I learned how to swim when I was ~9 and I've never forgotten. I took a swimming class a while ago for exercise and to see how I did. My technique was off but staying afloat was never a problem.
I find myself boggling at people too scared to float on their backs in the shallow end, it's much easier to stay afloat than to even intentionally touch the floor of the deep end. Also, treading water isn't a matter of exhaustion but boredom.
Boasting said, I doubt I'd do quite as well in oceanic water since that's actually moving.
I find myself boggling at people too scared to float on their backs in the shallow end, it's much easier to stay afloat than to even intentionally touch the floor of the deep end.
Speak for yourself. I was never able to manage floating on my back at all, regardless of depth.
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I don't float either. After a second, my legs start to sink and eventually the rest of me follows. If I take a deep breath and puff up my chest that keeps me afloat, but breathing out drops me under.
Floating is never perfectly stable, but a dynamic process. Most people (unsure about very thin people) float when their lungs are even partly filled, so what you need to do is learn to hold your breath for a longer while, then breathe quickly out and then in before you start to sink. And yes, your legs WILL add a rotation to your float, trying to go down, so you need to compensate with your arms and the occasional movement of your feet. Luckily, not much is needed, considering that you weigh about a sixth of your normal weight in water, but have the same strength.
And you don't breathe out to keep the water away, you close your palate.
This brought to you by Knowitall news on PZOB. =)
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Yes, I can swim. My mother is something of a swimming enthusiast, and so she had us learn how to swim as soon as we were old enough. My siblings and me swam competitively both for a regular local team AND as unified swimmers for our local Special Olympics team, which we now help coach (my mother's the head coach, and we support her).
I can swim decently well, but I didn't learn until I was almost a teenager. Part of the problem seemed to be that everyone who tried to teach me insisted I start by swimming on my back, which I didn't like and wasn't good at. (Even today I dislike swimming/on my back.)
I do have at least three friends who cannot swim. Each of them is absolutely terrified of the water.
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After my near-drowning incident* as a 7 or 8 yro, my mom and dad signed all three of us kids up for several weeks of swimming lessons at the local Y. By the end of it, we were all competent, if not stellar swimmers. I spent a year in high school on the swim team, where I consistently finished at the middle of the team. I don't think I've gone swimming in almost a decade now, as: I lack access to a pool, I don't like the crowds at the beaches, and I try to avoid very much Sun.
* Of all us three kids, I was almost always the one getting nearly hurt or getting into physically dangerous situations. I like to rationalize it as teaching my younger siblings what not to do.
I learned how to swim when I was ~9 and I've never forgotten. I took a swimming class a while ago for exercise and to see how I did. My technique was off but staying afloat was never a problem.
I find myself boggling at people too scared to float on their backs in the shallow end, it's me ch easier to stay afloat than to even intentionally touch the floor of the deep end. Also, treading water isn't a matter of exhaustion but boredom.
Boasting said, I doubt I'd do quite as well in oceanic water since that's actually moving.
despite my being upset with the stereotype, I can't float either, or rather I float poorly. It's a black thing, apparently. However, I love swimming and am an excellent diver- i don't have to fight to go down. My wife however, who is equally black and floats like a bar of soap, although she says that's because she's fat.
More fat makes it easier to float. weight to volume ratio and all that.
I've been swimming as long as I can remember. I vaguely remember it taking me a long time to learn to float, and I was about 10 before I could tread water. I don't typically like going swimming though. The chlorine in most pools really affects my eyes (my eyes can sometimes stay red for up to 3 or 4 days after swimming), and I don't make it out to natural bodies of water too often.
Floating is never perfectly stable, but a dynamic process. Most people (unsure about very thin people) float when their lungs are even partly filled, so what you need to do is learn to hold your breath for a longer while, then breathe quickly out and then in before you start to sink. And yes, your legs WILL add a rotation to your float, trying to go down, so you need to compensate with your arms and the occasional movement of your feet. Luckily, not much is needed, considering that you weigh about a sixth of your normal weight in water, but have the same strength.
And you don't breathe out to keep the water away, you close your palate.
This brought to you by Knowitall news on PZOB. =)
I hear you, if I float on my back, it just always takes enough movement that I end up moving very, very slowly. It's not a lot of effort and I can easily maintain it for hours. It's how I take breaks when doing open water swims over a mile, though the longest I've done is two miles.
My legs don't develop a lot of fat, particularly my lower legs, and with no effort they seem to maintain a lot of muscle (I think it's cause I walk on my toes a lot). Once they start sinking they pick up speed and just drag the rest of me and they always start pretty quickly.
I haven't tried floating in very calm ocean water, or a high salt content lake, I'm sure it'd be much easier.
I find floating on my back to be the single most-uncomfortable position there is, ESPECIALLY in the ocean where the waves wash saltwater over your face with some frequency. (Deeper ocean is better -- the waves are so big and slow you tend to ride up and over them, but it's kind of like being rocked to sleep so I don't recommend it.)
I far prefer a slow, lazy sidestroke of maybe 1 stroke per second. It's relaxing, and for whatever reason your forward progress lets you float even better than a backstroke (or at least it does for me). And if you're in the ocean, you can turn your head away from the waves, which is a major plus.
The one time I got truly exhausted while more than 1/4 mile from shore, I did face-down survival floating to rest. It worked just fine and I made my way (extremely slowly) back to shore.
My legs don't develop a lot of fat, particularly my lower legs, and with no effort they seem to maintain a lot of muscle (I think it's cause I walk on my toes a lot).
Or those high heels you're always wearing.
Seriously though, why do you walk on your toes? I'm genuinely curious.
My legs don't develop a lot of fat, particularly my lower legs, and with no effort they seem to maintain a lot of muscle (I think it's cause I walk on my toes a lot).Or those high heels you're always wearing.
Seriously though, why do you walk on your toes? I'm genuinely curious.
I don't walk on tippy-toe, but rather I'm planting more with the ball of my foot than the heel. If you walk/run in footgear with no support, it's how you'll naturally stride. I tend to wear flip-flops that are basically just pieces of flat leather.
If it's all the same to you, I'm going to continue to picture you going about your day to day life in pink ballerina slippers, doing plies all over the place.
I don't walk on tippy-toe, but rather I'm planting more with the ball of my foot than the heel. If you walk/run in footgear with no support, it's how you'll naturally stride. I tend to wear flip-flops that are basically just pieces of flat leather.
My legs don't develop a lot of fat, particularly my lower legs, and with no effort they seem to maintain a lot of muscle (I think it's cause I walk on my toes a lot).Or those high heels you're always wearing.
Seriously though, why do you walk on your toes? I'm genuinely curious.
Thin sandals are good enough for the Tarahumara.
If it's all the same to you, I'm going to continue to picture you going about your day to day life in pink ballerina slippers, doing plies all over the place.
If it's all the same to you, I'm going to continue to picture you going about your day to day life in pink ballerina slippers, doing plies all over the place.
Hey, ballet dancers are amazingly dedicated athletes with an-all-too-often very short career. I'm sure meatrace meant it as a compliment.
Yep, a compliment. My brain absolutely refuses to picture any other possible connotation. Yep, yep. {focuses on thinking other distracting thoughts}
*twirls through thread like a proper Nurejev*
It was neither a compliment nor an insult, just a way in which I amuse myself.
FWIW I'm picturing his AVATAR in in pink ballerina shoes. And a tutu.
I'm sure if you do the same you'll get a chuckle.
No, I went straight to a clown ballerina with giant red pointe shoes and Cosmo's face. But that probably says more about me than you or the longboat.
I swim exactly like an anvil doesn't.
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When I was a kid, my parents signed me up for swimming lessons, tennis lessons, t-ball team, basketball, and more. I was a total klutz and not good at any athletic endeavor *except* for swimming.
It was suburban Chicago, so the swimming lessons were at the high school and public pools. The local waterways (ponds, sloughs, canals) were o.k. for ice skating in winter, but not clean/safe enough for swimming. Boy Scout camp increased my abilities, including longer distance (three mile) swims across various lakes and life guarding.
That's persisted my entire life, whether I was in my skinnier phases or at a heavier weight. I've never been able to play sports worth a darn but swimming is just natural to me.
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Uh...*looks at fur, imagines it wet. Shudders.* No, thanks.
It was neither a compliment nor an insult, just a way in which I amuse myself.
FWIW I'm picturing his AVATAR in in pink ballerina shoes. And a tutu.
I'm sure if you do the same you'll get a chuckle.
I have a pair of pink socks if that helps. And not white socks that got washed with something red, but actual pink socks. They're wool and very comfy.