How long to learn freestyle swimming

As you will have already seen, swimming is a complex action and one that takes years to become comfortable with; a good coach will stop you from struggling on your own and help you learn the stroke faster and with less stress. A flat body position is the first thing to get right for good freestyle swimming. Start by just pushing off from the wall of the pool, stretching your arms out straight in front of you overlap your hands as if you were diving and gliding as far as you can.

Keeping your legs together and straight, but relaxed, should help you stay flat, and think about pushing your chest down in the water to level out your legs. Adding the kick without upsetting your body position is the next phase and can be very tricky for runners and cyclists, who tend to bend the knee. Keep your legs straight, but not locked, and let your big toes brush each other. Efficient freestyle and relaxed breathing comes from good body rotation. As each arm enters the water in freestyle, your body rotates towards that side, so the other side comes up and you have time to breathe.

You want solid estimates. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. There is no maximum age when you can start learning to swim and getting all the benefits that come with it.

You could be 3 or 93 — it makes no difference. In fact, as a form of exercise, swimming is ideal for us as we age. The low-impact nature and added resistance from the water keep our bodies strong , flexible and lean. And the funny thing is, because adults have greater patience and are better at taking on feedback, they can usually learn faster than kids! They are:. Worrying about getting in the water is a huge fear for many beginners.

Acclimatising to the water can take some time which lengthens the learning process. Learning new things takes consistency. And swimming is no different. Keeping pool visits and lessons consistent will massively accelerate the learning process as skills compound on top of each other. A great swimming instructor can help speed up the learning process through their experience, knowledge and teaching methods. Like learning how to play the piano or speak French; learning to swim takes quality instruction, time, effort, patience and buckets of practice.

Here are some typical guidelines:. These estimates are based around the expectation that your child could swim 25m without stopping by the end of the time frame. For children to become strong swimmers, i. Also, it goes without saying that taking group lessons instead of private lessons will generally make the learning process longer.

In teaching very young kids how to swim, it is important for swim instructors to introduce them to the water in a very gradual and playful manner. At the beginning stage, the most important thing that swimming instructors must teach young kids is not to fear the water. This is one of the reasons why teaching kids how to swim takes more time than teaching it to adults.

While some adults have a fear of water, they are able to manage this fear, especially with the guidance of the instructor. The mechanics of swimming are really easy. What makes it hard for an adult is overcoming the fear, the inability to relax, the difficulty of going into the right body position, and the difficulty in practicing the instructions.

But with regular practice, all these difficulties will be resolved. There are many factors that will affect the rate at which a person can learn to swim. How long you can learn will also depend on each individual. There are slow learners, and there are fast learners among us.

Here are the most common factors:. Fear is probably the biggest hindrance in learning how to swim. Overcoming this fear takes time. If you have no fear of water, you can easily relax your body, and you will be able to practice the techniques that the swimming instructor will give.

The important thing is not to force the issue. Give yourself more time if you are afraid. Do it gradually, and you will be fine. Remember, your teacher is there to guide you. If you are an adult and you are very eager to learn, you will get it quickly. But with young kids, it will take more time.

But once they are used to the water, it will just be a matter of guiding them through the necessary steps. Your body can support the strength required to practice the necessary skills. But if you are weak and sick , you will not be able to keep up with the regular practice sessions. You may have to do it in a calibrated way. And that will take more time.

Your body coordination or how good your motor functions work also affects the speed by which you can learn how to swim. If you are good at playing basketball , volleyball, and any sports that require useful motor functions and body coordination, you will quickly learn how to swim.

If you notice that you have difficulties playing these sports, it might take you longer to learn the basics of swimming. It largely depends on your eagerness and resoluteness. If you spend more hours practicing basic skills, you will quickly learn how to swim.

Through regular practice, your body will get used to physical movements. Your muscles will develop memory, and you will be able to correct your mistakes. Pretty soon, you can swim without assistance from your instructor. If you really want to learn it quickly, go practice 2 to 3 times a week.

The kind of teacher giving you the swimming instructions will also determine how you will learn to swim. His or her manner of treating the students will affect their learning curves.

The wider and broader the experience of the teacher, the better it will be for the students. Are you being taught about the latest swimming techniques?

How many students are you in the swimming class? Is the teacher giving enough attention to each student? Or are there many of you in the class that can pretty much go unnoticed?

With a good swim instructor, an adult can learn how to swim in 20 hours or even less of lessons. A good instructor with supportive parents can teach a child to swim over the course of a year or two.

After learning the basics of swimming, it is also good to master the many kinds of swim strokes. It is good to learn them whether you want to swim for competition or to stay safe in the water.