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.
Former Member
congrats on the courage to overcome your fear! That in itself is a true accomplishment!
Try this: stand in the shallow end, at a spot your are comfortable, but deep enough that when you bend your knees some the surface of the water touched your chin and jaw. This doesn't have to be done fast, just do it at a rate you feel comfortable. Stand back up. 'Bob' like this a couple of times so you learn how it feels when the water touches your jaw. Now, this time start 'blowing out a candle' when you feel the water hit your chin and jaw. Repeat until you get the hang of blowing out when you feel the water hitting your chin. Once you have the hang of that, bend your knees, blow out a candle when the water hits your ching but go a bit deeper until the surface of the water is at your lips... you should be producing some bubbles right on the surface. Repeat this until you are comfortable. Then go a bit deeper, Repeat, etc.
Lainey
I think it's great you're taking up swimming! I learned at 17. I had a "near death" experience when I was very young, and didn't touch the water for a decade. Now I'm on a club team churning out the yards by the thousands and loving every minute of it. I'm proud of your decision, good luck! You can do it!
GIG, welcome, and welcome to the water! There have been a lot of great advices given out here so far. I think the sitting next to the wall is a good one. I think it was mentioned as well, but a lot of times something as simple as buying goggles helps a lot - just the being able to actually see clearly underwater is a true calmer in a lot of cases.
The only thing I can add is that in the end, you MUST have confidence in yourself and trust that you will be able to do what you need to do. Believe in yourself. But most of all, relax and have fun. Maybe one day jump into the 6' deep section just for the heck of it and see what happens. Sometimes it takes something drastic like that to turn your confidence to the good side.
:banana:
waves101-I like your breathing exercise idea and I'm going to practice it.
bbpolhill-Your story is really inspiring. I'm not sure if I'll make that much progress but I'm hoping that eventually I'll be able to swim laps although I know it's going to take a long time.
laineybug-I've blown out my mouth at the surface but I find it still doesn't work so well under the surface. I'm thinking I might just stick to blowing out my nose anyway since I'm less apt to get water up my nose that way.
FindingMyInnerFish-I've started going into the deep end sometimes with either a life jacket or belt. I'm still not comfortable jumping in but I have done lots of laps either with the flutter board or on my back with a life jacket.
dorianblade-It's nice to see someone else who's as much of a beginner as I am.
Muppet-I bought goggles when I started going to the pool and I love them, but I think I need to get better ones because the ones I have now tend to fog up a lot, especially when I'm kicking a lot and warmed up.
Nathan-Stories like yours give me hope that I will be able to do this.
I've now taken 8 lessons at the YMCA and 3 at another pool. As I mentioned before, I'm not sure if I want to continue on with the second set of lessons. The lessons at the non-Y pool end this week, so I'll decide then whether I want to continue or only take lessons at the Y from now on. The instructor of the lessons at the second pool said that this coming week we'll be treading water in the deep end which doesn't worry me so much if I can ease myself in and then tread. I'm worried that she's going to ask us to jump in and tread (which I guess would simulate accidentally falling into the pool and needing to save ourselves) and that I won't be able to do it without panicking. I've sat or knelt at the edge and jumped in and I don't like the moment of impact because I find I tend to get water up my nose and sometimes in my goggles too. I've probably spent about 30 hours in the pool now of class time and my own time. My treading is pretty good now and this week I finally tried kicking on my front for a few feet and recovering on my own without any aids. I find that sometimes I'm really relaxed and sometimes I'm panicky and that it goes back and forth.
I am just so happy that you are trying to learn to swim and overcome your fears. This is a big step. And being able to swim will give you such confidence and pleasure when you finally can!!
I have a question: are you afraid to put your head underwater only while in a pool? Can you put your head underwater in a bathtub? It would be interesting to see the answer to this which would then tell you if it is the environment, not the water, that you fear.
donna
Well Once you learn how to swim, Reasonibly well, you will always know how to swim, I did not swim for 45 yrs. But I never forgot. DOM IN AZ.:applaud: :shakeshead:
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.
