In this article we will show you how to learn to swim from scratch, on your own and without the help of a trainer. Even if you are an absolute beginner, you are afraid of water, do not know how to dive or even stay afloat. Do you think this is impossible? Whatever it is!
For all the seeming complexity, it is not at all difficult for an adult to learn to swim on his own. Here are the stages he will have to go through:
- Overcome the fear of water;
- Learn to lie on the surface on your stomach and back;
- Master safety techniques and rules of conduct in the pool;
- Learn swimming technique with basic styles in theory and practice;
- Observe strict discipline, find an unshakable source of motivation, tune in to the result and go towards it no matter what.
I want to be able to swim: where to start?
Before learning how to properly swim in the pool, prepare everything you need for training:
- Buy a sports swimsuit or swimming trunks, a head cap, glasses; =. Please note that glasses sometimes sweat, and you need to be prepared for this situation.
- Find a good sports center that has a shallow pool in addition to the main one where you can learn to stay afloat. The maximum water level is up to the chest. In this case, you will feel safe, which means that you will begin to behave freely and uninhibited. Learning to swim will be more comfortable;
- At this stage, you must learn to breathe correctly. In all techniques, inhale through the nose, and exhale through the mouth and nose into the water. By the way, remember, it is the air in the lungs that keeps the body on the surface.
We recommend doing a special exercise that develops the lungs: inhale deeply, filling the lungs to capacity, then plunge vertically into the water and slowly exhale oxygen. Do 10-15 reps.
- Warm up before starting your workout - on land and in the pool. 10 minutes is enough for the muscles to warm up and warm up.
How to stop being afraid of water?
Swimming training for beginner adults from scratch always starts with overcoming the fear of water. Consider the following tips:
- Spend the first lessons in a shallow pool;
- Get used to being in the water, go first to the waist, then to the chest;
- Do simple exercises - walking, torso bends, swinging legs, arms, jumping, etc. Feel the resistance of the liquid, its temperature, density, consistency and other physical parameters;
- Sit down with your head under the water, stand up;
- Then it's time to learn how to hold your breath;
- Find a companion who has already learned to swim. Let him do nothing, just be there. This will make you feel more comfortable;
- Purchase or take from the sports complex special equipment for teaching swimming - boards, hinges, rollers. At the initial stage, they will help to overcome fear, in the future, to work out the technique;
- Hire a coach if possible. At least for the first 2-3 lessons.
How to learn to stay on the surface?
Let's continue to learn how to quickly learn how to swim an adult in a pool, absolutely independently. The next step is how to stop being a “sack of potatoes,” whose inevitable fate is immersion.
Asterisk exercise
It is impossible to teach an adult to swim in a pool if he does not know how to lie on the water. What is an asterisk? The swimmer lies on the water surface, plunging his face into it, arms and legs spread wide. And it doesn't sink. Fiction? Far from it!
- Take a deep breath;
- Submerge your face in the pool, spread your arms and legs, take a horizontal position;
- Lie as long as the breather will allow;
- Do not exhale the air - you will immediately begin to dive.
- Repeat the exercise 5-10 times.
How to learn to stay on your back
To learn how to properly swim in the pool yourself, master the skill of lying on your back. All that is required of you here is to catch the balance or feel the balance:
- For convenience, practice near the side of the pool;
- Lie on your back on the water, stretch your body to a string, but do not strain;
- Do not protrude your ass, as if forming an angle - "it will drown you";
- Hold the side with your hand - this will make you feel safe;
- Freeze and concentrate on your center of gravity, which is in the abdomen;
- Balance your upper and lower body so that one does not outweigh the other;
- Lie as long as required for the balance to be caught;
- Try to take your hand off the side and you will find that you can lie on the water without belay.
How to learn to swim in different techniques
So, you learned the technique of swimming styles in theory, watched training videos, and practiced movement on land. Overcame the fear of water and learned to lie on the surface without support. It's time to move on to the main action and start swimming!
Basic swimming styles for beginner adults are the chest crawl and breaststroke. The first has the simplest technique, and the second allows you to swim for a long time and without strong energy costs.
The crawl requires good physical shape, and the breaststroke requires clear coordination between the arms and legs. It is also worth learning how to swim on the back in a water style, but it will be easy for you to subdue as soon as you master the crawl on the chest. There is another sporty type of swimming - butterfly, but we will not consider it. His technique is too complex, and it is almost impossible to learn how to swim well in it from scratch.
Chest swivel
In the previous sections, we described how to learn how to swim for an adult who is afraid of depth on your own - we gave tips to help overcome fear. The next step we recommend is mastering the water style technique.
It is absolutely not difficult, it is easy to understand it intuitively. During swimming, the athlete moves his legs as in a scissor exercise. Legs help maintain balance, slightly affect speed. Powerful alternating strokes are performed with the hands. It is the hands that are the main driving force of the style - they receive the greatest load. The face is immersed in water while swimming. When the leading hand moves forward in the stroke, the swimmer turns his head slightly, resting his ear on the front shoulder, and inhales. When the hand changes, he exhales into the water.
Breaststroke
We will continue to analyze how an adult who is afraid of water can learn to swim with breaststroke style. Its main difference from the crawl is that all movements are performed in a horizontal plane. If you look at the swimmer from above, an association with the movements of the frog will involuntarily arise.
At the beginning of the cycle, hands, immersed in water, are brought forward to stroke. During the latter, a movement is made, as if a swimmer is pushing the water apart. Hands simultaneously make a semicircle in different directions, and again gather in the chest area under water. At this time, the legs also make circular movements. First, they bend at the knees and pull up to the stomach, then the knees move apart and rotate in both directions. The inhalation is made at the moment when the arms are extended forward. At this time, the head comes to the surface and the athlete has access to oxygen. Further, in the stroke phase, the head sinks and the swimmer exhales.
The technique seems complicated only at first glance - try it and you will understand that everything is much simpler than it looks. Learning to swim breaststroke for an adult who even yesterday was afraid to go into the pool is already a feat. Once you have defeated yourself once, keep up the good work!
Breaststroke is the most comfortable style for recreational swimming. It does not require good physical shape, it assumes a comfortable relaxed pace, it makes it possible to swim long distances. Great buns for yesterday's bag, aren't they?
Well, we told you how to properly swim in two basic styles, we advise you to start training with them. Please note that we were very brief in describing the correct swimming technique for beginner adults, because the article is not devoted to the analysis of styles, but to tips to learn quickly. We recommend that you study other publications, where schemes and analysis of movements in the selected type of swimming are described in detail and in detail.
How long does it take to learn to swim?
Is it possible to stop being afraid of water and learn to swim in 1 day, you ask, and we will answer ... yes. This is really real, because if at some point you feel that you feel safe in the pool, it is quite possible that you will be able to swim right away. And this may well happen already in the first lesson.
Of course, your technique is unlikely to be perfect right away, but that's not the question! The most important thing is that you hold on, do not drown, and even budge a little. And don't be afraid at all!
It will take a tough swimmer about a month to start swimming really well in the pool. Quite a real prospect, isn't it?
General recommendations
We told how you can easily and quickly learn to swim and in conclusion we would like to give some basic recommendations:
- Try to come to the pool with an empty stomach. After the last session of gluttony, a minimum of 2.5 hours must have passed. After training, by the way, it is not recommended to eat for an hour;
- The most optimal time for classes in the pool is during the day, between 15.00 and 19.00;
- Exercise regularly, in a disciplined manner, without missing a beat. This is the only way you will be able to learn, as we promised, in just a month. The optimal training regimen is 3 times a week;
- Never neglect your workout.
- Observe pool rules - wear a cap and rubber slates, shower before and after immersion in water, get a medical check before your first session, adhere to a general schedule, do not cross paths, etc. The detailed rules of your sports complex should certainly hang somewhere on the information board.
Many beginners are interested in whether an adult can quickly and independently learn to swim in the sea, or if open water should be avoided at the start. The advantages of the sea include clean air and natural environment, as well as the properties of salt water to push out objects, because of which a person is better afloat. However, large water offers natural barriers that will interfere with the beginner. For example, waves, uneven bottom, wind, lack of sides, etc.
Of course, you can learn to swim on a river or in the sea, but we still recommend that you carefully weigh all the possible risks.
Friends, we have explained how to properly practice swimming in the pool. The rest depends only on you. Let's just add from ourselves - you acquire a very good skill that will give you health, great mood and a lot of positive emotions. You are on the right track, we wish you not to give up! Big ship - great voyage!
