Tense Swimming In The Deep End

I get very tense swimming in the deep end...the thing is that I cannot hold my breath for so long maybe due to fear and when I stop when I'm short of breath, I lose balance. How do I conduct myself there in order not to feel as if I'm sinking or drowning and since the water level comes above my head. How do I take off from the pool wall? What should be the easier technique to float and glide from the wall since right now my coach asks me to push off from the pool ladder and it does not give me enough grip as against pushing the wall of the pool. Please advise and rectify my mistakes.

The best way to conquer your fear of swimming in deep water is firstly to master swimming in water of your own depth. This sounds obvious but the psychological effects of swimming in deep water can sometimes have a damaging effect on learning to swim.

Try swimming in water of about shoulder depth where you are able to stand if you need. Swim away from the poolside for 5 to 10 meters and then turn around and return to the poolside again, but without touching your feet on the pool floor.

Turning and changing direction whilst swimming can be hard work especially without touching the pool floor or standing. However it can be very helpful for deep water confidence. If you practice it enough and become stronger and more confidence in this exercise, the depth of the water makes no difference at all. You can swim with the confidence of knowing that you can change direction and swim to the poolside no matter how deep the water is below you.


Pushing away from the pool wall can be different depending on the type of pool you are swimming in. Some pool sides are easy to hold on to and some are not so.

Either way it all comes down to your overall confidence level, and more specifically to your confidence with holding your breath and submerging your face.

You must be confident with submerging your face to be able to perform a basic push and glide from the pool side.

If you practice holding your breath and submerging then you will become more relaxed, which will help with floating and gliding.

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, including submerging. 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.

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