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.
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SwimStud-I have seen that link before and I am able to kneel down in the shallow end for on average about 5 or 10 seconds and blow bubbles, but I've never been able to sit right down and do it.
ensignada-When I was first starting lessons I found it easier to be on my back because I couldn't blow bubbles but now that I've learned how to blow bubbles out my nose I find that I'm scared to be on my back and I'd rather be on my front. I still need help getting into and out of my backfloat and I find that sometimes my bottom half likes to sink, especially if I'm kind of out of breath from doing laps with the flutter board and belt. I feel like I understand all the steps of the back float now, I'm just too chicken to them by myself. The total immersion link you gave isn't right. I did look at a book on total immersion, but it seemed to be geared more at people who could already swim but wanted to improve.
Seagurl51-I like your advice on taking it slow, but it is kind of hard when I feel like the instructors are trying to push me along sometimes. I felt like my YMCA class once a week wasn't enough practice so I signed up for Red Cross classes at another pool but I don't like the instructor as much. Her style of teaching seems to be more about taking people out of their comfort zone. I signed up for 2 sessions with her, but I'm thinking I might drop the second session because it feels like too much sometimes and the last couple weeks I've been nervous about going to the pool most of the time. On the other hand, this week I finally learned how to kick on my front for a few feet and recover, which is a huge deal for me. I wouldn't have done it if the instructor hadn't insisted.
Brian Stack-I do have the book by the person who founded that school and I found that it did help me get started. Unfortunately, I can't go to any of the classes because I live in Canada.
Concho Pearl-I like what you say about having respect for the water. You made me a little nervous with the story about your brother because one of the additional reasons I want to learn how to swim is so that I could possibly eventually learn scuba diving or at the very least go snorkelling. I like the motor boat idea for blowing bubbles, I'll have to practice it. I have gone after rings in the shallow end but I can only kneel to get them, so I still find it kind of hard to do and I usually run out of breath before grabbing the rings half the time.
dorothyrde-I have been contemplating whether a snorkel would help me or not, I think one of the things that is holding me back from getting one is that I'm paranoid about water coming in through the top of the mouth piece if I get too low in the water, though I suppose that isn't very likely.
I have to get going now, but I'll come back later because I haven't finished all my responses. Thanks.
SwimStud-I have seen that link before and I am able to kneel down in the shallow end for on average about 5 or 10 seconds and blow bubbles, but I've never been able to sit right down and do it.
ensignada-When I was first starting lessons I found it easier to be on my back because I couldn't blow bubbles but now that I've learned how to blow bubbles out my nose I find that I'm scared to be on my back and I'd rather be on my front. I still need help getting into and out of my backfloat and I find that sometimes my bottom half likes to sink, especially if I'm kind of out of breath from doing laps with the flutter board and belt. I feel like I understand all the steps of the back float now, I'm just too chicken to them by myself. The total immersion link you gave isn't right. I did look at a book on total immersion, but it seemed to be geared more at people who could already swim but wanted to improve.
Seagurl51-I like your advice on taking it slow, but it is kind of hard when I feel like the instructors are trying to push me along sometimes. I felt like my YMCA class once a week wasn't enough practice so I signed up for Red Cross classes at another pool but I don't like the instructor as much. Her style of teaching seems to be more about taking people out of their comfort zone. I signed up for 2 sessions with her, but I'm thinking I might drop the second session because it feels like too much sometimes and the last couple weeks I've been nervous about going to the pool most of the time. On the other hand, this week I finally learned how to kick on my front for a few feet and recover, which is a huge deal for me. I wouldn't have done it if the instructor hadn't insisted.
Brian Stack-I do have the book by the person who founded that school and I found that it did help me get started. Unfortunately, I can't go to any of the classes because I live in Canada.
Concho Pearl-I like what you say about having respect for the water. You made me a little nervous with the story about your brother because one of the additional reasons I want to learn how to swim is so that I could possibly eventually learn scuba diving or at the very least go snorkelling. I like the motor boat idea for blowing bubbles, I'll have to practice it. I have gone after rings in the shallow end but I can only kneel to get them, so I still find it kind of hard to do and I usually run out of breath before grabbing the rings half the time.
dorothyrde-I have been contemplating whether a snorkel would help me or not, I think one of the things that is holding me back from getting one is that I'm paranoid about water coming in through the top of the mouth piece if I get too low in the water, though I suppose that isn't very likely.
I have to get going now, but I'll come back later because I haven't finished all my responses. Thanks.
