Any non-athletic puddings around who have transformed their risible breaststroke into the real thing?

[LightDrizzle]

I’m 50 and probably average fitness for that age, possibly below average.
My mum patiently schlepped me to swimming lessons as a child where I never let go of the float.
I finally managed a glacial old-lady breaststroke of sorts, head stubbornly aloft aged 15 and I’ve stuck with it ever since.
I’m not a natural swimmer and I’m inclined to be spluttery.

Had anyone equally shit managed to learn proper breaststroke? Head going under and all that? I’m watching YouTube videos and will have a go but I’d feel encouraged if other non-porpoise types have trodden the path before me.

My mum learnt to swim in her 60s. She did an adult beginner class at the local pool. They taught her to swim proper face in breast stroke.

I did aged 44, so a little younger than you, but not much. It was a lot of fun. Adult swimming lessons at my local pool on Thursday evenings, plus generally a second lane swim session weekly to get more practise in.

I learnt proper breaststroke, and also proper front crawl.

I also discovered I loved swimming butterfly!

Thanks Penguin.

Me! I had a major issue with putting my head in the water: would panic and splutter. I managed it by swimming with my head on one side and then gradually lowering it further and further into the water until I could cope with it being under briefly and then for longer. Took me about a year before I got the breathing in sync with the stroke. One of the pool staff gave me a piece of advice which was very helpful: go slower rather than faster until you’ve got the technique right.

You've got to default with your face in the water and the pull pushes you up to get your head out of the water.

Thank you all! @anappleadaykeeps I’m in awe of you mastering splashy, twisty crawl! I have no ambitions in that quarter, there’s too much going on.
I’m in Portugal near the sea in a very sporty town, I’ll investigate to see if there are adult classes for the ungifted around. If not I’m thinking of splashing out [geddit?] on a private session with an instructor, once I’ve given it a good go on my own.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate - that’s probably the best way to think of it, which is the opposite to what I have been thinking.

@HeddaGarbled good tip.

We are lucky enough to have our own 4m x 8m pool now. I’ve had a bad back for years through manually handling my daughter as she has motor deficit. I know swimming is great exercise as you age so that’s my impulse to try to improve. My stroke is incredibly inefficient and could be so much better with better technique.

8 metres is very short for a pool but at the moment I get plenty of strokes in one length🤣

I am good at crawl but it took me ages to get the hang of breast stroke. I would say head down breaststroke is easier than head out, honestly. It takes about half the effort to go 1.5 times as fast... Then get yourself into crawl - half as much effort again for me and another 1.5x faster. I suspect this says more about my breaststroke thank anything else.

My favourite breast stroke tip is about power arms where you pull back with the forearm going down in the water so you have a greater surface area moving water directly to propel you.

I’ve got goggles in my Decathlon basket online in preparation for going under…

Glad that made sense ;)

:) not ;)

I learned to swim aged 28. Just breast stroke with my head out of the water. I’m 62 now and just revisiting swimming after at least 20 years away from it. I was swimming on holiday and suddenly trapped a nerve in my neck, followed by muscles in my shoulder going into spasm (no doubt due to holding my head out of the water). Needless to say, it stopped me in my tracks and I became quite phobic about being in water. Happily, I am swimming a little now. I’d love to do it properly, with my head in the water. Not sure how to go about it though.

I've just started swimming every day before work after total inactivity for most of my adult life. I love it but cannot put my face in the water and it's so much harder work to swim. I mostly crawl as I find breast stroke gets me nowhere! But I really need to learn to put my face in. I know I'll inhale all the water and drown though .

It's really not about putting your face in, rather bringing it out to breathe. It helps if you push off from the side underwater for a few metres to get momentum.

Before I gave up as my ezcema hated the pool, I improved my swimming massively by following an online swimming programme. Much to my surprise I even put my face in the water doing front crawl, something I had thought impossible!

Annoyingly the one I did doesn't seem to exist any more, having googled, but here are a few apps to look at and see if you like:

www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/activity/swimming/5-free-swimming-apps

All really helpful thank you.