I'm 27 years old and very afraid of water but I've decided I want to finally get over that fear and learn how to swim. My only previous experience of being in the water was five afternoon swimming lessons through school when I was 11, couple of trips to the lake where I waded in up to my chest and stood around and 2 aquafit classes when I was 24. I recently signed up for lessons at the YMCA that are once a week for an hour, plus I usually go to the pool for a couple of hours on weekends. I've taken 6 weeks of lessons now and I've improved a lot but in some ways I feel like I haven't improved enough. I used to be afraid to even put my face in the water and after about 10 hours of pool time I finally figured out how to blow bubbles out my nose. I still haven't figured out how to blow bubbles out my mouth without inhaling water and I don't feel like I can blow bubbles or hold my breath long enough to even do a short front glide. I'm still afraid to even do a back or front float without assistance of some sort because I'm worried about my head going under. I've bought some nose plugs, but none of them seem to work very well for me. I've figured out how to tread water but of course I'm only comfortable doing that because my feet aren't far from the bottom and my head isn't underwater. I'm getting frustrated because I'm the only one in my adult class who seems to be afraid of the water to such a large degree. I've signed up for an additional set of lessons to the ones I'm taking now, but I'm worried that I'm not going to improve significantly because of my fear. My fiancee's sister is a lifeguard and she says I could be swimming laps by next summer but I'm not so sure. I know a child who isn't afraid can learn quickly but I'm not so sure about myself. I was hoping that someone here might have some advice or encouragement on how I can become more comfortable in the water and give me some idea of how long it should take an afraid adult to learn how to swim. Thanks.
Parents
Former Member
Congrats on learning to swim. Your not afraid of water - you respect the water.
Water deserves alot of respect - we should all respect it, my brother who swam competitively drowned in scuba dive accident. No your limits and go from there, small steps is want it takes, no need to take risks.
When I teach swimming, I don't allow holding the nose or nose plugs.
Think of it like this.... blow out your nose like your blowing into a kleenex, don't sniff like your smelling a flower, that is when the water comes up the nose. If your blowing out the nose, there in no way for the water to go up. As you get tried though you may find you start to breathe wrong and you may sniff the water.. that's just a signal to rest.
I also teach to blow bubbles out the mouth... like a boat motor.... with just your mouth in the water, once you get playing "motor boat" down, start to slowing put you head in the water, and blowing out your nose. Its take a few times, but you'll soon get the coordination down. Have you gone after diving rings at the bottom of the pool in the shallow end??
I think once your breathing is more comfortable, you won't be as worried out floating and will feel more comfortable.
Do even feel bad about treading water and able to to touch bottom at this point, it sounds like that is exactly were you need to be. NO reason to go father just because ....
Every time you get in the water your facing your fears, when we face our fears, they soon disappear and you are empowered.
Hope this helps,
Congrats on learning to swim. Your not afraid of water - you respect the water.
Water deserves alot of respect - we should all respect it, my brother who swam competitively drowned in scuba dive accident. No your limits and go from there, small steps is want it takes, no need to take risks.
When I teach swimming, I don't allow holding the nose or nose plugs.
Think of it like this.... blow out your nose like your blowing into a kleenex, don't sniff like your smelling a flower, that is when the water comes up the nose. If your blowing out the nose, there in no way for the water to go up. As you get tried though you may find you start to breathe wrong and you may sniff the water.. that's just a signal to rest.
I also teach to blow bubbles out the mouth... like a boat motor.... with just your mouth in the water, once you get playing "motor boat" down, start to slowing put you head in the water, and blowing out your nose. Its take a few times, but you'll soon get the coordination down. Have you gone after diving rings at the bottom of the pool in the shallow end??
I think once your breathing is more comfortable, you won't be as worried out floating and will feel more comfortable.
Do even feel bad about treading water and able to to touch bottom at this point, it sounds like that is exactly were you need to be. NO reason to go father just because ....
Every time you get in the water your facing your fears, when we face our fears, they soon disappear and you are empowered.
Hope this helps,
