Overcoming Your Fear of Water
Building Your Confidence in the Pool
If you are not very confident about putting your head into/under the water or worry that you are going to sink, Weightless Swimming offers a step-by-step approach to overcome your fears/anxieties, whatever the reason, and works at a pace you are comfortable with.
You will learn to feel at ease and confident in the water by learning to feel weightless through natural buoyancy. We have a natural built-in buoyancy aid, our lungs, therefore it is actually quite difficult to sink. Our legs tend to sink when we have not learned how to balance effectively in the water. Humans tend to tense up when learning to swim or are anxious and this makes our muscles denser and may cause us to sink.
Learning to relax and switch off certain muscles in the water is essential and is a key skill you will learn as a more confident swimmer.
Building Your Confidence in Open Water
Many competent pool-based swimmers sign up for a triathlon and are happy with the cycle and run elements but almost dread the open water swim element. If this is the case for you, having a few 1-2-1 or small group open water sessions with a coach in the water with you will help overcome your anxieties.
We would start by discussing your particular worries about swimming in open water. These may include poor water quality, lack of clarity and not being able to see under water, what aquatic beasts may reside in the water, getting tired and not being able to complete a certain distance, breathing issues, and many more very commonly shared concerns.
We would stay by the water's edge and jetty and start with acclimatising to the water and learning to put our faces in and gradually getting into the water. We would do some floating exercises to build confidence and finish by swimming a short distance together, if ready for this, completely at your pace.
