i am 26 yrs old and never learnt swimming .. i have recently joined swimming class ..infact i hv just finished one class ... here i was taught the basic of swimming one of which is to keep ur feet above water and kick the water using ur feet .... i just cudnt do it ... i used to get it whn the instructor held me but cud never do it well on my own ...i weigh around 100 lb ... there were 2 other people in my group much older to me ... however they managed to do it real well ... i am really disappointed with myself and discouraged .. do you think i will ever be able to do that ... i cant even practice on my own in my community pool as thr is no1 to guide me ... how can i keep the feet above water ?? every time i try to do it my feet automatically goes down and i am noe able to float ... is thr any trick to do this .. pls help ...
You need to breathe all your air out, so you can get a fresh supply when you breathe. The air in your lungs is not the only contributing factor of keeping afloat, body position as you have found out is more important. To practice breathing all your air out, do bobs, go under breathe it all out, come up, breath in, do again. You can also hang on the side of the pool with legs out floating, so you are lying stomach down and practice doing the breathing in and out to the side. The side rotation breathing is a hard skill for someone who is trying to learn as an adult(actually for kids as well), and takes practice. You will find one side feels better than the other, but practice on both sides.
I agree with Matt that watching good swimmers, especially what they do underwater is good. I love to swim next to the Senior/National team from our swim team and watch their body positions, and how they stroke the water and turn. And then I do poor imitations!
You need to breathe all your air out, so you can get a fresh supply when you breathe. The air in your lungs is not the only contributing factor of keeping afloat, body position as you have found out is more important. To practice breathing all your air out, do bobs, go under breathe it all out, come up, breath in, do again. You can also hang on the side of the pool with legs out floating, so you are lying stomach down and practice doing the breathing in and out to the side. The side rotation breathing is a hard skill for someone who is trying to learn as an adult(actually for kids as well), and takes practice. You will find one side feels better than the other, but practice on both sides.
I agree with Matt that watching good swimmers, especially what they do underwater is good. I love to swim next to the Senior/National team from our swim team and watch their body positions, and how they stroke the water and turn. And then I do poor imitations!
