Learning to swim as an adult

[KnittyNorah]

Thanks for your inspiring reply! I am also v short sighted which has done nothing for my confidence in water over the years! Really appreciate your response and I will keep you updated on my progress.

Yes, having thought about it many many times since that wonderful Easter weekend which I will never forget, my main barrier to swimming was definitely my dreadfully poor eyesight. In later years I would either wear contact lenses and goggles (this always for sea swimming), or go into a pool for gentle lengths wearing my glasses (with a rubber grippy thing so I wouldn't lose them even if they fell off).
Not been swimming for a few years now as I lived too long in hot climates to enjoy. or even tolerate, the clammy, chilly, chlorine-perfumed pools of the UK ... might go to Greece next year and enjoy some swimming in a more suitable environment!
I do hope you succeed in your quest - and even if you never become an 'expert' swimmer it doesn't mean you can't enjoy it! I was never a very good swimmer really but my goodness I enjoyed it!

ETA I have been stopped by pool attendants in the UK when going into the pool wearing my glasses. I ask them if they have regular sessions for the blind and visually impaired and if not, why are they discriminating against a disabled person? Sometimes they would mutter about 'glass' and I would ask if they thought the sort of glasses worn during sporting activities were actually glass.

 

[Hebe]

I was exactly the same about learning to ride a bike, didn’t really crack it until I was in my 40s. I still worry a bit about not being able to touch the bottom ground. I grew up in Cornwall, half way up a really steep hill with sailing at the bottom and school at the top, so I learned to swim at school but cycling just never happened. I have never to this day seen either of my parents on a bike, and I desperately wanted to set a different example for my daughter. Honestly, book some lessons, it will almost certainly be easier than you think, and it’s a great example to set your children because they will see that it’s important enough for you to learn too. Mr Hebe learned to swim as an adult, and I know that he gets as much joy from swimming with Hebe Jnr as I do from cycling with her. There are often swimming instructors who work out of smaller private pools as well as public pools, they should come up on an internet search. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[JtB]

As a youngster I was a strong swimmer and while I was a student I even spent 4 years working as a part-time lifeguard. However I never learnt to swim front crawl. I’ve not swum regularly for many years and now that I’m retired I’m contemplating adult lessons. Does anyone have any experience of adult lessons to help swimmers develop specific swimming strokes?

 

[bikingdad90]

As a youngster I was a strong swimmer and while I was a student I even spent 4 years working as a part-time lifeguard. However I never learnt to swim front crawl. I’ve not swum regularly for many years and now that I’m retired I’m contemplating adult lessons. Does anyone have any experience of adult lessons to help swimmers develop specific swimming strokes?

As you can swim, I’d perhaps suggest a tri-club that can work on your stroke. A swimming lesson is more likely to get you from non swimmer to swimmer.

 

[Dogtrousers]

As a youngster I was a strong swimmer and while I was a student I even spent 4 years working as a part-time lifeguard. However I never learnt to swim front crawl. I’ve not swum regularly for many years and now that I’m retired I’m contemplating adult lessons. Does anyone have any experience of adult lessons to help swimmers develop specific swimming strokes?

Yes. Like you I never learned front crawl. Years ago I had adult lessons to teach me that stroke but I never learned how to coordinate the breathing so I never really got it. I mean, I could do during lessons, for a while, but it took great concentration and I rarely got through a lesson without ending up choking at least once having inhaled the pool. It never became natural.

The instructor noticed that I had quite strong leg propulsion and was cheating by powering along with my legs while flailing my weedy arms aimlessly pretending to swim crawl. He made me swim with a float between my legs to concentrate on the arm/head stuff.

 

[JtB]

Yes. Like you I never learned front crawl. Years ago I had adult lessons to teach me that stroke but I never learned how to coordinate the breathing so I never really got it. I mean, I could do during lessons, for a while, but it took great concentration and I rarely got through a lesson without ending up choking at least once having inhaled the pool. It never became natural.

The instructor noticed that I had quite strong leg propulsion and was cheating by powering along with my legs while flailing my weedy arms aimlessly pretending to swim crawl. He made me swim with a float between my legs to concentrate on the arm/head stuff.

I used to notice (during my student job days) that people who glided effortlessly through the water tended to use their legs for stability only and they also created a wake in the water which enabled them to breath while their mouth was still just below the general waterline.

 

[NorthernSky]

yes , i learnt to swim when i was about 24. i was sent to the pool as a child for swimming lessons, had a bad experience and never went back!
missed out on a lot of fun as a kid while everyone else was swimming, i was sitting on the shore.
anyway, went to the local pool where they had adult swim lessons. started in the learner pool (1m max depth i think it was)
did all the usual, put your face in the water, blow, get used to is around your face, open your eyes under water.
i got the breast stroke but my problem was i didn't want to breathe. i was trying to swim the length of the pool on one breath
i honestly think it all clicked when they took us into the big, deep , over your head pool
i swam a length of it, and the more i swam in there the more i relaxed. the extra buoyancy really helped.
i just never looked back from then, taught myself the crawl next. again took a while to get the breathing but you get there.

it's like anything , the more you do it , the more you'll get over the fear. definitely something you'll want to be doing though, gofferit!