I posted here when I was just beginning to swim at the ripe age of 23.
Since a lot of people helped me both publicly and through private messages, I think you deserve an update.
I'm a lot more comfortable in the water these days. I'm still trying to perfect my breathing, but it's much less of a struggle.
I realized that THINKING and SWIMMING don't go well together. Once I stopped over-analyzing everything and started just focusing on swimming, more things fell into place.
As a beginner adult swimmer, here are the things that really helped me:
-- Swim, don't think (see above)
-- The kicking you see in TI videos is not the way most people kick... and if it is, it's not a good thing to think about when you're trying to kick better
-- Looking DOWN is bad. Look forward slightly.
-- Backstroke in busy pools with poor turbulence absorption (lane ropes, gutters) is a BAD idea.
-- You are too full of hot air to sink to the bottom of the deep end... if you want to kill yourself by going down there, you'll have to try pretty damned hard.
-- Anything that is supposed to help you float is in fact the best way to drown yourself
-- Drinking lots of chlorinated water will make you sick to your stomach and you'll think you have an ulcer for a month until you take a break from swimming and feel fine
-- Jammers are tight
-- Diving is fun
-- Diving improperly hurts
Parents
Former Member
Alphatree,
What a hoot your post was updating your swim abilities after several months. And, I do want you to know that I agree with lots that you wrote: for me, swimming and thinking is like drinking and driving (it doesn't work very well, or it may for a block or two (a lap or two), and then the swimming starts to fall apart as does the driving, and doing both of these things can cause me to hit a wall, virtually and realistically.:rofl:
And maybe you have never heard this phrase before but it relates to drinking chlorine: Chlorine is the Breakfast of Champions!! I also agree with swimming and looking forward, not down, because looking down causes me to feel very off-balance plus I enjoy seeing where I am going preferably before I get there.
But I am most happy to hear about your update and that you are sticking with it. I just started back swimming a week ago last Monday and am really putting in the work in the ocean with distance and drills and am feeling smoother each day, and I don't TI either because I don't think I could possibly spend my mental energy constantly thinking about swimming; I prefer to just do it and let myself go because I feel my swim style has carried me well for years and years. And my kick is something my body created just for me.
I am somewhat like you, I just DO IT MY WAY, wasn't that a song?
I'm offline more than on due to power problems here, but I just had to respond and say :groovy: on your progress. And anytime you have to stop and hang on the gutter, remember to do this: Gutter Talk with anyone else taking that little break also. I miss having gutter talk buddies.
Donna
Alphatree,
What a hoot your post was updating your swim abilities after several months. And, I do want you to know that I agree with lots that you wrote: for me, swimming and thinking is like drinking and driving (it doesn't work very well, or it may for a block or two (a lap or two), and then the swimming starts to fall apart as does the driving, and doing both of these things can cause me to hit a wall, virtually and realistically.:rofl:
And maybe you have never heard this phrase before but it relates to drinking chlorine: Chlorine is the Breakfast of Champions!! I also agree with swimming and looking forward, not down, because looking down causes me to feel very off-balance plus I enjoy seeing where I am going preferably before I get there.
But I am most happy to hear about your update and that you are sticking with it. I just started back swimming a week ago last Monday and am really putting in the work in the ocean with distance and drills and am feeling smoother each day, and I don't TI either because I don't think I could possibly spend my mental energy constantly thinking about swimming; I prefer to just do it and let myself go because I feel my swim style has carried me well for years and years. And my kick is something my body created just for me.
I am somewhat like you, I just DO IT MY WAY, wasn't that a song?
I'm offline more than on due to power problems here, but I just had to respond and say :groovy: on your progress. And anytime you have to stop and hang on the gutter, remember to do this: Gutter Talk with anyone else taking that little break also. I miss having gutter talk buddies.
Donna
