First Day of Swim Class!

As I mentioned in my "First Blog Ever!" post, I am taking swimming lessons at Medger Evers College. The week before my first class I finally received my swimming gear from the SwimOutlet! As I mentioned before I got a discounted $25 "Grab Bag" TYR swimsuit and here it is!!

Day 1 of my journey to be swimming champion of the world!!!
Or just a regular recreational swimmer...I open to anything

I love it! It is nice and supportive and doesn't give me wedgies!! Major plus there! The swim cap is awesome and the goggles are so legit I feel like they are sucking my eyeballs out! I need to talk to my swimming instructor next class to help me adjusting them, because they feel a bit tight. But on the bright side, absolutely no water leaks through!

On Saturday morning, September 3rd, I took my first swim lesson and it was fantastic!

I was very pleased to find out that my class is literally across the street from my apartment at the High School! I had originally thought it was a couple of blocks away at the college so it was a good thing that I checked the address! When I got there and checked in with security, he gave me directions on how to get to the pool. Unfortunately for me, he said something like:

"You are going to go down this hall, take a right at the vending machine and then a left and then there are some stairs and then take another right, I mean left and it should be right there."

So naturally I got lost and found myself in a deserted corridor that was undergoing some renovations. There were paint cans and ladders everywhere. I tried to retrace my steps and got lost again! Luckily I found a super friendly custodian who walked me to the swimming pool. Super nice guy!! Thanks a bunch Mister!!!

I got into the locker room, checked in with the staff in the pool office, and took off my sweats (my swimsuit was already on underneath) and showered before heading out to the pool. Now when I was younger I never understood why I had to shower BEFORE getting into the pool. It didn't make sense to me at all. I was getting into a pool of water, whats the point? I am getting wet anyways. Well here is the thing: I know most people don't think that they are gross, but just know that you are! There are a bunch of dead skin cells and hair and dirt on you that if you don't shower off before jumping in the pool, all of that grossness gets in the pool. And if EVERYONE does that, that is a lot of nasty ass stuff floating around in the pool (which is also why swim caps are required). Also, by showering, it reduces the risk of waterborne illnesses that can spread to the swimmers. And fun fact, if your pool does NOT have a strong chemical smell, you have a healthy and clean pool. Who knew? And I don't feel like I need to say it, but don't pee in the pool.

My Classmates

I am in the class with two other ladies. One gal is my age (late 20's - early 30's), we will call her Lucy, and the other lady is in her 40's, we can call her Debbie. As we were waiting for the instructor to come out and start class, we talked about our swimming experience. As I mentioned before, I know how to swim but I want to learn technique of the different strokes and how to breathe while swimming. Lucy said she gets the mechanics of swimming, but has never actually learned how to swim. Debbie informed us that this was her 3rd time taking the Beginners Swim Class and she is still very nervous about swimming.

Our instructor, Charles, came out and introduced himself. He said that in order to swim we have to be confident, relax, and to ALWAYS breathe out through our nose. If we are tense, we wont be able to float. And if we don't breathe out through the nose when our face hits the water, water will shoot up the nose and burn. And nobody enjoys that feeling! He then led us through some exercises so he could see where we all stood in our swimming skills.

Swim Exercises

Bobs

He then demonstrated a very basic, but helpful exercise that we will do to start every class. Bobbing is where we would duck our heads under water and breathe out through our noses and then come back up for air. He wanted us to make this as natural as breathing on land and to not think of it as holding our breath, so he coached us to hum while breathing out and come back up for air when needed. It was helpful to think of it in this way, because how are you going to swim laps if you are holding your breath the whole time? You don't hold your breath when running!

Gliding

Gliding is when you push off the wall with your feet and breathe out through your nose as you glide as far as you can go without kicking or swimming the arms. I learned that there is no need to lift your head up to see where you are going. If you have goggles on, just look down at the pool floor and the lines at the bottom will tell you if you are going the right direction. Plus if your head is up, it makes it hard to cut across the water and makes you slower.

Kicking

We practiced kicking while holding on to the edge of the pool. It is important to not to try to kick the entire leg. Just little flutters with the leg from the knees down. Keep ankles loose! We added this on to our gliding.

Arms in Freestyle Stroke

And finally, we added the arms in the freestyle stroke. Our instructor told us to keep our elbows up when we are bringing the arms forward and to pull the water back when we are moving the arms back. He took videos of us in this last exercise so we can see what we look like and so he can analyze it and give us pointers and exercises for the next class. I haven't quite mastered the technique of this stroke in the video below. You can see that I am a little too far under the surface of the water and it is better to swim on top of the water. Also you can see that I never come up for air. Oops! But we are going to go over how to breathe in the Freestyle Stroke this weekend.

Look at me go!!! My Grandma said I could be the next Esther Williams. I'm going to have to agree with her! :)

So that was my first day! I had a blast and was super tired after the hour long class. I can't wait for this weekend and to see what new skills I learn!!

I am Ashley Jones and I approve this message!