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conulyI signed up last year, then suffered a crippling bout of embarrassment and didn't go.
Which is even sillier than going and not being able to swim, right? It's like when I was a kid, and I KNEW it was silly, but I HAD to check the wardrobe for Narnia because it would be even SILLIER if there WAS a secret passage but I never found out!
So this year I went, dashing off in the rain before embarrassment could strike.
I immediately got bumped from the beginner class to the REALLY beginner class, four of us anxiously unable to do the ominously named "Deadman's Float". (The instructor also called it a Superman Float, which I guess covers all your bases.)
Well, long story short, I am now able, for a very short time, to propel myself forward in the water. I still can't keep my face in it very well, though, but I work on it. The girls marveled that I don't need a belt, but as I pointed out, being a grown woman I am provided with my own *natural* set of belts. Also, I am unlikely to drown in four feet of water while surrounded by others. I mean, it can happen, sure, but it probably won't.
Which is even sillier than going and not being able to swim, right? It's like when I was a kid, and I KNEW it was silly, but I HAD to check the wardrobe for Narnia because it would be even SILLIER if there WAS a secret passage but I never found out!
So this year I went, dashing off in the rain before embarrassment could strike.
I immediately got bumped from the beginner class to the REALLY beginner class, four of us anxiously unable to do the ominously named "Deadman's Float". (The instructor also called it a Superman Float, which I guess covers all your bases.)
Well, long story short, I am now able, for a very short time, to propel myself forward in the water. I still can't keep my face in it very well, though, but I work on it. The girls marveled that I don't need a belt, but as I pointed out, being a grown woman I am provided with my own *natural* set of belts. Also, I am unlikely to drown in four feet of water while surrounded by others. I mean, it can happen, sure, but it probably won't.
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Date: 2013-07-13 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-13 07:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-07-13 02:01 pm (UTC)But all I want is that if I go with the girls to the pool or the beach, and they CAN swim fairly well now, that I can let them go a little further than I currently do and know that if the lifeguard somehow doesn't see them, I might still have a shot.
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Date: 2013-07-14 03:15 am (UTC)Tell you what, you don't need no steenking Deadman's Float, and you don't need to stick your face in the water either. What you want is to learn the side-stroke () and how to tread water (http://youtu.be/kFmOtf_Ew1w), which naturally flow into each other without much effort, as well as into floating on your back (http://youtu.be/vhtpckfbxp0). Once you get those three things down, you'll be good to go.
The thing about sidestroke/ treading water is, think jellyfish, think octopus - relax and spread your limbs out wide. The water will hold you up, because it's what you're mostly made of, plus two sacs full of air and a fair amount of lighter-than-water fat. Move your hands like spreading frosting on a giant cake; move your legs like lazily pedaling a bike - soon it will feel natural. We're the aquatic apes; we're built to swim, and there's no reason it has to be as difficult to learn as swim instructors often make it.
Once you're comfortable with the 'cephalopod sprawl', you'll probably want to learn to swim underwater, and that's easy to learn too. Srsly, on these swim videos, it might be simplest to mute the sound and just watch the motion, because it's way less complicated than it sounds. Enjoy!