How do I practice swimming freestyle if I'm alone?

October 7, 2013 8:57 AM

I'm an adult learning to swim for the first time. I had a fear of water at first but now I'm able to put my face in the water and swim. In between my swimming lessons, I like to come to the pool and practice the freestyle stroke but I haven't been able to do it because I'm alone and I'm afraid that I'd start flailing and lose my control. What would be the best way to practice my arm strokes and using what equipment? I've tried using the kickboard but every time I let go of one arm, the kickboard goes into the water diagonally so I'm scared to let go of the kickboard. There's a lifeguard at the pool I go to but I still haven't gotten over the nerves. I really appreciate all of the advice!
posted by missybitsy to Health & Fitness (13 answers total)

Does your pool have a "shallow end" where you can stand? Has your instructor taught you to tread water?

Ditch the kickboard entirely -- it's hurting more than it helps. Don't use any equipment. If your pool has a shallow end, go there, otherwise stay along a wall you can grab. Let go, and try. If you fail? Stand up, or grab the wall, or switch to treading water instead of swimming, whichever makes sense for where you are. You won't drown -- it's really really hard to drown. The only way to do this is to just try it and show yourself you won't fail.
posted by brainmouse at 9:00 AM on October 7, 2013 [7 favorites]

Came in to suggest the shallow end. It is do doubt deep enough to 'swim' in but if you start flailing and getting scared you can just stand up.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 9:04 AM on October 7, 2013

Flippers can be helpful in this situation. If your legs are doing the vast majority of the work you can work on your arms without worrying as much about sinking. If you do end up upright the flippers will get you back to a good position with just a couple of kicks.
posted by justnathan at 9:12 AM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

For arm strokes, use a pull buoy - they're little foam floats that you hold between your thighs so you can focus on your arms without sinking. If your pool supplies kickboards, they should also have pull buoys, or you can buy your own for about $10-15.

Additionally, try working on backstroke instead of crawl. When I started swimming laps, I found backstroke a lot easier to begin with: you can breathe freely and it feels a little easier to come to a standing position if you get tired or start struggling. Breaststroke, if you've learned it, can feel a little easier than freestyle as well, since the breathing rhythm is closer to regular land breathing and your face comes out of the water more.

It's super hard to get a kickboard to balance if you don't grab it with both hands, so don't feel too bad about that. If you lose your balance and start struggling, it's easiest to let it go completely, move to the shallow end, and start over.
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:13 AM on October 7, 2013 [4 favorites]

Are you confident enough in the power of your stroke (no matter how "good" it might be) that you feel like you could do it without your kick?

Seconding pull buoys. They let you do "pull sets" (arms only). If you're feeling like you need a little extra flotation, that might help. That will also help keep your legs near the surface.

Freestyle can be really, really hard. I'd gotten my lifeguard and water safety certification without ever really mastering it (I could do it okay, but I didn't have a ton of power -- I had a very strong breaststroke and never really planned to lifeguard seriously). Maybe one thing for you to try is forgetting the freestyle for a moment and just concentrating on your placement in the water. Do some streamlined pushing off from the wall with your hands ahead of you and see how far you can go just keeping your body at the correct angle (kicking or not). Work on your breaststroke with your face in and out of the water.

Backstroke also really helped me grasp front crawl more easily, given the timing and the relative ease of floating with my face out of the water. I think you would benefit a lot from that given your previous fears.
posted by Madamina at 9:17 AM on October 7, 2013

Lots of great suggestions here. I don't know if there is any argument against doing this, but I think in your position I might let the lifeguard in on my concerns. It may cause him/her to keep an exta alert eye out. And heck, maybe it would garner a few free pointers from someone who really swims well if s/he sees something in your form that clearly needs correcting.

You may want to invest in a few lessons to nip in the bud any bad habits.
posted by AnOrigamiLife at 9:33 AM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]

I think you should concentrate on breaststroke and learn to put your face in an out of the water in that more controlled environment, so to speak. Freestyle has all the turning your head in and out of the water and it can be disorienting and scary for first time swimmers. With breaststroke you don't have to put your face in the water at all, and when you do, you can maintain your forward vision at a distant object (end of the lane, opposite wall, whatevs) which can help orient you in the water, which helps you maintain balance and focus.

Once you are more comfortable moving through the water with your face under it, it will be easier to transition to the more active freestyle.
posted by elizardbits at 9:42 AM on October 7, 2013 [2 favorites]

Take the lane next to the wall. As in, ask whomever's in that lane to move. If you feel yourself starting to panic when you're in the deep end, reach out and pull yourself to the wall. As your stroke gets better, you'll have fewer instances of feeling panicky. Then you can work on isolating those feelings; try rolling into backstroke, or even work through the fear ("I've got five strokes to the wall, I'm going to calm down and not panic, I know I can reach out any time I need to").
posted by disconnect at 10:25 AM on October 7, 2013

Seconding the recommendation to focus on breaststroke first. This will help you get comfortable, so you'll know that even if you start flailing around while freestyling, you can just stop and swim and be safe. Or, heck, never bother freestyling. Breaststroke is a great way to swim and have nearly complete control over your face in the water, where you're going, and how you're breathing.
posted by Capri at 10:26 AM on October 7, 2013

nth-ing pull buoy. I used to swim competitively and they're great for workouts, as well as to get the feeling of how high your hips should be in the water (hint: way higher than they are). Don't overthink things, either.
posted by kcm at 10:27 AM on October 7, 2013

Just want to be sure you are wearing a well fitting pair of goggles? I saw a guy at my gym the other day trying to swim without them (a beginner) and it was just so not happening.

I agree with some other posters that breaststroke is probably your best bet. There's a small chance that you might like backstroke too -- I just started doing backstroke recently and realized the reason I love it is that I can breathe as much as I want, rather than having it be dictated by my stroke position.
posted by fingersandtoes at 10:59 AM on October 7, 2013

When I learned to swim, we spent part of the time standing in the shallow end with water a bit above waist high, bent over so that you could practice your arms and breathing but still just standing on the bottom of the pool. It helped especially with the breathing practice, because it takes away a lot of the keeping-yourself-afloat pressure/anxiety.
posted by CathyG at 11:52 AM on October 7, 2013

You could break the stroke down and practice each element separately while in the shallow end. You don't have to be swimming lengths to get good technical practice.

I'd stay away from the pull buoy as it pushes your face down into the water which might be a bit much for you now.

Arms - You can stand in the shallow end with your face in the water and just do the arm action.

Breathing - With or without arm action. As you're just learning you can practice putting your face in and out while exhaling underwater. You'll need this for later. Also just spending time submerged is very useful.

Legs - Use the side of the pool or a float to practice your kicking

All - Add them all together in the shallow end to see how far you get...

Any time in the water will beneficial so even spending half an hour floating, bobbing around, holding your breath etc will be complimentary to your lessons. Its important outside your lessons to try and have fun in the water without too much pressure.
posted by JIMSMITH2000 at 3:13 PM on October 7, 2013 [1 favorite]