Swimming Lessons for Adults?

[Thom]

I practiced flip turns this morning. It didn't go well. How I usually turn is to kind of bring my knees up to my chest as I approach the end then just sort of turn around sideways then push off. If that makes any sense.

The web site I mentioned above has a DVD on turns.

http://www.totalimmersion.net/store/tur ... R-PQIWcHyQ

[losingandbuilding]

Ok guys, another question for you all. What is the yearly membership fee like for your local Y, health club, etc., that includes access to a pool? I stopped by our local Y last night to get some info, and the yearly fee is about $500. At first glance, that seemed like a lot to me, but I guess when you break it down by month or week, it doesn't seem quite as bad. Does this seem like a pretty average price to you guys?

[Speedoaddict]

I pay £30 / month ($461.12 / year) which includes Gym, Sauna, fitness classes, fitness routine, personal trainer assessment, and the swimming pool.

[BJE]

I got a good deal with prepayment I paid for 18 months and got 8 months free. I also have unlimited tanning and red light therapy. It works out to about $100 per month. The membership includes my wife and son also. Besides the membership cost we pay $110 per month for Taekwondo for me and my son. Included in membership are free weights, weight machines, cardio equipment, basketball, racket ball, tennis, pools, hot tubs, saunas, steam rooms. There are a lot of free classes such as water aerobics, aerobics etc. and you can pay extra for Taekwondo, tai chi, fit wall, pilates, yoga, P90X, personal training and massage.

At the time of day I am there the majority of members present are old men and women then middle aged people with fewer younger people and I'd say the majority would be considered "over weight" to obese. Very few are what one might actually consider fit. Most of the people in the water aerobics classes, which I don't do, are fat old women with a few fat old men who look like old women without a bra. My point in saying this is that I don't feel intimidated by those around me. Perhaps if I went when there were more young men there I'd feel differently. However most of the young men I see look no fitter than the older men. I think computers and video games rather than outside activities have taken a toll on the physiques of young men.

It's too bad that teens and young men aren't fit these days like those in this video.

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/fISgKl8dB3M

[delelan]

Ok guys, another question for you all. What is the yearly membership fee like for your local Y, health club, etc., that includes access to a pool? I stopped by our local Y last night to get some info, and the yearly fee is about $500. At first glance, that seemed like a lot to me, but I guess when you break it down by month or week, it doesn't seem quite as bad. Does this seem like a pretty average price to you guys?

The only gym here where I live is 30 a month which comes out to 360 a year. Not bad considering you get all the normal exercise equipment and access to the pool.

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[52dno98]

I practiced flip turns this morning. It didn't go well. How I usually turn is to kind of bring my knees up to my chest as I approach the end then just sort of turn around sideways then push off. If that makes any sense.

BJE I'm starting to get more and more confident with my flip turns (though I'm still not good by any stretch). Your mileage may vary, but what I did was practice away from the wall first, so that I could get used to flipping heels over head and not rotating to one side of the other. You can google "flip turn noodle drill" for a drill using a pool noodle which can help with this alignment. Then, practice against the wall, but don't swim into it, just do your flip, and pause when your feet are on the wall. In other words, this drill is again all about getting familiar with the flipping sensation. THEN you can start practicing swimming into the wall, where you can work on your timing as to when to flip based on your distance.

For me, once I flipped and paused on the wall, I was able to more thoughtfully plan my push off, and aim my body better. (And as an aside a good streamline push off is precisely the reason I prefer swimming in a speedo- you feel as slippery as a fish!)

[swimmy]

My local rec center costs me $60 a month and I get my money's worth. It has beautiful locker rooms, a great weight room, yoga/dance/etc.studios, gymnasium for basketball, soccer and volleyball. Running track, cardio floor, indoor short course pool with separate warm therapy pool, hot tub, dry sauna, steam room.

[BJE]

My local rec center costs me $60 a month and I get my money's worth. It has beautiful locker rooms, a great weight room, yoga/dance/etc.studios, gymnasium for basketball, soccer and volleyball. Running track, cardio floor, indoor short course pool with separate warm therapy pool, hot tub, dry sauna, steam room.

It sounds like you go to the same type of place that I go to.

[90210njshore]

Adult swimming lessons are definitely a thing! I know it took me a while to find a school, but subconsciously, I think it was also due to me not being comfortable in my body. (Even now, I wear a rash guard.)

Many Ys offer group and private lessons. I observed group lessons in action - never found it helpful. The instructor stays out of the water to teach. The private lessons at the Y are better and affordable, but I noticed every instructor tends to be mechanical in their instruction.

There are a ton of private schools too. I took a bunch of lessons at one school and then got the instructor to teach me privately for less. I am glad too - he is untraditional in his approach and tries different methods until something clicks for the student.

[Speedoaddict]

Guys, thanks so much for all of the info and advice so far - I really appreciate it! Keep it coming if you think of anything else related to this, or even lap-swimming in general. Feel free to post here or send me a message - this is all pretty new to me, so the more info, the better!

Hi losingandbuilding,

Did you sort any swimming lessons out?

Nice to hear from you. It's been a while.

[losingandbuilding]

Guys, thanks so much for all of the info and advice so far - I really appreciate it! Keep it coming if you think of anything else related to this, or even lap-swimming in general. Feel free to post here or send me a message - this is all pretty new to me, so the more info, the better!

Hi losingandbuilding,

Did you sort any swimming lessons out?

Nice to hear from you. It's been a while.

Hey man! I haven't been on here for awhile, so sorry for not getting back to you before now. No, unfortunately I haven't done anything with the swimming lessons. I honestly haven't been working out much at all the past few months - gotta get back on it. Thanks so much for asking though!

[speedobillyuk]

Place where I swim does adult swimming lessons - and they take all levels, from non swimmers up to those trying to improve their stroke. THE most important thing is to get a good instructor, and be in a group with similar abilities and aims - otherwise it may feel a complete waste of time. Getting a good instructor is the real key - knowing how to do something isn't the same as being able to teach it. You'll know if you've got a good instructor - they'll spend time with you and help you focus on your weakest areas with different ideas until you find what works for you. Finding a good instructor is probably harder than learning to swim - there's a lot of mediocrity out there. Older instructors, with more experience of teaching are probably better than college kids earning a few extra bucks.

[swimmy]

My lessons are free at 930 every evening. I just give some tips and see what happens, make adjustments and corrections, show drills to improve technique and break bad habits. The trick is to not make too many changes at once, like tuning a race car. Put fins on the feet to cause speed to come up and give the learner a sense of hydrodynamics. I always give a learner something to think about overnight too, like the body line and shoulder rotation. As soon as a swimmer can go two lengths I teach the flip turn and demand ONLY flip turns from that day on. I've taught a few people to swim from nothing, but taught LOTS of "barely swimmers" to be very confident and even competitive. I have a student now, that as I explain, when I first saw him swim I had to keep draining the tears from my goggles, it hurt to watch him so bad. You should see him go after two months... and yes I even taught him to wear the proper uniform of the actual swimmer. Had to loan him a spare Endurance to get the point across but he had his own new one the next day.

[BJE]

I posted this in the pool etiquette thread as well because it fits both topics.

I’ve been swimming most of my life but I only had swimming lessons as a kid and I only learned “freestyle” and back stroke. My swimming ability peaked in my thirties. I would generally swim a mile non stop. Then I went probably ten years without swimming much. I’ve been getting back into it in the last few years. Last spring I took an adult swim conditioning class at my fitness club. Most of those there were training for triathlon but there were a few very poor swimmers. While I didn’t make a fool of myself, I found it pretty hard to keep up. We would swim ten laps for a warm up and ten laps for a cool down. In between we did various drills. I did my best but to me ten laps is a workout not a warm up.

One of my biggest problems is that if I push off hard from the end or kick hard my feet cramp up and I have to stop and massage my feet and try to get rid of the muscle spasm.

[Speedoaddict]

I had some lessons last year to try and get my breathing sorted on free style, I was ok with my free style form but the instructor said that the breathing just takes practice. I have got to get used to breathing correctly. Haven't been swimming since the lessons due to a bad back.
But it is something I want to get back into. Might try and learn breast stroke.

[Latestarter]

My lessons are free at 930 every evening. I just give some tips and see what happens, make adjustments and corrections, show drills to improve technique and break bad habits. The trick is to not make too many changes at once, like tuning a race car. Put fins on the feet to cause speed to come up and give the learner a sense of hydrodynamics. I always give a learner something to think about overnight too, like the body line and shoulder rotation. As soon as a swimmer can go two lengths I teach the flip turn and demand ONLY flip turns from that day on. I've taught a few people to swim from nothing, but taught LOTS of "barely swimmers" to be very confident and even competitive. I have a student now, that as I explain, when I first saw him swim I had to keep draining the tears from my goggles, it hurt to watch him so bad. You should see him go after two months... and yes I even taught him to wear the proper uniform of the actual swimmer. Had to loan him a spare Endurance to get the point across but he had his own new one the next day.

Just been rereading this thread looking to improve my swimming. Just noticed that you said you gave free swimming lessons every night. That’s a really decent thing to do.
3 years ago I couldn’t do more than a couple of lengths freestyle now after a lot of practice I can swim for miles but still can’t maintain anything faster than 2:15 for more than a few lengths.

[Latestarter]

Think my problems are similar Mitch. I’m a decent runner for my age but my legs do more to hinder than help in the pool. I can’t manage a breadth without arms

[Speedoaddict]

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[swimmy]

Latestarter the trick is to swim a prescribed workout. A certain distance with a time goal and a rest and then go again. The time plus the rest is the sendoff interval. For instance a workout I swim often is 10x100@3:00. That is ten 100 yard swims and I leave for another every three minutes. So if I swim it in 1:15 I have a 1:45 rest before the next. I monitor heart rate with my Tomtom to see how hard I'm working to do it.
This is how you get faster. When you know what the times are you can alter them in the next workout. Try a 2:50 sendoff and see if you can do it. Maintain that pace though, that 1:15 I do is for all ten 100s.
Its all about the distance, the pace, and the clock. The important thing is to finish the workout, don't quit at number six because you think you're dying. If you're dying, slow down a bit, but do the same time for all ten 100's.
It's more fun to have someone do it with you, it becomes a challenge between the two of you to work harder.
Mitch if your kick doesn't work, you're doing it wrong. You gotta have the kick right before you can swim. Take a swim class!

[Latestarter]

Swimmy thanks very much for that. I’m very conscious that I train properly to run but in the pool I just plow up and down for 50 lengths. There seem to be so many variables kick, breathing catch etc that is sometimes hard to know where to start. I have a triathlon swim in couple of months. 1500m open water which I should manage in just over 30 mins depending on sea conditions but I would like to be faster than that. Like Mitch my kick isn’t helping me and it’s quite noticeable that I do better in open water because of the extra leg bouyancy in a wetsuit Sea temps rarely above the midterms in summer here