Moments!

How to learn to swim for beginners in 8 simple steps.

The First Step: Getting rid of your fear of water.

According to Quinn, (2015) “The fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself.” You might not know this but most people never learn how to swim or die in swimming pools and lakes because of their fear of water. Therefore, the first thing to concentrate on is getting comfortable being in water without fearing to drown. To achieve this you should spend 2 to 3 sessions walking around in water at knee level whether in pool or a lake.

The Second Step: Pushing yourself in water.

After getting familiar with water, now, you are ready to start learning the techniques of how to swim. One of the most important factors of swimming is the momentum which is the force that something has when it is moving (Rawat, 2019), in order words, how you get started in swimming. For beginners you should lay down in water, hold your breath, and then kick on a wall behind like a piston kick but in case you do not have a wall, you just jump forward in water with both of your arms stretched above your head simultaneously palms held together. The water buoyancy does the rest and when you feel you are no longer moving forward you put your legs down and rise like someone whose been seating. Practice for over 3 sessions and you are good to move to the next step.

The Third Step: Learning the arms movement in water.

Now to the essentials, to learn the arms movement, practice these movements first out of water. Hold your arms together like in a prayer but close to your chest, then bring them forward, and after that change the sides of your palms for them to face away from each other. Afterwards finish by pulling the arms apart but closer to your chest again to return to your initial position. Repeat the same procedure for as many times as you can and after 1 or 2 sessions you are good to go to the next step too. During this step your head is always between your arms and we shall know how you move it in the sixth step of learning how to breathe while swimming.

The Fourth Step: Learning the leg movement in water.

The same procedure applies for the legs as for the arms but in reverse motion. You start by pulling your legs near to your chest in a seat up position or squat position, then you try to kick with as much strength as you can by stretching them apart, and then holding them together again for short seconds before starting the same process again. Following this step must be made very fast and with a considerable amount of strength.

The Fifth Step: Synchronizing the arms and legs movements.

As soon as you have finished the arms and legs practice apart, the next step is to synchronise the movement which means they must occur at the same time or rate (Synchronize, n.d.). Therefore you should move with a rhythm in such a way that allows complementarity with your arms and legs movements to increase momentum. The push may start the movement in water but the synchronized movement is the one which keeps you in movement and it is also the one that modulates your speed in water.

The Sixth Step: Exercise breathing while swimming.

After honing your skills in pushing yourself in water to start the movement and the synchronized movement you need to know how to draw breath without stopping to gasp for air or without holding your breath too long. As the movement is a rhythm breathing has also a rhythm too. Each time your arms move to the front and part, you raise your head with the motion at the same time and lower your head when the arms are about to meet again.

The Seventh Step: Synchronize the movements with the breathing.

This step deals with combining the movements with the breathing technique. Your whole body in this stage must move in sequential manner and if you have to, you can count the movement you are making and know the right time to raise your head. Because at this stage you are no longer raising your head all of the times but after two synchronized arms and legs strokes.

The Eighth Step: Practice, practice, and practice.

Lastly, what you have to emphasise is practicing what you have learned in all of the steps ahead because swimming at this level when you don’t practice you move backwards instead of progressing. Therefore, you have to keep on practicing until you master what you have been learning and then with more determination you can move to other styles as the style of beginners is breast stroke which is the easiest, but you can learn others such as free style, back stroke, and butterfly.

In conclusion, it is essential to learn how to swim for health, recreational and survival purposes. According to Stewart, (n.d.) it is a healthy exercises which puts many of your muscles to work which builds your strength, endurance, and activate your metabolism. Nowadays, one of the most popular places to find a relaxing vacation is around beaches and swimming pools in hotels so to enjoy with your family or friends you will need these skills. In addition there are times you find yourself in boats or ships travelling it is very risky to take these kinds of journeys if you do not know anything about swimming because there are occasions where you can encounter an accident and fall into water.

References

Quinn, L. (2015, January 13). 10 Quotes From 'The Alchemist' That Outline How We Should Live Our Lives. Retrieved from Elite Daily: https://www.elitedaily.com/life/10-inspirational-life-lessons-paulo-coelhos-alchemist/894061

Rawat, S. (2019, April 22). What is an easy definition of momentum? Retrieved from Quora: https://www.quora.com/What-is-an-easy-definition-of-momentum

Stewart, T. (n.d.). Why is it important to know how to swim? Retrieved from Livestrong.com: https://www.livestrong.com/article/457393-why-is-it-important-to-know-how-to-swim/

Synchronize. (n.d.). Retrieved from Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/synchronize