Arm Movements When Standing From Freestyle

by Sonia
(London)

I am a beginner swimmer at 40yrs and am lucky to have a very patient instructor. I seem to have hit a plateau with my arm movements when standing from freestyle. I can float, kick my legs and can stand up from a floating position alone but now I am starting to learn to use my arms learning the freestyle. I get petrified that I won’t be able to get my hands back into position to stand up if I panic. I would appreciate any ideas to help me pass this plateau.
Thank you

This problem is not uncommon and there are a couple of way to approach resolving it and gaining confidence standing from swimming freestyle.

Firstly keep in mind that you don’t get any points for technique when it comes to standing up. It really doesn’t matter how you go about it. Your instructor has probably taught you the same as our diagrams shows; pulling down through the water with both hands simultaneously and placing both feet on the pool floor simultaneously.

That is the best technique for remaining level and balanced whilst standing up and you have most probably got the hang of it and can do it fairly confidently.

If that is the case then try standing up using one arm followed by the other. There is absolutely nothing wrong with standing using your arms unevenly and placing one foot on the pool floor before the other. If you have enough breath and keep your face in the water as you do it (which would be the case when swimming freestyle anyway) then with a little practice you may just get used to it.


If you are still petrified then try this: swimming freestyle and bring your arms and hands together in front of you just before you need to stand up.

You will have to leave plenty of time to miss an arm pull as the opposite arm catches up before you run out of breath. Once again plenty of practice and you will soon build up your confidence.

Put your achievements so far into perspective. As a beginner learning to swim you have managed to learn how to remain a float, how to stand up alone and how to kick. All these elements took time and practice to get you to this stage. Time and practice will get you over your current plateau.

Our best-selling book 'The Complete Guide to Simple Swimming' contains aspects of learning to swim plus over 80 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of basic swimming. You can download it, print out the parts you need and take them to your pool to try out. Click the link below for more information.

I hope you find this information helpful and I wish you every success with your swimming.

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