My first ever swimming lesson at the age of 38 TONIGHT

[ofHardey]

Eeeeek. I am absolutely shitting it!

But I'm going to do this for my 3 girls.

Any tips for absolute beginners very welcome !

My mother was terrified of water all her life and didn't learn to swim until she was in her late 50s. She loved it!
Just relax and enjoy your lessons. 😀

Aah "incident" = poo in pool usually so I'm sure Thursday is the better option!!

@MushyPeasPrincess yes now that you mention it, definitely 😂

Oh no! I hope that Thursday goes well for you.

Well done. I should do this. I can swim but very very weakly.

Oh OP what a nightmare having the lesson cancelled. Well done you though for getting booked in.

I did it a few years ago at the age of 32. Was so so nervous in the water and felt terrified. The first lesson was tough but I persevered. My advice is to take your time and get comfortable in the water. The feeling when you actually swim unaided or when you conquer a fear is amazing.

My daughter was 2 at the time and was having lessons in the morning whilst I was having them at night.

Hope Thursday goes well for you 👍👍👍

Following, I'm a similar age to you and I can't swim either. I may also book lessons.

Good luck for Thursday! My top tip is remember that to swim/float and not sink, you want to be flat on top of the water. Floating is dead easy, you can try floating on your back (or front when you feel comfortable - just breathe out gently while your face is in the water) while holding the side very slightly (or with someone's hand gently under your back), and when you feel OK with that, try letting go and just floating - you can always put your feet down if you need to, but when you're actually trying to float/swim you need to be as flat as possible, so that means stomach/legs up to the surface and head/ears in the water (like a plank!). A big breath makes you more floaty too. If you can get the hang of floating, then you only need to learn to paddle or kick a bit while you're doing it, and hey presto you're swimming 😄well starting out anyway!

We’ll done for taking the plunge (pun intended). And am sorry your lesson was postponed, not easy when you’ve been building yourself up.

Firstly, just remember that your teacher will be well aware of your worries - they are not going to do ANYTHING to make you feel uncomfortable.

Their main focus should be to firstly make you feel comfortable being in the water. And that should be showing you how easy it is to float.

I was early 30’s when I learnt to swim. The biggest game changer for me was seeing how well I could float with hardly any effort. That gave me a lot of confidence.

Not going to lie, I still look like a bedraggled dog when I swim, but I now have the confidence to give it a go and also know how to float without extending energy thrashing around.

Good luck for your rescheduled lesson.

Let us know how it goes, which hopefully is very well.

Ah that must’ve been so frustrating! Working yourself up for it mentally and then not being able to go.
you are so brave OP.
i love swimming, I hope you fall in love with it too (once you get over the whole water in your ears thing, for me that’s why I didn’t like backstroke - favourite stroke now! - because you basically just lie there relaxed, your feet get to do little straight kicks (so not as hard to concentrate on as breast-stroke “scooping out an ice cream bowl with your arms” and “frogs legs”) and with backstroke you just have to do “windmill” arms: your arms go out of the water thumb first, rotate so pinky first hits the water behind you (and you’ve dripped water all over your face! I recommend goggles!!!)

i’m sorry if that all sounds like goobledegook. I had the privilege of learning as a child and I still remember my instructors, Tony and Eddie, brilliant guys - but lots of my techniques and descriptions are still stuck in there from 5 year old me learning them - so frogs legs and windmill arms probably aren’t(!!!) the technical terms!

please remind yourself, if it gets tough or overwhelming, of the reasons why you wanted to learn to swim. Then take a deep breath and remember you’ve got so many on mumsnet rooting for you. You gaht this!

Ah, shame it was cancelled this time, but I’ll be rooting for you on Thursday

I learned to swim aged 48. I’m 54 now and have been part of a Masters squad for 6 years swimming about 5 - 6k a week with them now and more in other pools when I have time.

I sincerely wish that in swimming you find what I have found; my happy place.

it’s somewhere you can’t take any problems or worries because you’re so busy trying to be a better swimmer, the grace and lightness are addictive and it’s so good for you

chlorine needs to be washed off asap.

Clarifying shampoo to strip the chlorine or it’ll build up. No moisturiser can then get through it.

there are good swim shampoos and anti chlorine shampoos, I use Paul Mitchell after I swim, it’s expensive but it works

tresemee is awful and coats your hair. Never use it. for any reason.

mane and tail is a great cheap shampoo which strips chlorine :)

lots of Body moisturiser afterwards and a healthy snack

Well done you on signing up! It's so inspiring to hear stories of people going out of their comfort zones for me so thank you. Gives me the kick up the bum I need to do things. Sorry the lesson got moved but sure you will do great on Thursday. Let us know how it goes.

I don't know how to swim. I've always wanted to learn but never had the time. Good luck for Thursday.

I'm finding all your late starter stories so so inspiring, I didn't realise there would be so many of us ! I think you're all amazing for doing it and doing it so well ! When I take my girls for their lessons it feels like absolutely everyone is taking their child for lessons, from every possible race and ethnicity.

On the other hand, the descriptions of swimming/face in the water/water in the ears is making me want to throw up with anxiety 😂🥴 I was so prepared for it yesterday!

What if I just can't swim ???

You can swim. But it takes a lot of mental preparation at first. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take too much time to get used to it. To begin with I hated water in my nose so used a nose clip (but that soon became more annoying than the water). You could also try ear plugs if you think that would help. I’m now at the point where I find swimming meditative and look forward to it (and feel worse when I don’t).

Ok, don’t panic about the face in the water thing. I’ll probably get chastised for this but …

I HATE my face being in the water. I’m a mouth breather, I struggle to breathe through my nose on dry land. I really struggled with letting air out through my nose underwater etc.

So I told my teacher that he was never going to teach me to swim “properly” and that my technique would always look awful! I now do very mangled versions of the crawl and breaststroke. I don’t look graceful and am sure I provide a few laughs to those who witness it. But I don’t care! It’s given me the confidence to be comfortable in a pool on holiday and, more importantly, to go snorkelling during a dream holiday.

I hadn’t put my face in water - not even in the shower - since I was 9….

now it’s second nature.

don’t put barriers in your own way, you can do everything you want to do in your own time.

Before swimming, I had no physical activity or interest, my lovely OH wouldn’t ever have met me or bonded with me without some kind of physical activity, as he needs exercise, it helps him deal with stress, helps his mental health

swimming is an amazing mh tool.

They won’t make you do anything you’re not ready for. Tell the teacher what you’re worried about and they can help you

you are going to feel exhausted initially, but in a good way, you will feel so proud of yourself when you’ve done it!

we will all be there with you!

What a shame but good luck for tomorrow. My DM was always terrified until she got to 40 and decided she had to conquer it. She did and was regularly swimming 50 lengths of the pool until her 70s.

Good luck! I'm mid 30s and have twice done intensive swimming courses. I still can't do it. The "logic" part of my brain kicks in and tells me I'm falling, which makes me panic, which makes me flail. Then I feel like a failure, which doesn't breed confidence. Maybe I'll try again soon.

good Luck, hopefully you will love it.

sorry they cancelled your first lesson, my advice on top of the excellent advice from everyone else is try and get into the water between lessons as well, the more relaxed and comfortable you are in the water the more fun you’ll have.

I went to an adult swimming class at the age of 45 and a non swimmer. I managed a length in the last lesson and was really proud of myself. Unfortunately I still don't like being in the water much but I know I can swim if I had to. I do feel I missed out as a child and in my teens not being able to join in with my friends having fun in the pool.

Good luck OP.

I know how you feel. People tell me you feel more buoyant in deeper water and it's true but it's that buoyancy that makes me feel out of control.

Thank you, thank you to all of you. You're giving me strength ! while also scaring the shit out of me with talk about breathing under water etc 😂

I've become a whole lot more active this year. The second of my Three Fears To Face this year was weight/strength training. I had been to the gym but never stepped foot in the weights area as quite frankly, it's usually dominated by men and it intimidated the fuck out of me. I felt like they would look at my poor technique/low weights and laugh amongst themselves but guess what? Earlier this year, I got myself an AMAZING PT who I worked with for three months, three times a week. I am now regularly dead lifting up-to 60kgs and writing my own programmes 💪🏼
I can completely relate to the pps who said physical activity is amazing for mental health - it truly is life changing.

SO I CAN DO THIS TOO! 🏊🏼‍♀️