Swimming Archives - Second Nature Swimming

Practice Makes Perfect – Beginner Tips!

Second Nature — Fri, 07 Jan 2022 11:53:43 +0000

Breathing Practice

In class we help you to understand ‘how’ to relax the breathing, and ‘how’ to utilise the best skills and techniques to make it feel effortless.

Practice being familiar with beneath the water surface. Look around, explore, make beneath the water your best friend. Ironically, the more your body is underwater, the more buoyant you are and comfortable you will feel too!

The reason YOU are buoyant, and also massive objects like boats and trees, are buoyant, is because they have air in and are also on top of water that is GREATER in volume. This is WHY you float in deep water and do not sink!

Relaxing your body will help you to effectively use your body to create the right shapes needed for strokes and floating positions. Therefore, if you can train your breathing to be relaxed, then the learn to swim process will be significantly easier.

Buoyancy Practice

In class, we learn how to float on the front and back, and then how to easily roll from your front onto your back. – This is the start of being able to survive in deep water! The SAS & RNLI Beach Lifeguards all promote this essential life-saving skill.

Enjoy feeling the water lift you up when you submerge your whole body beneath the surface. It is the beginning of gaining confidence in water when your body starts to feel supported by the water.

Mix up the practice by changing your body shape and varying the ways you get into a float, i.e. pushing from the wall or floor.

Balance Practice

In class we practice the see-saw concept – you will start to trust the water, and most importantly, trust yourself!

So, a great tip for understanding balance in the water is to visualise a see-saw – you know, the playground fun long thing where one person is going down and the opposite person is going up?! – your body works the same!

If you lift your head high out of the water, your legs will sink. We have to do the opposite in swimming in order to get the best balance possible – we have to really lean forwards into the water, and try to submerge as much of our shoulders as we can!

We appreciate this takes courage, and practice!

Palm and Forearm Practice – Your Human Paddles!

In class we look at EVERYTHING to do with your palms & forearms because these are your human paddles!!

Think, ‘Action vs Reaction’ – we want strong, controlled, slow movements to create strong, controlled swimming, right!

If your palms press the water backwards, your body will travel forwards. If you press your palms down, your body will go up. It sounds simple, but are you constantly aware of which direction your palms are facing when you swim? – If not, test it out! You will notice an immediate improvement!

If you ever have any questions which have not been answered in our content, please do get in contact with us and we will be happy to help!

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Avoid Broken Ankles or Limbs with a Simple Hack

Second Nature — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 15:25:45 +0000

What lies beneath…

Wild swimming – we love it – and it’s becoming more and more popular, but there’s one thing that’s barely ever spoken about that could avoid a lot of injuries.

Avoid broken ankles and limbs with this very simple top tip!

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What to do if you cramp in deep water

Second Nature — Sat, 18 Dec 2021 15:24:00 +0000

Crippling cramp in deep water

Muscle cramp happens when you least expect it and it can happen to anyone.

And when you’re in water – deep water for that matter – there’s nothing worse, whether it’s in your feet, your calf or a hamstring…

So if you do cramp up when you’re swimming in deep water, how do stop yourself from getting into difficulty?

This very quick video below gives a helpful tip on how to survive this crippling conundrem!

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Three Crucial Life Skills to Survive Deep Water

Second Nature — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 14:57:00 +0000

survive deep water with these 3 tips

FLOATING – we show you ‘why’ you float and ‘how’ to float
TREAD WATER – one of THE MOST important lifeskills you NEED to survive in deep water
SWIMMING ON THE BACK – so you can breathe and call for help. Also a safe option if you cannot touch the floor and are tired and/or have cramp.

Timestamp Breakdown:

0:12 – 0:29 Education on Floating

0:31 – 1:12 Demonstration of Floating in a Wetsuit in Deep Water – Balance and Technique

1:14 – 2:02 How to Tread Water. – You would use this technique when you cannot touch the floor. This might be in the sea / lake or deep pool

2:03 – 2:58 BAD TECHNIQUE demonstration that WILL make you loose balance and control in the water

2:59 – 3:57 Different Leg Techniques to learn Treading Water

3:59 – 4:55 Technique tips for floating and surviving on the back.

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How To Stop Water Going Up Your Nose When Swimming

Second Nature — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 14:08:00 +0000

Getting water up your nose when you’re swimming is frustrating and more often than not, it’s painful too…

But there is a simple solution!

Watch our quick video tutorial – in summary, it’s all about the breathing – relax, inhale through your mouth and exhale out through your nose, repeat!

The post How To Stop Water Going Up Your Nose When Swimming appeared first on Second Nature Swimming.

Wild Swimming Documentary Nails Big Wins

Second Nature — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 11:44:00 +0000

We were delighted to connect and support the production team at Ambanja Films with promoting their new documentary A Calmer Place about wild swimming – a subject very close to our hearts, it showcases the real, raw connection of being at one with nature and how it can change your life – if you were even half-considering learning how to swim, watch this and there will be no turning back!

A Calmer Place has gone on to win a number of awards on the festival circuit, including the Best Mental Health Short Film at the Cotswold International Film Festival and Award Winner at the Venice Shorts Film Awards.

An inspiring documentary put together by producer Michael Jackson and David Warren about a wild swimmer, Rob, who tells his story of how lockdown and the restrictions on his freedom affected his mental health. The mini documentary showcases the true impact of wild swimming and how it can literally change somebody’s life for the better…

Location: Lake District

ambanjafilms.co.uk

Filmed and Edited – David Warren
Sound – Bill Rudolph
Additional Camera – Jordan La Roche
Music – Michael Powell
Producer – Michael Jackson

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Official Partners of Henley Swim Festival 2021

Second Nature — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 11:07:00 +0000

Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th July 2021

We spent the weekend celebrating open water swimming, set in the most stunning location on the banks of the Thames just outside Henley.

With acres of space, delicious food and drink, music, entertainment and other activities, all hosted by BBC Sport Journalist Ben Croucher, this really was the perfect event for every swimming enthusiast. The large event village and stunning stretch of the river also allowed it to be a covid friendly environment.

There were a number of different distances to choose from. – From 200m to 4 miles!

Swim entry included access to the entire Outdoor Swimmer Henley Swim Festival for everyone, where you could experience live music, food and drink, exhibitors, equipment testing, endless pool, entertainment and whole day of fun by the river.

The festival welcomed over 1,200 outdoor swimmers to the event with many taking part in their first open water swimming event.

Being a Adventure Swimming Company, Second Nature provided an enhanced support offering for new swimmers to the open water swimming event.

Lockdown has seen a huge increase in open water swimming interest, the Trends in Outdoor Swimming Report documents a 1.5/2.0 increase.

Our partnership with Henley Swim Festival saw us offering guidance and we welcomed beginners for last minute advice and confidence building, in addition to tips for experienced swimmers.

We also provided swim buddies – socially distanced – in the water for swimmers who felt that would help them complete their distance.

Swimmers and their supporters enjoyed the atmospheric festival village for post swimming celebrations, information and advice.

There were retailers, food and drink outlets and plenty of space to picnic – as well as some celebrity swimming legends…

Read full coverage of the event by Endurance Biz

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Featured in the Birmingham Mail for Top Tuition

Second Nature — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 11:34:27 +0000

Second Nature were delighted to be featured in a recent article by the Birmingham Mail as one of the Best Places in Birmingham for Excellent Swimming Tuition.

The article read:

“Second Nature Swimming offers classes for adults and kids in Birmingham and Bromsgrove.

The instructors come from lifeguarding and open water swimming backgrounds and their priority is for you to be able to float, breathe correctly and comfortably, tread water and swim to safety comfortably without any buoyancy aids.

Instructors go in the water with learners to help build confidence and provide demonstrations…”

Read the full article here.

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