Category: Article

Winded and Weary? It’s Time To Update Your Stroke

When the whistle blows on Memorial Day for the first adult swim of the season, I’m in the pool. All the pleasures of a summer swim — the near-weightless slip through cool water, the wavering patterns of sunlight on the pool floor, the calming silence below the surface — return.

For a few lengths. Then I recall an unfortunate defect in this pool: There seems to be a peculiar shortage of oxygen in its vicinity. I keep swimming, but the lovely silence under water is now punctuated by my gasps above it. Then I remember that this pool is filled with particularly dense water (could it be all that lead in the Washington water supply?), which surely explains why my arm muscles ache and my kick is tapering to nothing. Then the final problem emerges: The distance from one end to other gets greater with every length. I decide I’d better get out before I find myself trying to swim to infinity.

The story would be the same this year, except, inspired by yet another article about how good swimming is for you, this winter I decided to look a little further into my swimming problems.

What I find is that I’m not alone in having trouble swimming easily. A flurry of books and videotapes aimed at adults who want to learn to swim better has recently been released. This spring, for the first time in 12 years, the American Red Cross revised what has been the bible of swimming instruction, its swimming and diving manual, along with its instructional video.

The fault, I now learn, lies not in the pool, but in the fact that many of us learned to swim too long ago. Swimming techniques and instruction methods have changed dramatically in recent years. So, if you would rather be swimming in the pool than lounging by the side of it, take heart. Updating your technique can make swimming not only easier, but, I can attest, downright pleasant.

The Water’s Fine There is no better fitness activity than swimming, said Steve Jordan, educator for the National Academy of Sports Medicine. It is one of the best cardiovascular activities and it conditions most of the large muscle groups. Best of all, it puts almost no pressure on the joints, making it a sport for life. Because the water supports most of a swimmer’s weight, it’s a particularly good activity for overweight people. And since water is dense, moving through it takes a lot of energy, which means burning calories at a high rate.

It’s also difficult to injure yourself swimming. Katie Moore, president-elect of the American Physical Therapy Association, said muscle strains resulting from swimming are almost unheard of. The resistance of water — in essence, its weight — is a function of how hard you push or pull it. You simply can’t move more water faster than you have strength for.

Shoulder rotator cuff injuries occur occasionally, noted Jeff Berg, an orthopedist in Reston and team physician for the Washington Redskins. But these are the result of poor technique. Berg frequently sends players with knee injuries to the pool to maintain conditioning while resting the damaged joint.

Of course, these benefits accrue only if you swim regularly. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, to get the aerobic benefits you need to swim at least three times a week for about 30 minutes at a time.

So, how do you get good enough to swim comfortably for that long, instead of clinging to the wall, sucking air after five minutes?

If you learned to swim before 1980, you were probably taught to swim by an instructor certified in the 1938 American Red Cross method. The group’s manual for swimming instruction, which was not significantly revised for four decades, taught beginning freestyle swimmers to “thrash” their legs up and down and to move their arms in a “windmill type of two-beat stroke.”

More-advanced swimmers were instructed to kick like “pedaling a bicycle of very low gear” and to “fling the forearm beyond the head” to prepare to take a stroke.

Body roll was anathema. The pulling hand was cupped and pulled under water to a vertical position. Swimmers were advised to keep the waterline just above the eyebrows.

Mechanical Improvements

Instruction began to change in the 1960s, starting at the competitive level, when James “Doc” Counsilman introduced the study of biomechanics to swimming.

Counsilman, who coached Indiana University swimmers and the U.S. Olympic men’s teams in 1964 and 1976, pioneered the use of an underwater motion camera, strain gauge devices to measure a swimmer’s propulsion and other tools to collect efficiency and effectiveness data.

Counsilman, who died this year, discovered that the freestyle kick is not propulsive. Use it gently and with as few as two beats per arm cycle, he advised, simply to keep the hips from sinking and for balance. Body roll, from the hips through the shoulders and head, makes breathing easier and is essential for avoiding rotator cuff strains.

After the arm finishes a stroke, it should be lifted out of the water with the elbow held high and close to the body. (No forearm-flinging, please!) The pulling hand is most effective in a relaxed position with fingers close to each other but not glued together. The pulling arm should be bent and pass under, not straight alongside, the body.

Counsilman’s 1968 book, “The Science of Swimming,” brought these and other concepts to a more general audience. In 1979 the Red Cross began to modify the techniques it taught to instructors.

Over the next 10 years, successive versions of the Red Cross manual gradually incorporated the changes swimming coaches were using. The current manual, videos and DVDs — have been prepared with the help of USA Swimming, the governing body for competitive swimming in the United States. The YMCA teaches similar techniques; its materials have been vetted by the American Swimming Coaches Association. Many of today’s instructors have been trained through Red Cross or the YMCA.

The changes, such as slowing your kick or recovering your arm elbow-up and close to your body, may seem small, but incorporating them into your swimming can make an enormous difference. That’s because swimming, like golf and skiing, is a technique sport.

On land, people expend about the same amount of energy whether they run or walk a mile. But exercise in the water is different, said Joel Stager, professor of kinesiology at Indiana University and director of the university’s Counsilman Center for the Science of Swimming. Because water is a thousand times denser than air, “a swimmer with poor technique expends three or four times the energy to cover the same distance. That means that a slight woman with a well-honed stroke that barely ripples the surface can outdistance the muscular fellow kicking and beating the water to a froth.”

Technique also trumps a lack of natural buoyancy, in case you’re a “sinker” who thinks you’re fated by your build to struggle in the water. While it is true that some people naturally float more easily than others (it’s one benefit of a little extra body fat), many lean-bodied competitive swimmers do not float well.

The bottom line is that if you learned to swim before 1980 and haven’t had a lesson since then, it’s a good bet your technique needs a tuneup — or a revamping.

Different Strokes

There are three major approaches to improving your swimming technique: lessons (either group or private), stroke clinics and Masters swimming.

If you are uneasy in the water and struggle to swim more than a length or two, group or private lessons may be the best approach. Donnie Shaw, aquatics director at the National Capital YMCA in Washington, reports that for many adults, “overcoming fear and learning to relax in the water is a real challenge. That can take some time.”

One common swimming error that is easy to fix and makes a world of difference, he adds, is remembering to always exhale completely while your face is under water.

If you can swim several consecutive laps without a sense of panic, a stroke clinic can fine-tune your technique be a good solution. Typically, such clinics meet once a week for six to eight weeks.

If you can swim about 30 laps, even if slowly and with rests, and want to refine your skills, a Masters swimming club may be for you. United States Masters Swimming is a national organization whose 43,000 members are associated with more than 450 clubs. Lap swimmers with a wide range of abilities join in order to swim with others at a set time and place. Some have highly structured workouts and active poolside coaching; others are informal and camaraderie is the most important draw.

I stumbled across a fourth option, a choice for do-it-yourselfers, offered by a company called Total Immersion.

Total Immersion, founded in 1989 by Terry Laughlin, who has been coaching swimming professionally for 32 years, is aimed primarily at adults who already swim but want to do it more easily. Rather than fine-tuning a swimmer’s strokes, the method develops an entirely new swimming technique.

The program is taught in two ways: through two-day clinics, several of which are held most weekends across the country, or via a video/DVD. Laughlin reports that in 2003 about 2,000 people took Total Immersion clinics and more than 30,000 bought instructional books, videos and DVDs. I opted for the DVD and joined an indoor swim club.

According to Laughlin, the first step adult swimmers need to take is to forget everything they have learned about swimming. Swimming “is not about using your hands to push water toward your feet,” but about slipping through the water with as little drag as possible.

To achieve streamlining, Total Immersion swimmers keep the head just below the surface of the water, which lifts the hips and legs and ensures that the swimmer stays parallel to the surface, offering as narrow a profile as possible to water in front of the swimmer.

Swimmers also reduce drag by performing most of the stroke cycle on their sides, switching quickly from one side to the other as the recovering hand enters the water. The switch, Laughlin asserts, also produces torque for additional propulsion.

In addition, Total Immersion-trained swimmers keep one arm extended in front of them all the time to lengthen the body’s profile, which, like a sleek sailboat hull, encounters less water resistance. That constant arm extension leads to what is called front-quadrant swimming, in which the extended arm doesn’t start to pull until the recovering arm is in front of the head and about to enter the water.

Laughlin’s method relies on a series of 14 drills. Each one adds a small, incremental skill until all the elements of the stroke are in place. The emphasis is on balance, fluidity and careful perfection of motions rather than on building strength by powering through laps.

The method worked beautifully for me: I can now swim freestyle for 30 minutes, and with pleasure. The drills were easy to do, and I enjoyed mastering the progression. The sequential nature of the method motivated me to get back to the pool day after day. But it took me several weeks to get a complete stroke again. Total Immersion is not a quick tune-up.

Although I’ve become a fan of the method, I have no doubt I would have improved with a stroke clinic or by getting coaching at a Masters club.

Many of Total Immersion’s techniques — as opposed to its instruction method — are similar to those of the YMCA and the Red Cross. Some of the differences are merely matters of degree: how far to roll the body or how deep to hold the head.

The feedback of an instructor has great value. In fact, at the end of the tutorial I found a Total Immersion-trained instructor to give me some one-on-one coaching.

One thing that all the experts agree on is that you need patience to make a new technique your own. Steve Jordan explained: “To create a new habit on a clean slate takes a few repetitions. To replace an old habit with a new one sometimes takes many hundreds of repetitions.”

But if you’d like to do more than sit by the side of the pool this summer, it’s worth it.

Ruth Kassinger is a Washington area freelance writer.

Diving Lessons Learn to Swim Swimming Lessons Teach Baby to Swim

If you have ever seen a baby introduced to swimming, then you will know that being in water is natural and instinctive to human beings. However, it’s very easy to become fearful about water, and rightly so. A child can drown in 20 seconds. So making sure that your child can swim is not only crucial to help keep them safe, but is something you can have fun with. So read on to find out how to build confidence in your child, to prepare them for lessons with a qualified instructor.

The Correct Age for Swimming Lessons

Most babies will take to water very easily, and have a natural reflex to hold their breath under water before around six months. To actually introduce your child to formal lessons or teach swimming strokes, however, your child will need to be at least three years old.

First Steps for Children

To prepare your child for lessons and help them feel comfortable in the water, the main thing to do initially is to get your child used to the water. Never just take your child to a pool, take them out of their depth, let go and tell them to swim. Your child will not only panic, but be in danger.

You can try these simple techniques to help them feel happy in the pool:

• Hold securely onto your child and glide them through the water
• Play a splashing game – so they get used to water on their face and in their eyes
• Practice blowing bubbles in the water, this will teach them importance of not breathing water in, and encourage them to move onto the next step of putting their face in the water.
• Once they are happy to put their face in the water, you can encourage them to open their eyes. If it stings and they don’t like it, then add goggles to their swimming kit. Helping your child to feel happy with water on their face is a crucial part of taking the fear out of swimming.
• Sit on the side with your child and show them how to move their legs in the water pointing their toes.
• Never force your child to go further than they want to. Always make it fun, be positive and stay patient. Not all children adapt to water at the same pace…some are true water babies whilst others will struggle.
• Always praise your child for their achievements in the pool.

Choosing Swimming Lessons

Once your child is happy to be in the water, then you can research swimming lessons.

You should always feel happy about the instruction your child receives, so always ask these questions first.

• Will the instructor be in the pool with the children?
• How many children are in the group? More than ten children to one instructor isn’t advisable.
• Is my child assessed first?
• Is the instructor qualified to ASA/UKCC Level 2 and CRB checked? They should also hold a current Lifesavers National Pool Lifeguard qualification/equivalent rescue qualification.

If you’re unsure, check with ASA, who regulate swimming tutors for more advice.

A swimming pool in the yard can be very dangerous for children. If possible, do not put a swimming pool in your yard until your children are older than 5 years. If you already have a pool, protect your children from drowning by doing the following:

• Never leave your children alone in or near the pool, even for a moment.

• You must put up a fence to separate your house from the pool. Most young children who drown in pools wander out of the house and fall into the pool. Install a fence at least 4 feet high around all 4 sides of the pool. This fence will completely separate the pool from the house and play area of the yard. Use gates that self-close and self-latch, with latches higher than your children’s reach.

• A power safety cover that meets the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) adds to the protection of your children but should not be used in place of the fence between your house and the pool. Even fencing around your pool and using a power safety cover will not prevent all drownings.

• Keep rescue equipment (such as a shepherd’s hook or life preserver) and a telephone by the pool.

• Do not let your child use air-filled “swimming aids” because they are not a substitute for approved life vests and can be dangerous.

• Anyone watching young children around a pool should learn CPR and be able to rescue a child if needed. Stay within an arm’s length of your child.

• Remove all toys from the pool after use so children aren’t tempted to reach for them.

• After the children are done swimming, secure the pool so they can’t get back into it.

Remember, teaching your child how to swim DOES NOT mean your child is safe in water.

Diving Lessons Learn to Swim Swimming Lessons Teach Baby to Swim

Taking the Plunge One Man’s Journey Into Fear Otherwise Known as a Swimming Pool

Reprinted by kind permission of Outsports.com co-founder Cyd Zeigler

What gay man doesn’t have some kind of trepidation about sports?  Some are afraid of dropping the football when it’s thrown to them and getting laughed at.  Some are timid about joining in on a pick-up basketball game lest someone roll their eyes when they miss a shot.  Others are afraid of jocks in general remembering their years of torment in high school.  Many have simply opted to skip sports all together.

Some people who know me refer to me as a “jock.”  I play football with passion bumping and running catching intercepting and throwing the ball whenever I get the chance.  I play Ultimate Frisbee with reckless abandon:  Send me deep and I’ll come down with every disc you throw me.  Tennis basketball golf – you name it I love it.

Yet I’m afraid of swimming.

I have been since I was 5 years old and drifted too far on my raft on Long Pond got off the raft and immediately sank to the bottom.  I avoid deep water and won’t go near a wave.  I’ve never dived head-first into a pool.  I’ve never once opened my eyes underwater.

All because of my fear of it.  Fear of what? You may ask.  It’s something I’ve asked myself a million times.  Fear of drowning?  Maybe.  Fear of looking bad?  Probably.  Fear of suddenly flailing in the water having to be saved by a lifeguard?  Most definitely.

Sure I’ll don a pair of colorful board shorts with the rest of them head to Laguna Beach and prance around throwing a football or a Frisbee with friends.  But when that football or Frisbee goes into the water I’ll let it go standing there with envy as I watch the other guys having so much fun diving under waves splashing one another as they laugh together.

It was one of those days not long ago that I decided I’d had enough.

About two months ago I was talking to Shamey Cramer a member of West Hollywood Aquatics about trying to swim.

“Come on out to one of our open swims at the pool ” he said.

Uh no.  I’m not going out to the pool for a swim with the West Hollywood Aquatics team to embarrass myself in front of a couple dozen guys who have been swimming all their lives.

As I was saying that to him I realized that I was doing what I accuse other people of doing with sports:  I was being afraid to fail and letting that stop me in my tracks.  So what if they laughed at me?  So what if they got impatient with my lack of ability?

Hmmm . . . better take a couple lessons first.

My biggest question before my series of four private lessons was that age old dilemma that every swimmer goes through at some point in his life:  Speedos or trunks.  You’ve got to remember:  I’d never done laps in a pool before and hadn’t taken a swim lesson since I was five.  All I knew of swimming semi-seriously in a pool was what I saw on television.  After a poll of a dozen friends the verdict was unanimous:  trunks.

So on the first Sunday in March I ventured to the pool where I was to begin my first road to hydrophobia freedom.

It was a disaster.

When we got into the water (on the shallow end of course) the instructor who speaks with a French accent so strong I can’t understand about 40% of what he’s saying says “OK do the breast stroke.”

Do the breast stroke?  I don’t even know what that is.

He looked at me blinked a couple times and did a quick demonstration of what looked like a frog swimming.  The only problem here:  a frog can hold his breath a lot longer than I can.  Trying desperately to come up for air every three seconds I was splashing around sinking quickly then bobbing my head above the surface kicking frantically wondering what have I gotten myself into?

Next up was the backstroke.  Same result:  lots of splashing even more sinking.

It’s a wonder he didn’t burst out into laughter watching me attempt the freestyle:  taking two strokes stopping standing clearing my nose then taking two more strokes stopping coughing taking two more strokes . . . .

At the end of the first lesson he said we were going to try diving.

“I don’t do diving ” I said.  As I said it I looked up to see the 3- and 5-year-olds who would be taking a lesson after me.  They were standing there as though in shock at the edge of the pool watching me.  Good to know I could provide a little humor to someone’s day.

With that we ended lesson #1 of my attempt to remain as afraid of water as humanly possible.

And someone once called me a jock?

Something funny happened on the way to the pool the following week.  A friend told me I should duck my head underwater and just open my eyes.  When I told him I didn’t have goggles he said I didn’t need them to open my eyes.  Then I whipped out the excuse I’ve always used for not being able to open my eyes under water:

“I wear contact lenses.”

“Take them off ” he said.

But but but . . . .   I tried coming up with a good response – to no avail.  As I headed to the pool I started wondering why I was afraid of opening my eyes underwater.  Was I afraid that my eyes would suddenly pop out of my head?  That I would go blind?  That it would hurt?  Hell I play football with a herniated disc in my back – THAT hurts.

At the start of my second lesson I dunked my head underwater and for the first time in my life opened my eyes.  I looked left looked down then popped back up.

“Hey that didn’t hurt ” I said.

“I know ” said the instructor.

I dunked my head under the surface again and opened my eyes.

“It still doesn’t hurt ” I said.

The instructor took a deep breath.  “Let’s start again with breast stroke.”

As I readied to push off from the wall of the pool he added something else:  “this time just relax.”

I took a deep breath and pushed off from the wall.  This time I didn’t sink.  This time I moved through the water.  This time I just breathed.

I only got halfway across the pool before water got in my nose I lose my concentration and came up for air.

“That’s good that’s good ” the instructor said.  “Keep going.”

Back into the water I finished the lap.  My first lap.  Ever.

Over the next couple of weeks we moved on to the backstroke and freestyle.  While I still don’t have the breathing down entirely for the latter I’m now going on my own to do laps at the pool.  Slowly.  With trepidation.  But I’m doing them.

At the end of the last session the instructor said it was time to try diving again.

An openly gay collegiate athlete said in a first-person article on Outsports.com earlier this year “coming out often felt like jumping off a 30-foot cliff into a deep pool of water.”  I thought that was a telling image – except for the fact that I’d probably crash into the water get the wind knocked out of me become disoriented and drown.

This time as I was about to offer my standard response – “I don’t do diving” – I blurted out “OK.”

It was freezing out of the water – in the middle of one of the windstorms that have swept across southern California in the last few months.  I was glad I wasn’t wearing a Speedo.

The instructor showed me how to stand on the edge of the pool with my toes curled for extra push (of course I thought what in hell do you want to push for – I wanted to get to the water as slowly as possible).

By now in the lesson the three- and five- year olds who came after me had arrived and were watching me on the edge of the pool knees bent arms out forward head tucked standing there waiting for someone to push me in.  Seeing them made me laugh as I figured them seeing me made them laugh.  And over I tumbled.

It wasn’t the prettiest entry but it was my first.  By the third dive I got so that it wasn’t hurting my stomach when I crashed into the water.  And by the fifth dive it was actually feeling pretty good.

While I still may have to stop and take a few breaths at every turn and while I sometimes stop mid-lap because water got in my nose I can honestly say I’m no longer afraid to swim.  I’ve even started going to the pool – with other people around – and doing laps.  The “pool snobs” may roll their eyes but now I don’t give a ****.

Plus I’ve managed to conquer another fear I’ve always had – one that goes back to beach parties with my fraternity and summers visiting every beach on Cape Cod south of Provincetown:

Speedophobia.

But that’s another column all together.

Diving Lessons Learn to Swim Swimming Lessons Teach Baby to Swim

Taking the Plunge – Your Infant’s First Swim

Aaaah, spring! With the last remainder of winter gradually melting into the ground, its easy to let your mind begin to wander to the firsts of summer: that first evening BBQ with friends, that first softball game being played in the park, or that first whiff of freshly-mowed grass.

But before you start day-dreaming about your little one’s first toe dip in a wading pool for swim lessons, consider the following: According to the American Academy of Paediatrics, swim classes may not be a good idea for babies. Research shows that, in children under 3, the risk of infections increases with time spent in swimming pools.

Your child may be more likely develop swimmer’s ear (due to water entering the ear), diarrhoea (due to germs in the water being swallowed), swimmer’s itch, and other rashes. Along with these greater risks, children under 3 who have taken lessons prove to be no stronger as swimmers in later years than their non-lesson counterparts.

Nor could an infant’s tendency to float in water (due to high fat content) be called upon in a life-threatening aquatic situation! So, should you shirk all water activity with your infant, and, on a hot day, ignore the enticing, glistening waters of your local outdoor swimming pool?

The answer is no. As long as you are aware of the risks, and do not expect your little one to develop self-reliant skills in the water, it is perfectly acceptable to use the pool as a place where you can both cool off.

Do keep in mind some common sense advice, however.

– Small children with colds and flus should refrain from water activity. If your child is prone to ear infections, seek the doctor’s approval before he takes the plunge.

– Don’t submerge a baby’s face. Swallowing water can cause water intoxication, a watering down of the blood that produces nausea, weakness, convulsions, and even coma.

– A baby who does not maintain good head control should never be taken into a pool. His head may bob under by accident, so wait until he is stronger.

– Lastly, have fun with your baby, but do not expect to “teach” him swimming skills. Allowing your child to feel comfortable and safe in the water is the first and most important step in his water safety training.

Diving Lessons Learn to Swim Swimming Lessons Teach Baby to Swim