they do not fog up. I don't use them as there are many examples of corneal burns after using them. Your own saliva is free and safe.
7. Better to have two pairs of glasses. The only glasses can fail and get torn or lost, they can be stolen, you can forget them.
8. In open water, she swims perfectly in glasses with dark glasses, because in the bright sun you need to protect your eyes from sunlight. And it is impossible to swim, looking at the sun through transparent lenses.
9. For the nearsighted, there are special glasses with diopters. True, I swam with myopia -7 in lenses and ordinary glasses.
10. Some athletes take a second pair of glasses with them to the competition and hide it under a hat. This is due to the fact that while jumping into the water it is easy to lose the glasses you are wearing. I did that too, but I never lost or broke the ones that were on me. However, I continue to take second points for insurance.

Other required equipment

1. The swimsuit should fit snugly on you. A light bikini in the pool can fly off and be embarrassing.
2. There are separate and there are one-piece swimsuits. If you have great abs, then a two-piece swimsuit is what you need.
3. It is better to choose quality swimwear from trusted manufacturers (see point 1), as they are made from a special material and will last you a long time, unlike ordinary ones, which are not designed to withstand chlorine and salt. Look for the words endurance, chlorine resistant, waternity, extra life lycra on the tag. In two and a half years, not a single one of my swimwear has gone to junk.
4. Caps are silicone and rag. I don't like swimming in silicone, but that's a matter of taste. Need to try. Hair, of course, gets wet in both types of hats in the same way (surprise!), But a rag is easier to put on and does not squeeze your head.
5. Surely you want to buy all the equipment that you saw in the pool. What if it comes in handy? However, you do not need to buy special equipment (board, kalabashka, shovels, buckets, fins). Usually the pool or your coach has it all. Only buy if you are a terribly determined triathlete who decided to prepare for Ironman on your own in six months.

Board needed for leg training.

Kalabashka - polyurethane foam auxiliary sports equipment, which is clamped with the legs during swimming to train the arms.

shoulder blades - plastic devices that are put on the hands to work out the technique and power of the stroke.

1. If you plan to swim for a long time and in earnest, it makes sense to add magnesium to your diet in the form of special capsules or tablets. This will save you from leg cramps that plague many swimmers.
2. A large and good backpack is needed for things. A towel (or even two) takes up an indecent amount of space in a backpack. However, in sports stores they sell special sheets (the keyword for the search is "microfiber"), which absorb moisture several times more efficiently than ordinary towels, and take up very little space.
3. Plastic bags with a zipper are perfect for wet clothes.
4. Rubber slippers. Since childhood, we have all been told not to go barefoot in public places. Do not go. You really don't need a fungus. In addition, slates are not very convenient in such pools, where you need a second shoe and you store your outdoor shoes at the entrance. If you are wearing socks or stockings, a bridge between your toes is very uncomfortable. It is best to bring your usual flip flops or crocs.
5. Some novice swimmers are wondering if a nose clip should be used. Synchronized swimming athletes usually use the clips. The clamp will prevent you from learning to breathe correctly.

What you need to know about the pool

1. It is imperative that the pool is close to home or work. You have to have incredibly strong motivation to go to a pool far away in the early morning or before bed. The chances of you quitting swimming are lower if the pool is nearby.
2. There are pools of different sizes. The most popular are 25 and 50 meters. In fact, 25 meters is enough to prepare for any competition, and even more so to learn to swim.
3. You need to make sure that the pool you are considering is not full of retirees in the morning and children in the evening. At first, you will be very uncomfortable and you will be afraid of any unnecessary movement, any wave and other swimmers. And even then, when experience accumulates, children swimming across the pool, or breaststroke grandmothers will interfere with your serious and concentrated training.
4. Find out in advance what is and is not in the pool. It happened when, out of habit, I did not take a towel with me to the new pool and had to dry my body with a hairdryer. Or there was no hair dryer. Or you need help. Or a shoe bag. Find out in advance about all the features of a particular pool.
5. The pool has its own rules of the road. For example, the paths are floated only counterclockwise. If you swim in the center, then there is a high risk of bumping into someone. You need to overtake the person swimming in front from the left side, and the person swimming behind (if he is faster) needs to be skipped forward, slightly shifting to the right. Sometimes, if there are two of you on the track, you can agree to swim on different sides. But in any case, it is necessary to negotiate.
6. Do not wring your swimsuit in the dressing room, because there someone might slip and fall. You need to squeeze in the shower.
7. Take a good face and body cream, hair conditioner to the pool. The skin is very dry from bleach, so you need to put it in order after training. Sometimes I take eye drops to the pool, as they often turn red.
8. If the trainer is not present with you at training, gave tasks remotely and they do not fit into your head, and there is no time to memorize, write a training plan on a piece of paper in large size and put it in a transparent stationery file. You can leave this waterproof instruction on the side and refer to it occasionally.
9. Before the pool, you need to wash for others, after - for yourself.
10. Drink while exercising. I drink 3-4 glasses of water. Swimming is a serious sport that causes fluid loss as much as running. Stay hydrated.
11. Swimmers often suffer from otitis media (very painful inflammation of the inner ear) during the cold season, as they neglect the hat after training.

What you need to know about training

1. At the initial stage, you simply have no choice but to look for a coach or sign up for group training. The most important thing in swimming is the correct technique, you yourself will not learn from books and videos.
2. You can find a good coach on the basis of recommendations (social networks and friends will help).
3. When I started out, I tried to read the books that everyone recommends. But, believe me, from them it is completely incomprehensible how and what to do, until you have tried dozens of times yourself to perform the corresponding exercises in the water. In my opinion, books are of little use. And it makes sense to watch a video only in order to be inspired and admire what others can do.
4. If you want to swim fast, be aware that doing other sports at the same time makes swimming worse. Therefore, it is necessary to plan training taking into account the priority sport.
5. Get ready for the fact that at first it will be very difficult, not only physically, but first of all morally. You will swim with a board in a 15 meter paddling pool. Choke. Don't understand how to breathe. The good news is that it definitely goes away. Be persistent and remember that the initial difficulties are temporary.
6. Listen to the coach as closely as possible. Try to get a physical feel for what he means. Right hand next? Stronger stroke? Faster? Longer? Slide? If you understand and feel what he is talking about, progress will not be far off.
7. The hardest part at first is learning how to breathe into the water. To comprehend this with the head, in my opinion, is impossible. It seems that you will never succeed. It will work out. You just have to torture yourself a thousand times, and everything will come. You don't need to hold your breath. In water, it is exactly the same as on land. Inhale, exhale completely into the water. Inhale - only with your mouth, you can exhale with your nose or mouth. Breathe deeply.
8. Since a lot of water will get into your nose, stock up on napkins and handkerchiefs. In no case should you blow your nose into the pool.
9. When putting your ears in water, do not be alarmed. It will pass, the water is poured out. After training, jump, leaning towards the ear that has accumulated water, just like in childhood.
10. Be sure to try open water swimming - in local waters or in the sea on vacation. Water has a different density everywhere. Swimming in the pool and in the sea are two different skills. Six months after starting classes in the pool, I ended up in the Persian Gulf. I remember how panic seized me. I could not even understand how to breathe there, the space was so different around.
11. There is no right way to swim. Someone breathes on the right side every second stroke, someone on both sides through the stroke, someone on the left side. Do not copy, look for the method that is convenient for you.
12. Any workout should have regularity. It is better to swim 2-4 times a week. You can't do anything in one go.
13. Think pleasant. In the water you do not see or hear what is happening around you, you do not talk to anyone - you can only think. Negative thoughts can cause anxiety and even panic. Think of something good, concentrate on your breathing. The moment I start to sort out a work situation or plan a vacation while swimming, I can't focus on my body, water and technology. At the very least, the speed drops from this.
14. Swimming legs are not the main thing. Pay more attention to your hands and body position in the water.
15. Do not overload before exercising. If you happen to be hungry, eat a banana or drink a glass of orange juice.
16. If you are enraged by everything around you and you are ready to kill your boss or colleague, then you urgently need to go to the pool! There is no better way to relieve stress.

The most important question: how to start if you have any psychological block, fear. I drowned as a child and until I was 33 I could not even think about swimming. But at some point I decided that I could. I found an experienced coach and tried to learn. It worked.

Warm water!