Terrified of Swimming

I am terrified of swimming because I am scared to lift my feet off the pool floor. I am learning to swim in this school program that goes on for a week (I am 13), and by the end of the week, we must be able to swim and float on the back and front. Most of the people in my group can do these things and are now just practising, but I CANT! I get terrified to let my feet off the floor and up. I ended up crying today because I got so scared! PLEASE help me!?? What can I do?

This is a very common feeling, and you are not alone. Please do not compare yourself with the others in your class. You will learn to swim but must progress at your own pace and try things out only when you are happy. We all learn things at different speeds, and comparing yourself to others who progress quicker only adds to your anxiety and pressure.

The first area you need to concentrate on is holding your breath and putting your face in the water. You can practice this without lifting your feet off of the pool floor. Remain standing in the water of about shoulder or chest depth, take a deep breath and place your face down.

Wearing swim goggles can help make this experience more comfortable as they prevent water from getting into your eyes and allow you to see where you are and what you are doing.

Once you can confidently keep your face down in the water for between 5 and 10 seconds, try doing the same but holding the poolside with both hands and lifting your feet off of the pool floor. Keep holding the poolside and gently lower your feet to the floor as you lift your face out.

Once you can do this confidently, try the same but let go of the poolside. Letting go of the poolside can mean completely letting go or moving your hands away slightly so that only your fingertips are touching the side. It all depends on how brave you are feeling!

Eventually, you will be able to float with your feet off the floor and your face down in the water without fear.

However, keep in mind that not everyone naturally floats. It is all down to our relative density (and I will leave you to look that up!). Some of us float well in a static position, and some of us do not. That does not mean that if we cannot float, we cannot swim. Not at all. The very act of swimming and the propulsion and momentum we get from swimming keep our bodies near the water's surface.

My ebook The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming contains all the help and support you need, from relaxing, floating and breathing to all the technique tips for learning to swim the four basic strokes. Click the link below for more information.

The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming 

Professional guidance and support to help you through every stage of learning how to swim.

Discover everything you need from first entering the pool and building confidence to floating and breathing. Plus, 82 exercises to master the four basic swimming strokes.(click here for an instant preview) 

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Feeling Of Fear When Swimming On My Front

Hi Mark,
I bought a copy of your Complete Beginners' guide, which has been a great help in getting me back into the pool after 30 years. I'm having lessons and trying out your advice during these; I am now more confident in swimming with a noodle on my front and back and have improved my leg kick in particular, or so my instructor says, over the five weeks I've been going. I can also put my face completely under the water and exhale in control, something I have always found impossible, so thank you very much for your exercises! What I would like to ask, though if you have any advice for overcoming the terrible lurch in my stomach I have every time I set off on my front - I feel as though I'm going to sink every time until I get my kick going. I never have this when I'm sitting off on my back, I'm quite calm leaning back and setting off, and I can also stop more confidently going backwards, but I find it hard to put my legs down when going forwards! I realise it must all be psychological, but I'd be grateful for any advice to get over it!

Thanks for getting in touch, and thanks also for your kind words about my book. It sounds like you have made some good progress. Great!

You have managed to answer your question in a roundabout kind of way. You are right, it is mostly psychological, but there are a couple of things you can do that might help.

Firstly it is important to unpick the psychology to understand what it going on when you push away on your front. Consider a few things: 

• As you push away from the poolside, there is a momentary period of feeling unbalanced. That wobbly feeling as you attempt to get into a rhythm.

• Your face is either submerged or directly on the water's surface. Either way, it can be an unnerving feeling. Unlike lying on your back, which is relaxing as you are not looking at the water.

• Not feeling completely confident with stopping and standing up.

• Any previous experiences that can cloud your preconceptions of what you are trying to do. ‘I didn’t like this last time I tried it, so I’m not going to like it this time, type of thing.

Combine all of the above, and you will most probably get your lurching feeling in your stomach as you set off.

You mention in your note that you are completely confident with standing up from a supine (on your back) position but not so confident with standing from prone (on your front). This, I think, is where the source of your problem lies.

It is very difficult, psychologically to set off swimming on your front when you know deep down that stopping and standing might be a problem.

Forget swimming for a moment. Try experimenting with just floating. Stationary, face down in the water, usually in a star shape and learn how your body behaves. If, like me, you naturally sink you will do so gradually and slowly. The human body does not sink like a stone.

From there, you can experiment with placing your feet on the pool floor and standing up. There are no points for technique when you do this so don’t stress about doing it with perfection. However you do it, do it slowly and without urgency or panic. Draw your knees forward towards your chest and place your feet down before lifting up your head. Only when you get more confident will you be able to lift your head and place your feet down simultaneously.

Then move on floating towards the poolside. Push off the pool floor with your face down and stand up in front of the poolside without touching it. Psychologically you have the security of the poolside to hold if you need to, which should help you to stand up without needing it. When you become more confident with this, venture further away from the side and eventually practice it pushing away from the poolside.

In time your confidence will grow, and your lurching feeling will go away. You have overcome some of the more difficult hurdles in learning to swim and I have no doubt you can conquer this one.

I hope I have helped in some way, and I wish you all the very best.

The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming

The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming

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