Adult wants to learn how to swim without embarrassment

[Anonymous]

Hey OP - I am a great swimmer and occasionally used to swim at the DC YMCA where adults - that did not know how to swim - were getting lessons. I mean, learning how to put their face in the water.

I’ll say it once and for almost everyone: there is literally nothing I admire more than someone who doesn’t know how to do something try to do it. When I swim next to you, all I think is how you are f’ing brave and strong and I don’t know if I could do the same thing if the tables were turned. No, take that back, I’m pretty sure I might not have the courage. You’re awesome.

Also, you can totally learn how to be safe and self sufficient in a month of lessons. Will you be able to swim really well? No, of course not.
Will you be able to join your family? YES.

[Anonymous]

Try Swim Labs. They do private lessons. My kids learned there in California and got a lot out of it. Small almost individual pools and they reach adults. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Hi OP

It's cool you're interested in swimming with the family.

My own spouse and their family never really learned how to swim but they still like to wade in the water with the kids and enjoy going to the pool. So you don't HAVE to learn how to swim and why I say it's cool you're trying to learn.

As others mentioned, various schools(community colleges) and rec centers offer adult swim classes. It was kind of funny because my spouse and their sibling recently found out that they both took those type of classes a while back.

And it's kind of like going to the gym. Try not to be too self conscious about it. Most people are either minding their own business or they'll be encouraging. You might get a prick once in a while but I can think of very few cases of them.

Also just my own opinion, I'd work on being comfortable in the water before taking any classes to be able to get the most out of a class. ie being comfortable in putting your head/face in the water by dunking yourself in. And maybe practice with a paddle/kick board going up and down the pool. And if you want to progress further on your own there are a lot of videos on youtube on swimming techniques. You'll probably want to start with the front crawl like this video(I didn't actually watch it and just copy and pasted the first video that came up):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQy_c30lNjI

I'm not a strong swimmer myself and probably have terrible form. So sometimes I do think that the lifeguards probably think that I look funny trying to go across a pool. But whenever I look over it doesn't look like they seem to care. And I also try to make sure that I don't get in anyone's way in the lanes.

Oh and by the way, I think just the fact that they have a lot of videos like the above, shows that there are a lot of adults out there who are trying to learn to swim. So like I said don't worry too much/be too self conscious about it.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Agree with the PP, you don’t have to learn to swim to enjoy the pool with your family. Most lessons will teach you strokes, but unless your end goal is swimming laps, you don’t need lessons to enjoy the water with your family.

Our summer pool is mostly 5 feet or less (unless you’re going into the diving well.) So you can likely stand or use a noodle if you want some assistance staying afloat.

[Anonymous]

Serious swimmer here and I want to say please don't be embarrassed. I've never, ever seen anyone judge an adult taking swim lessons. I'm not local but they my pool runs adult lessons during lap swim and it is just part of regular pool life. Everyone has different opportunities and reasons for not learning to swim when they're younger, but swimmers are united by a shared joy of being in the water. There is room for everyone and I'm excited for you to become a swimmer.

In the meantime, you can spend most of your time in the shallow end as others said, and once you start lessons, you will learn more quickly than children. My dear friend was quite afraid of water but learned in less than a few months as an adult.

[Anonymous]

Check out WeAcquatics. They offer private lessons to adults, as well as children.