One of the best aerobic
activities that provides minimal impact to the joints is swimming. While
running is hard on the body and cycling is not as physically demanding as
running, swimming is an ideal activity that people can use to stay in shape
late into their golden years.
Ironically, swimming is one
activity that many people avoid for many reasons including a fear of the water.
What I have found to be one of the main reasons people avoid swimming is their
inability to swim correctly. Poor form is horribly inefficient and can easily
tire out the athlete.
When swimming form is
everything. A good efficient swimmer can
move through the water with easy and feel refreshed after swimming 1800 yards.
An inefficient swimmer can cover that same distance and feel like they have
expended the energy running a marathon.
One of the main forms of
inefficiency in the water is the inability of a new swimmer to put their face
in the water. When your face is not in
the water and your head is raised to breath, your swim stroke is choppy and
your feet and legs will sink. This
horrible swim position is anything but streamlined and causes more friction
against the water. Instead of working with a streamlined approach, you end up
fighting the water more than necessary.
When I was learning to swim I too
struggled with having to keep my face in the water. While it didn’t bother me
to have the feeling of water on my face, the struggle for me, and for many new
swimmers, is the ability to exhale under water.
This one element, if learned, will allow you to work on improving other
aspects of your swim stroke.
So how do you overcome the
discomfort from or inability to put your face in the water? What sounds easy
enough to do can be a daunting task for even the most determined new
swimmers. Here are some easy drills to
help you improve your swim stroke and become comfortable having your face in
the water.
First, get in the shallow end of
the pool and submerse yourself to get your body wet. This will help you get comfortable with
experiencing water over your entire body.
Next, simply bend over and slowly
pace your face in the water. You want to have the water to just cover your
face. Doing this for 10 seconds at a
time will get your comfortable with the sensation of having water on your face.
Now we will add breathing. Exhaling under water is critical to swim
success and this drill helped me overcome my inability to exhale. Get your face close to the water and turn it
to the left. Not take a deep breath and
begin to exhale out of your mouth and nose and you slowly rotate your face to the
right, easing your face into the water, ending your rotation to the right.
This easy to do drill will help
you gain comfort with having your face in the water while helping your work on
your breathing at the same time.
HERE’S TO BEING FIT FOR LIFE! Chris is a
Certified Personal Trainer, USA Triathlon Level 1 Coach, Group Exercise
Instructor, exercise and endurance enthusiast.
He competes yearly in numerous running races, marathons,
ultra-marathons, triathlons and other endurance events. He is a member of the 2015 QT2 Systems
Advanced Team.
