Can you swim?

catlover19 · Jul 22, 2007

I can swim, but not very well. I took swimming lessons when I was a kid, but since I couldn't dive properly I couldn't pass the one level. I like just playing around in the pool. I haven't gone swimming in like 3 years since I moved out of my parents house (who have a pool) but I am going there tonight and all day tomorrow so I will probably go in.

alwaysaangel · Jul 22, 2007

Originally Posted by arie85

By the way, do you think swimming makes you lose weight?

Or better just do a jogging at the street?

Swimming is supposed to be one of the best cardios there is. Not only does it work out more parts of your body than jogging - but its not as hard on your body as jogging is. Jogging can overtime hurt knee joints and hip joints. When swimming the water is supporting some of your weight and you aren't hitting all your weight with every stroke like you are with every step in jogging.

If you're near a pool swimming laps is an EXCELLENT option for weight loss. I know some runners who can't do it because they don't get the same "high" that they get from running. But if you run for weight loss and not the love of that high - then swimming is for you!

I swim regularly. (to answer the OPs original question I learned when I was young and am an ok swimmer) I danced in high school and have a bad hip and a bad knee (on opposite sides). Everytime I used to try to job I would end up going down after 30 min or so. I got sick of falling on my face.

I have been away from pools for a bit but soon I plan to start again - then I hope to get SCUBA certified with my best friend.

cococat · Jul 22, 2007

I have been able to swim from a very young age, at 7 I saved someone from drowning (another child, older than me).
It just hit me how much I do swim, my outdoor life would be limited if I had never learned how to swim. My husband almost got sucked in by the ocean as a child and was scared for awhile, but now has no problems with the ocean that he is an adult.

cococat · Jul 22, 2007

Originally Posted by arie85

By the way, do you think swimming makes you lose weight?

Yes it does and it is low impact.

tnkittymom · Jul 22, 2007

Yes, I can swim, but am not the best at holding my breath under water. I always had a problem with that when I took swimming lessons (I was around 5 or 6yrs old). I'm better at it now, but not for very long.

graciecat · Jul 22, 2007

Originally Posted by arie85

But you're taking a shower every day, and drink water, and I hope I don't touch a soft-spot but you shouldn't be afraid of water, you can practice on this fear and feel much better afterwards, and I can give you an example... when I was a a kid I was afraid of dogs so much but after a few years I managed to get over it by starting with petting dogs yada yada and now I'm feeling much more better with this... although the latest events happened to my kitty

I don't feel like talking about it because some dogs killed her and it was exactly on the same day I took the 1st pic of her and that's why I don't feel like putting new photos here, so if I'm touching a soft-spot likewise please forgive me.

That's okay, it's not a soft spot I just avoid it

Well, yes I do take a shower everyday and I do drink water.
But to me it's a whole different ball game.
There's no undertow in the shower that's going to drag me out and there aren't any kids in the shower with me that are going to hold me under the water...and NO that's never happened to me.

As for your past fear of dogs, I can understand that one.
When I was 5 or 6 a German Shepard attacked me and to this day I won't go near a big dog...even my Sisters two little ones kind of freak me out.

I'm scared of a lot of things, but that's a whole other topic

starryeyedtiger · Jul 22, 2007

Of course!

I swam competitively when i was young all the way up until i graduated high school. I had a scholarship for one school's swim team, but didn't take it as it was in another state

I LOVE to swim. Colin is a huge swimmer too- he swam in high school as well and also was in the Navy for 8 years.

anyone want to guess what sport our kids will be given the opportunity to try??????????

Our kiddos will learn to swim when they're babies if at all possible and we plan to teach them how to roll onto their backs /etc if they're ever in trouble. Living in the South-there are swimming pools everywhere so it's best to be safe and learn early

We're big swimmers around this house!

It's also REALLY good for your body and joints!

How funny is this thread though- i just bought 2 bathing suites tonight

backstroke is my best stroke, butterfly is my favorite one. freestyle- i love because it's GREAT for cardio.

breaststroke....i avoid like the plague

it's always been my worst stroke

frisk · Jul 22, 2007

I can't swim, but not really well.

carolpetunia · Jul 22, 2007

When I was 10, we moved to Washington DC and had to live in an apartment for awhile because housing was so tight. The apartment had a pool, so every morning during that summer, I walked down there and tried to teach myself to swim.

I would stand with my back against one wall of the pool where the water was chest-high, take a deep breath, and shove off with my feet, flailing my arms as fast as I could until I lost momentum.

On some level, I understood that I was not actually swimming, of course. But I kept at it, and by the end of summer, I could get across the full width of the pool without touching bottom.

So does that count?

arie85 · Jul 22, 2007

Originally Posted by Graciecat

That's okay, it's not a soft spot I just avoid it

Well, yes I do take a shower everyday and I do drink water.
But to me it's a whole different ball game.
There's no undertow in the shower that's going to drag me out and there aren't any kids in the shower with me that are going to hold me under the water...and NO that's never happened to me.

As for your past fear of dogs, I can understand that one.
When I was 5 or 6 a German Shepard attacked me and to this day I won't go near a big dog...even my Sisters two little ones kind of freak me out.

I'm scared of a lot of things, but that's a whole other topic

It's really a whole other topic but interesting one I guess. Thanks for sharing.

white cat lover · Jul 22, 2007

I can swim. Because my dad never learned how(ironic, he lived on a lake

) he wanted to be sure we all knew how. One of my dad's uncle never learned to swim & he drowned fairly young.

zissou'smom · Jul 22, 2007

Like a fish. As a kid I always imagined I was a mermaid, and it wasn't hard because I was in the water full-time (dawn to dusk, most days). I quit swim team before middle school, but I still love it.

I can't remember not being able to swim, I think I started lessons at 2 or 3. I'm not too great at any stroke anymore, but I can't understand not being able to swim... do you guys just not live near water, or?

I guess it is scary though, one of my friends almost drowned once playing sharks and minnows and her dad had to jump in and get her off the bottom (15 or 20 feet deep) and I remember going off the 50-ft diving board actually hurt when you hit the water.

But hey, if you want a pool party where we all where water wings I'll sure come!

Moz · Jul 22, 2007

Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

I can't remember not being able to swim, I think I started lessons at 2 or 3. I'm not too great at any stroke anymore, but I can't understand not being able to swim... do you guys just not live near water, or?

When I was a toddler I had a near-drowning incident at a lake so that made me afraid of water. And I don't live near any large water sources. The nearest lake is less than 20 minutes away but it's full of algae and nobody swims in it.

sharky · Jul 22, 2007

I was in drown proof lessons at age 6 months

then real classes starting at age 3-4

natalie_ca · Jul 22, 2007

Originally Posted by Liza24

wow! what happened to that person that pushed you in? if it were my parents or me and someone did that to my kid, off to jail you go!!! now wonder you feel that way, im sorry she did that to you!!!

Sadly I don't think anything happened to her. Not even sure she lost her job or not. I thing I was about 10 or 11 years old and this was back in 1972 or 1973. The times were vastly different than they are now.

I do know that if something like that happened today, it would have been all over the news, probably national, and she not only would have been fired, but would have been arrested and charged with something like attempted manslaughter or at the very least reckless endagerment.

I have often thought about trying to find out her name and confront her about what she did. I don't know if she was someone who worked with the school/school division, or if she was employed by the Pool.

sarahp · Jul 22, 2007

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Not very well, and here is why (pasted from another post I made in another thread)

I had a horrid experience during swimming lessons when I was in grade 5. I don't know how it is where you live, but here, at least at that time, swimming lessons were part of our grade school education in grade 5.

I had never had swimming lessons before so they didn't know where to put me. They tried me in pre-beginners but I seemed to be more advanced, so they kept moving me up until I found myself in "intermediate" and on the otherside of the walkway in the deep end... 18 feet deep!

Things were going well, and I was even jumping off the platform and mid height diving boards, and I could swim 5 lengths of the pool.

However, to graduate from the class and advance to the next you had to tread water for 20 minutes. Something I never learned to do and wasn't taught in intermediate class. It was assumed that you were in that class and you should know how to do it from an earlier class.

Everytime I tried to tread water I sunk like a stone. I tried staying near the edge and sticking my toe in a hole in the wall, but the swim instructor noticed and kept telling me to get away from the wall. When I did, I sunk. So finally after I refused to leave the side of the pool she ordered me out of the pool and told me to go to the change room.

I was more than eager to do that!!!

I got out of the pool and my parents had taught me to never walk across someone's path, so I went to walk around behind her. She stepped back and blocked my way which forced me to walk in front of her.

As soon as I was in front of her she pushed me really hard and I went flying into the pool. I didn't even have a chance to catch my breath. I was quite gangly back then and weighed next to nothing, so when she pushed me I flew several feet.

All I can remember is struggling to get to the surface and seeing the lights all distorted above me and desperately needing to breathe. But each time I tried to get to the top, I went further down.

I remember finally taking a breath and how much it hurt, but that the second breath I took didn't hurt at all.

The next thing I remember is throwing up in some guys face. I spent almost 3 weeks in the hospital.

I've been afraid of water ever since. I prefer showers to baths. Water running over my face, causes me to panic even if it's water from the shower or rain. I have to use a wet cloth to wash my face because I can't splash water over my nose or mouth.

I have been swimming since, but only in water that is maybe waist high (any higher and I start to panic), and I float and can swim the front stroke or the back stroke and do the dog paddle, provided that my face remains out of the water...and so long as my feet touch the bottom if I stop swimming.

That's amazing that someone could be so irresponsible!!!! Definitely an incident that would traumatise anyone for life

I've always been a water baby. We had a pool at my first house, and we moved when I was 5 and could swim fine on my own at that stage. We were always at the beach where my gran lived, and so I got comfortable with both pool and surf from a very young age.

I plan to put our baby in swim lessons as soon as he's old enough.

DH never learnt to swim, and can keep himself above water and did stroke correction as an adult which helped, but isn't very confident in water.

lemur 6 · Jul 23, 2007

I can swim confidently as long as the water is shallow enough for me to poke my head out of. I sink like a rock if I stop moving... treading water is a real challenge for me, even in salt water where you're supposed to be more buoyant. I do venture out onto the deep side of the pool occasionally, but most of it will be spent on the bottom looking up, or clinging to the side of the pool, and to get back up to the surface I jump from the bottom and scramble to get a hold of something along the wall, or just walk/swim/crawl toward the more shallow end.

Swimming burns calories like nothing else out there. It doesn't give you a gym body, but it does make give you that lithe body.

goldenkitty45 · Jul 23, 2007

My mom can't really swim well but she took me and my sister to swim lessons when were about 5-6 yrs old to the YWCA.

I love swimming.

danimarie · Jul 23, 2007

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Sadly I don't think anything happened to her. Not even sure she lost her job or not. I thing I was about 10 or 11 years old and this was back in 1972 or 1973. The times were vastly different than they are now.

I do know that if something like that happened today, it would have been all over the news, probably national, and she not only would have been fired, but would have been arrested and charged with something like attempted manslaughter or at the very least reckless endagerment.

I have often thought about trying to find out her name and confront her about what she did. I don't know if she was someone who worked with the school/school division, or if she was employed by the Pool.

If it were me, I would find out where she is and confront her. It may give you a lot of closure. That entire situation is just terrible and I can't imagine going through something like that without ever getting an apology from who perpetuated it all!!!!!!!

Here's a :hug: for you!

bnwalker2 · Jul 23, 2007

I've never learned how to swim. When I was 8-ish, a church canoeing trip went wrong and ended with me underwater in the river. To be honest, I did actually manage to swim in that case, don't know if it was some kind of weird instinct/adrenilene (sp?) thing, but it traumatized me enough to the point that I can't really go in the water now. John finally convinced me to get in a canoe with him last year and I panicked for the first half of the trip but it was actually kind of fun. But I still can't get in the actual water.

Can you swim?

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