Tell me your successes on learning to swim as an adult

[frazzled101]

I did 1 course of swimming lessons as a child and that was it. At the age of 30 I did another couple of sets of lessons but I still can't do the front crawl and come up to breathe.

Therefore I can only swim for as long as I can hold my breath, which isn't that useful!!

I'm now 38 with 2 young children so considering trying again as they will be doing swimming lessons as soon as they're old enough.

Is there any hope for me?!

Lot's of hope!

I completely failed to pick up swimming through years of school lessons with an adult yelling incoherently and failing around on dry land. I went to council adult lessons as a 16 year old where there was an instructor in the water. It took about 4 months to get me to do my first 25m and within a year I could swim a mile in different strokes.

Once you know how to swim, that stays with you and I've had lengthy phases when I haven't been able to make it to the pool, then got back in and just got on with it.

It was the late 90s when I learned and the culture has become more encouraging of adults learning "basic" skills plus so much information online.

I had an ex who had never even attempted to swim as a 30 year old adult. He was actually a bit scared of the water, especially the thought of putting his head under.

12 months later he competed in his first triathalon which included an open water swim.

Plenty of hope for you

Yes! I had exactly the same issue as you - could do crawl badly with head poking up but couldn't do the breaths - and self-taught using tips from the internet. I went three times a week and it took four to six sessions before I had nailed the technique, and then by a couple of months I could do 40 lengths without stopping and putting my head up.
I just kicked off from the side, focussed on the first three strokes and then breathe. If I failed I just kept swimming with head up until I'd regained my 'balance' then stuck head in, three strokes and breathe. I must have looked stupid!! But it worked. If you are planning to use proper lessons you'll probably find it much easier than me.

Tips - well fitting goggles.

• the faster you go the bigger your breathing trough (you create a trough to breathe in in your wake) so you might find it easier to go quickly at the start. Quicker means more air though, so you might need to breathe every two strokes at first. Swap sides sometimes!
• Google the way to turn your head. You don't lift it but turn it on an axis as if you are shaking your head to say no.
• Google how to turn your body in the water - getting this right makes breathing much easier.

Good luck!

I had swimming lessons in the same pool as the kids- not at the same time thank god, while they were at school! It was more of a stroke improvement course for bad swimmers - I couldn't crawl at all to start with but could do lengths and lengths of it in the end. And butterfly. And we got floats and flippers. A friend couldn't put her face in the water at all, had 6 private lessons and then started on the beginner group classes.

OP I was expecting to say you were like me and could just flap about a bit!
Sounds like you're doing well.
I paid for a 1:1 lesson to help breath co ordination but wasn't interested enough in swimming to keep practicing. If you are, that is great! Such good exercise.

I was just proud to learn any of it as an adult.

I have not learnt to swim as an adult but have taught two people to swim - the first can now comfortably swim breast stroke but still struggles with their breathing for front crawl - primarily because they won't put their face in the water...

The second could swim breast stroke but no crawl at all and was fit for a triathlon by the time we had finished.

For her the key thing was learning to turn your head backwards just a bit as well as to the side as you breathe - this creates a pocket behind your head to breathe into which means you don't turn your body as much as you breathe.

I'd also say I still breathe waaay better on one side than the other so don't worry about getting the hang of both sides if you find one easier.

I kept in touch with a teacher from school who retired the year I left school. She learned to swim in her mid-sixties and ended up snorkelling in Australia!

So it can definitive be done!!

I wanted to share my success after all the encouragement I received here. I did my 4th swimming lesson tonight and managed to swim a width of the pool, which required coming up for 3 breaths, right side, left side, right side. Managed it about 4 times.

Left the class thrilled with myself and can't wait to get back in the water!!

Yaaay for you! You're an inspiration to others, Ty.

Well done! I only learned proper strokes (front crawl only) as an adult, after many lessons as a child when I made very little progress because no one got me a pair of Fing goggles.. .they were miracle makers. So I am self-taught, took many years. (decades if I'm honest)

Inspiring to hear!

I am very anxious in water, can't swim or put my face in.

Like you now I have a child I really want to learn how to swim but feel there is little hope!

I've had a few adult lessons but am still struggling with the breathing doing front crawl. I just seem to swallow water or if I breathe through my nose there is water that comes down from there! My neck just does g seem bendy enough!!

@EllaB22 with the classes I go to everyone is at their own stage, so I have been beside people who are terrified to let go of the float. The teachers break it down into tiny steps and last night one of them managed to let go for a few seconds.

If you can find the right teacher I'm sure you'll be able to make progress.

@VanillaImpulse I was struggling so much with the breathing and last night I was given a different drill to practice. I had to swim 3 strokes, roll onto my back for a breath, roll back around and swim another 3 strokes and so on.

Something with that particular drill clicked with me and seemed to make all the difference.

The key is rotating your upper body too. As you prepare to bring your arm out of the water, your body naturally rotates a bit. To breathe, you take advantage of the rotation and turn your head as your shoulder is raised out of the water (about the time your elbow is doing the pointy shark fin bit). That gives the extra bit you need to bring your mouth out of the water so you aren't breathing water The drill the OP talked about of doing 3 front crawl arms, log roll onto your back, 3 backstroke arms, log roll onto front and repeat is really good for emphasising the rotation.
Have you tried watching some YouTube videos of someone front crawling from under the water? You can see in those just how much rotation there is in the stroke, which I just hadn't appreciated previously. I follow My Swim Pro on Facebook: I haven't subscribed to anything, just watch the videos as I find it helps to have the techniques explained and broken down whist watching it being done well (you just don't see as much watching from poolside).

OP, I started adult lessons at the end of last year. I could swim, but wasn't confident and knew my technique was poor, so was put in the improvers class. I absolutely love it! I've made a huge amount of progress and no longer feel really self-conscious when I swim. Money well spent!

I learned to swim as an adult. Had several years of skills classes which I only stopped because of the pandemic. It was great to be able to focus on one particular component. There’s always room for improvement. Meantime last year I completed a 5k open water swim. Glad you are carrying on.

I learnt to swim at 43 so it's entirely doable. I was never confident in the water as a child but picked it up really quickly and was swimming lengths in three lessons. I lost my confidence again for a while when a stand-in instructor spent the whole lesson berating me for my swimming style and telling me I'd never be able to swim 'properly'. What a knob! After that, I decided to just go and swim whenever the fancy took me and started going a few mornings a week.

@Chikapu lengths after 3 lessons?? That's amazing!! My goal is to be able to swim a length. The pool Im learning in is tiny so if I can manage a length in it I'll then need to go to a proper pool to practice there.

It requires more fitness than you would think!

I was 28 and desperately wanted to learn to scuba dive as I was going to Queensland. So I went to the local sports centre and thought. 'Ok how can I teach myself to swim'. 'I know I will learn to swim underwater because once I'm underwater then it can't get any worse' so that's what I did until eventually I swam on the surface.

I completed my PADI dive course in Queensland that winter 😁

Am I missing something?
I learnt to swim as a young child ,but always found front crawl difficult ,with the breathing I can swimm lengths and lengths of breast stroke though.

I had to relearn to swim at 40 after disability meant I couldn't use an arm. My initial stretch target was 400m (at this point I couldn't do 2m), and 10 years on, I'll be doing a 14km swim in August. A swimmy friend could do a bit of breaststroke, fell in love with open water swimming for her mental health, had some lessons last year to learn crawl, and is doing a channel relay this summer.
As my coach (who is lovely and utterly nuts) says - if your dreams don't scare you, they aren't big enough, and anything you can dream, you can do.

No one was more surprised than me! I was very fit at the time so I think that helped a lot but I still had to overcome some fear of the deep end and being underwater.

Well done OP! It sounds like you're making great progress. How frequently have you been going?

I'm 39 and hoping to take up swimming lessons later this year (once I've recovered from having my second baby) so I'm thrilled to read about your success story.

@MangoM I've only had 4 lessons, 1 per week. Now that I'm starting to make progress I would like to go to the pool just myself to try and get more practice along side my 1 lesson per week.