Swim Lesson 6: Less is more

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Attendance is dwindling at my Monday night swim lesson. I guess “the new” is wearing off as some people discover they are only in lust with “intermediate swimming” (and the Clissold Leisure Centre). Selfishly, I like this: fewer students means more attention from my instructor. This makes the class more of a lesson than a practice drill.

Last Monday, as I practiced the breaststroke, my instructor reminded me to bend my knees and bring my heels as close to my butt as possible: hard work but better form for faster swimming (I tend to forget this when I’m swimming alone, and do only a half-ass job of bending my legs). We then did the backstroke for a few laps, and he picked me out of everyone to demonstrate good form!

I’m learning how to get a good cardio workout from swimming. It seems obvious now that all it takes is a little concentration and a lot of hard kicking, but when I first started I couldn’t both kick hard and breath properly at the same time. It’s taken over a year to get to this point where I feel comfortable breathing, but that’s ok - I look forward to seeing where I’m at in another year’s time.

Related posts:

1. Swim Lesson 3: Brain versus body
2. Swim Lesson 5: A lesson in not swimming
3. Swim Lesson 2: Freestyle, baby
4. Swim Lesson 4: Breast stroke
5. Another year of swimming begins: Lesson 1

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