How Long Will it Take Me to Learn To Swim?

I joined swimming and learnt to float within four days...suddenly I discontinued for 16 days as I had fever-related problems. Other people in my group might have already learnt to swim these days. How long will it take me to learn to swim?

Learning to float in 4 days is a fine achievement, and this tells me that you may be able to learn to swim in only a short time.

It is impossible to say how many days it will take you to learn as we are all different and learn different skills at various speeds. However, the fact that you have become comfortable with floating in the water means that you have no fear of the water and can relax.

Relaxation in the water is essential to learning to swim. Your next steps are learning to hold your breath and submerge, stop, and stand up mid-swim. Once you have learnt these stages, kicking with your legs and pulling with your arms will be easy!

It is not important if the others in your group have learnt to swim, but how well you learn to swim. If you have recovered from your fever-related problems, you can continue the good progress you have already made.

For you some extra help with learning to swim, you can download my eBook The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming. It contains pictures and exercises on how to submerge, stop and stand mid-swim and swim the four basic swimming strokes. You can download it instantly, print out the parts you need and take it to the pool to try out.

Learn to Swim Quickly

I'm a beginner and would like to learn to swim quickly. Could you please give some helpful swimming tips?

The speed at which you learn to swim will depend on your experience, your confidence level and how often you practice.

The key stages of learning to swim are learning to kick, using your arms, how to stop and stand up mid-swim, how to breathe, how to submerge and how to float.

Depending on how confident you are with each of those elements will determine how quickly you learn to swim.

Holding your breath and submerging is usually the part most people find difficult, especially if they fear water or are nervous. Partially submerging or breathing out into the water can sometimes help this.

Floating on the water's surface and then regaining a standing position is the next difficult part, especially if you float well.

If you are comfortable practising all the above, then using your arms and legs to kick and move through the water will be easy. Depending, of course, on which swimming stroke you wish to learn. Breaststroke is best for an adult beginner to learn, first of all.

It is very important as a beginner to swim so that you do not learn alone in the pool. You must be in the swimming pool with a friend or a swimming instructor.

My best-selling eBook The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming contains everything you need to learn from entering the pool, standing, floating, submerging and swimming all four basic swimming strokes. You can download it instantly, print it out and learn to swim. Click here for an instant preview.

Out of Breath After Swimming Only 2 Lengths

I find myself out of breath after swimming only two lengths at a time hard. I think my breathing is not too bad, but not sure my stroke technique is correct. I have watched others swim and tried to alter my stroke to copy theirs, but I could do with some tips. I am 69, enjoy swimming and currently take class lessons once a week. Thanks for any suggestions.

Let us look at your breathing technique first:

Ensure you are trickle breathing (blowing out/exhaling underwater) so that when you need to breathe, you only have to inhale, unlike explosive breathing, which takes longer and is more tiring (holding your breath while swimming and then breathing out and then in the short time it takes). Swimming is a form of exercise, and you would not hold your breath if you were running or cycling. The water is not a natural environment for a human, so make it as natural as possible and breathe out while you swim.

As you have not specified which stroke you swim, giving you any technique tips for a certain swimming stroke will be difficult. However, we can generalize. Good swimming is all about being efficient through the water, and efficiency comes from being relaxed. Whatever swimming stroke you swim, your body position should be as narrow as possible so that you “cut” through the water. Arms stretched out in line with your shoulders are more efficient than hands entering the water side of the shoulder line, for example.

The golden rule is to feel your way through the water and not fight your way. Relax and swim slower; you may swim a length or two just as quickly but using half the energy.

Lastly, swimming is a very effective form of exercise and therefore is energy consuming. Freestyle is the most energy-consuming (except butterfly), and breaststroke is the easiest and the least consuming.

My best-selling book The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming contains all of the most important 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.

Swimming Confidence

I badly need some help to regain my swimming confidence. I used to swim a lot but cannot do so now. I have lost my confidence.

Returning to the swimming pool can be daunting, especially if it is after a long time or if you were perhaps not the strongest swimmer in the first place. A combination of both of the above can be a certain cause for a loss of confidence.

My advice to you would be to go to the swimming pool but without the intention of actually swimming. Sounds odd, I know, but this is your first step. Maybe even go with a friend or someone you can trust who can hold your hand if necessary.

Your first step when you get there is to get into the water in the shallow end and walk about. Remain in your depth and experience the feel of the water, maybe submerge to shoulder level, but stay within your depth until you feel happy and comfortable.

The next step is holding the poolside and practising holding your breath and submerging your face, maybe lifting your feet off the pool floor. Then maybe try practising some swimming that you remember but with a float or swim noodle for assistance.

The most important thing to remember is to approach it in small steps and progressing at your own pace. Just because you might have been able to swim ten lengths or more once upon a time, it does not mean you will still be able to do it. You will have some psychological barriers to overcome first, which must be done gradually. You never know; it might all come back to you after a few attempts.

What you are experiencing is normal, and if you have some determination, you will have no problems.

My best-selling book 'The Complete Beginners Guide to 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.

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