No matter your age or ability, it can be hard to have confidence in any walk of life, but one area that many people suffer a real lack of confidence is swimming, however, we’re here to change that. Swimming is a fantastic way to keep fit through a low impact exercise as well as being a life saving skill that everyone should know. While it is great to develop these skills as you grow up, sometimes that simply isn’t possible or a sense of fear held you back, but it’s never too late to begin discovering the joy swimming can provide. So, to help we’ve put together five of our top tips on how to build your confidence in the water, whether you seek to become an Olympic Champion or simply want to enjoy a dip in the pool while on holidays, let’s dive in.
Swimming Lessons
Let’s get the most obvious way to build confidence out of the way which is taking swimming lessons. Like with most things in life having an experienced person to guide you through makes it a lot easier, and swimming is no different, as a swim instructor is trained to provide you with all you need. Swim lessons cater for people of all ages and abilities meaning that no matter what stage of your swim journey you are at or what your ultimate goals are there is a level for you. Starting from the basics right up to training for competitions, swim lessons allow you to find your flow in the water, build confidence and stay motivated.
Start Shallow
A major fear for many regarding is water is the realisation that they can’t touch the bottom of the pool or stand in it, but that is driven by the fact that they are scared by not knowing what to do when they reach that point. While with some things people say “dive into the deep end headfirst” to face it, with swimming that is not a good idea at all. Whether you’re an adult or someone trying to build water confidence in a child, begin in the shallow end of the pool, maybe even the learner pool and get used to the feeling of the water around you, familiarise yourself with water, knowing you have the security of being able to stand or sit in the water. This is a brilliant way to expose yourself to water while reducing any stress you feel around it and over time you can move further into the deep end as you feel ready.
Learn the Basics
You don’t have to be thrown into the deep end of a pool to practice the basics of swimming as you can enhance your techniques above surface level too. For instance, once you know the strokes you can try perfecting them and your breathing method anywhere before taking them into the pool. Even in the pool you can practice them in the shallow end or get used to your kicking technique while holding onto the side of the pool or a float, these little elements are all crucial in boosting your confidence in the water. By perfecting the basics you’ll be able to swim in any level of water without difficulty, so no matter what stage of your swimming journey you’re at always take some time to ensure the small things are up to scratch which allow you to feel safe in the water.
Practice Regularly
Like everything in life practice makes perfect and that is the exact same in swimming or water confidence. By starting in the shallow end, learning the basic techniques, and more you can become more confident, but what will make a huge difference is practicing what you learn on a regular basis. If you are taking swim lessons, don’t just wait until your time slot every week to put what you’re learning into practice, head to the pool for a few lengths on other days, or go for a family swim over the weekend. Setting aside time for swimming will allow you to begin to feel comfortable in and build your water confidence in every visit as your abilities develop.
Aqua Aerobics
While you might not learn how to swim or various techniques, aqua aerobics is an amazing way to become comfortable and confident in the water, especially if you are an adult. Aqua Aerobics is a low impact fitness class that allows you to not only build your fitness levels and stay social but also improve your confidence in the water. Most aqua classes take place in the shallower end of the pool with your feet touching the bottom, meaning you don’t necessarily need to know how to swim or be a great swimmer to take part. This is just another way to increase your time in the water, improve your fitness, have fun, and take your confidence in the water to another level.
Key Takeaways
Those are our top five tips on how to build your confidence in the water ranging from lessons to aqua aerobics. While you don’t need to swim to spend time in the water, learning how to can be an excellent way to reduce any stress you might have around being in the water, and swimming is also an excellent way to increase cardio fitness, lose weight, build muscle, along with much more. It is also a life skill worth learning no matter what age you are as you could not only get yourself out of tricky situations by having confidence in the water but also have the ability to save others. While we’ve provided five tips for people of all ages and abilities on how to build confidence in the water, there are many more ways out there for you to find, so we encourage you to explore them to find what’s best for you to feel comfortable having a splash.
How Aura Leisure Can Help
At Aura Leisure, we pride ourselves on our incredible swim lessons which range from baby and tot’s lessons to children’s lessons to adult lessons. Our swim lessons cater for people of all ages and abilities allowing them to develop the key skills as well as knowledge needed to become confident in the water. While if you are someone looking to keep fit in our pools you can whether that’s by swimming lengths or with our aqua aerobics’ classes. Even better still, use of our pools are free for all Aura members as we help bring your water confidence to new heights.