Beginner Swimmer without any Coach

Quoted message said:

Any help is vastly appreciated. Books like TI swimming are not
available in India. Please give me some tips. I dont want to keep my
head out of water and start flailing arms and legs and call it
swimming. The pressure on me to adapt this style is great.

Here are some free online articles on breathing:

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005articles/february/breathing.html

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005articles/august/breathe.html

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005articles/november/breathing.html

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2006articles/february/air.html

Bob

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello All,

I have been swimming since last 18 days.

Have not made much progress. I'm learning in a pool where there are no
coaches and the one that acts like a coach asks every body to thrash
their hands and thrash their legs as hard as possible to prevent
sinking. (the favorite is throwing the beginner in the nine feet part
of the pool so that natural instincts to survive apparently teach you
how to swim :-) )

I started by holding the bars at the edge and fluttering my legs. I
came across few interesting websites such as swimmingwithout stress
where the imprtance of leaving your head free and looking at the
bottom of the pool was emphasised. I started doing the same and
actuall could float easily.

More visits to Total Immersion site and few clips on You Tube (Popov
technique) educated me the importance of unhurried swimming.

Since beginning I have a problem.

How to breathe?

I'm breathing consciously while going forwards (by pushing my leg to
the walls), and then unconscioulsy holding my breath and when my right
arm is coming up (free style), I'm gulping in air, but losing the
entire form in the process. And once I take the breathe, everything
seems to crumble. My arms and legs are not coordinated, I'm thrashing
my legs by keeping them apart, I'm floating, sinking and then floating
rythmically. In short this is the worst possible style of swimming
anybody can imagine.

Since this is the 18th day, other who started flailing arms and legs
are actually able to move to a little larger distance. I'm feeling
very demotivated. How to solve this problem of breathing?

Do you folks breathe out thru your nose within water and take a gulp
when doing the right hand meneuver.

What is the secret of relaxing (just like when I first kick from the
wall, I have more of form, once I take a breathe however everything
falls apart)

Any help is vastly appreciated. Books like TI swimming are not
available in India. Please give me some tips. I dont want to keep my
head out of water and start flailing arms and legs and call it
swimming. The pressure on me to adapt this style is great.

(PS: I can float on water neatly keeping the head 'still' looking
down at the bottom of the pool. Once I raise my head for a breath, I
get the up down, up down rythm and I loose all control of my breathing
and invariable come gasping out for air)

Thanks,
Tyro

If you have a kickboard, try what we call the "catch up" drill. Start
by holding the board in front of you, arms straight, and pushing off the
wall. Perform front crawl on a four-beat count: 1-pull with the right
hand and breath; 2-return the right hand to the kickboard and just kick;
3-pull with the left hand but don't breath; 4-return the left hand to
the kickboard and just kick. Repeat the whole thing, and of course, if
you're left-handed, switch the left and right. The "catch up" is that
you let each hand catch up with the other on the board before pulling
with the other.

Part of what you want to teach yourself is to lay somewhat or even
completely on your left side, with your left arm straight out in front
of you and your left ear on or very near your left upper arm, and breath
in this position.

Hope that helps some - it's much easier to explain in person.

-S-

Robert W. McAdams said:

Quoted message said:

Any help is vastly appreciated. Books like TI swimming are not
available in India. Please give me some tips. I dont want to keep my
head out of water and start flailing arms and legs and call it
swimming. The pressure on me to adapt this style is great.

Here are some free online articles on breathing:

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005articles/february/breathing.html

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005articles/august/breathe.html

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2005articles/november/breathing.html

http://www.totalimmersion.net/2006articles/february/air.html

Bob

Just remember to breathe out under water and breathe in above the water.
The reverse tends not to go well.