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2020/01/05 – Pool Comfort II, Session 1 of 4
During this series we will combine skills from Pool Comfort I to then approach the Deep End of the pool.
By the end, I hope we can achieve the Self Rescue Kata, which is composed of all rehearsed skills.
Now that you are more comfortable with surface of the water, it’s time to explore beneath the buoyancy line. Using shape, gravity and momentum, the body can easily and smoothly travel below the ideal buoyancy point. But the body doesn’t like to stay there for long. After the applied physics dissipates, the water will insist on bringing the body back to balance. With a streamline dive, we will explore how the body can slide back up smoothly and efficiently with the right frame and timing.
Lesson Notes
Streamline Wave Drill
Tucking the head between the arms. The arms, head and shoulders become one unit, an extension of the torso. The hands are the tip of your vessel, connected to the tail of your toes. Imagine sliding in through a narrow tube.
- Streamline Dive from standing
- Streamline Dive from wall with push-off
- Weighted Superman (Facing towards the Deep End)
The movement is like a wave lead by the hands to then sequentially flow through the rest of the frame. The compression drives forward in the following order
- Hands
- Head and shoulders
- Chest
- Torso
- Thighs
- Knees
- Feet
Streamline Wave Focal Points
- Narrow, slim frame
- Head tucked
- Arms and shoulders connected to frame
- Aim the arms down toward desired pathway
- Compress the chest down
- Curve down, while momentum and gravity drive body down
- Feel the moment between down trajectory and buoyancy lift
- Curve up once you feel the lift
Air Management at Greater Depth
At the greatest depth that is both available to you and at the edge of your comfort, and rehearse the following activities.
- Holding Breath
- Exhale Air
- Switch between Hold and Exhale
Since the pool you practice in does not have a depth greater than 5’5″, you are welcome to come early or stay later after our sessions to do any depth related practice activities.
As you found in practice, the body does not like to stay down. Using a weighted object positioned near the pelvis in a seated position will help you remain under longer. If the weight is not enough to hold you stable, flapping arms in an upward motion will help you stay under. Conversely, slapping arm downward, will speed up your movement upward.
Weighted Objects
When at Mittleman Jewish Community Center, you may use the diving brick for related activities. Ask a lifeguard to use it and they can retrieve it for you. If the pool you practice at does not have a weighted object to use, you could either find a clean water safe object between 10 to 15 lbs or make your own. Remember whatever materials you use are safe in water and can be exposed to chlorine. Suggestions: Using a plastic jug or bucket, fill with either sand, clean stones, or glass beads. Drill holes big enough to allow air to escape but not lose contents (Skip step if using sand).
Dryland Exercises
The pieces from this lesson will lead intro factors that contribute to your ease of breath during your various strokes. In addition to the practice material, I recommend doing some dryland exercises to relax and tune into the neck and upper back. Being able to allow the neck and shoulders to rest, will give you greater mobility and control over access to air.
A basic search on Youtube will provide a number of good videos on neck stretches for pain, tension and stress relief.
2020/01/12 – Pool Comfort II, Session 2 of 4
It’s one thing to look at the Deep End from a distance, another to have the skills to approach it. Our second lesson used our previously explored sensation of compression and lift to then feel more at ease with activities that allow us to face and address the Deep End more closely.
For each of the activities and skills, rehearse in the shallow end. Once you feel confident in the task, then increase the depth by a couple feet at a time. At this time, remain on the shallow side of the midline (Less than 6 feet).
Safety Measures
When practicing alone, make sure to stay in an area you feel comfortable self rescuing or stabilizing. For your personal safety, wait until you are in a pool with a lifeguard or have a companion present to explore areas of greater discomfort, depth and relatively new skills. It can provide additional comfort to introduce yourself to the lifeguard and explain what you will be doing, so they can keep a closer eye for any signs of distress you may experience. Practice in the lane closest to the lifeguards’ location as well.
Weighted Objects (Increased Depth)
If you are making a weighted object at home (a jug or bucket), I recommend tying a looped rope through the handle. When in the water, it should float up and make it easier for you to retrieve from the bottom.
Air Management at Greater Depth
Warm up with Air Management Drills from previous lesson. Start at a depth you can securely touch the ground, face the Deep End. Sit on the ground using a weighted object to anchor you, but easily release when ready to resurface.
Continue to explore holding breath, exhaling completely, and switching between holding and exhaling.
Additional Air Management Focal Points
- Observe other swimmers in the water
- Notice what you hear or don’t hear
- Feel for any changes in pressure between different depths
- Note how the body resists sitting on the ground
- Explore how you can better position yourself to remain stable
Balance (Increased Depth)
Starting from where you can securely touch with your feet, face the Deep End of the pool
- Superman Float with the weighted object suspended up in front, sliding downward
- Superman with Pool Noodle under palms, floating at the surface
Balance Focal Points
- Notice what parts of your body lift or resist sinking
- Notice what parts of your body feel sink or are difficult to lift
- Listen for the falling of the body, the pressure and resists against your vessel to travel that depth
- Listen for the lift of the body as you release the weighted object or how the body lifts and rests on the water with the noodle.
Repeat body map relaxation through the body once you are familiar with the activity and task.
Safety Bobs
Safety Bobs are a great way to self rescue when in water a 1-2 feet over the head. By sinking on purpose in a narrow form, the feet can make contact with the ground, to then apply force and jump towards the surface. Once you breach the surface you can take a quick breath, call for help, or see where the wall is. You can repeat this action, leaning towards either the wall or shallow end, in effect jumping towards the wall, or repeat to breath until help arrives.
Besides a relatively shallow water self rescue technique, this skill also explores the physics between gravity and buoyancy, and the ideal time to work with these forces. With your personal body density and gravity you can force the body down. The greater portion of your body mass above the surface when dropped the quicker and farther the body will slide down. Hence the higher the height, the deeper you can dive. Gradually that force will dissipate as the water slows the trajectory and both the pressure zone and the buoyancy ideal point start to press the body back up towards a neutral zone. If you try to move the body during this downward force, you’ll be using a lot of energy. However, if you can sense the body slowing down, there is a brief moment before the body starts to lift back upward neutral. At this moment, compress the knees and press the ground like a jump, and shoot up like a rocket towards the surface.
As you follow the acclimating safety bobs at the wall, listen for these forces. Ultimately, an active swimmer, whether for fitness or leisure, is working between these two forces throughout their stroke. Feeling at ease with this tug and pull effect will enable to to start working with them rather than against them to achieve your aquatic comfort and goals.
Safety Bob Drills
- 2 hands on the wall
- 2 hand hovering on the wall
- 2 palms slide down the wall
(Facing the Deep End)
- 1 hand on the wall
- 1 hand hovering on the wall
- 1 palm slide down the wall
Safety Bob and Quick Breath
This activity is a two bob sequence. The first jump sets you up for a quick breath before the next bob. As you get more comfortable with this skill, you can repeat it as many times in a row as you like. But first, you will need to rehearse getting that quick sip of air without taking in water and also exhaling your C02 build up before coming to the surface.
- Bob 1, Clear the head, mouth closed (no breath), Bob 2
- Bob 1, clear the head, mouth open (not breath), Bob 2
- Bob 1, clear the head, open mouth for a quick sip of air, Bob 2
- Bob 1, exhale under water, clear the head, open mouth for a quick sip of air, Bob 2 (repeat Bob 1 exhale)
Besides the self rescue safety bobs skills, and the forces exploration, you can look towards the Deep End continuing to familiarize yourself with the view and environment.
Modifications for Shallow Pool Practice
If you are practicing in a pool that does not have a depth greater than 5’5″, then you’ll need to make some slight body mechanic modification to get a similar effect.
Air Management and Weighted Objects
Use the time in a shallower pool, to explore your lung capacity and control over the exhale/hold exchange. Spend time being mindful of your discomfort and see if you can sit with it just a little longer before responding to surfacing.
Balance Activities
Use the time in the shallower pool to zero in on relaxation and calm while in Balance Activities (ie. beach ball, toe touch, superman, streamline, back float, interrupted breathing). Besides conscious discomfort, look for signs of tension and air restriction. These are subconscious signals from the nervous system of discomfort.
For Safety Bobs
Jump high enough that your feet briefly leave contact with the ground. When your feet come back into contact with the ground, instead of a slight knee bend, you might do a deeper squat or seated like posture to absorb the impact before pushing up.
Finally, you are of course welcome to come early before our session or stay later after our session to utilize the deeper pool environment for more complex deep water exploration.
2020/01/19 – Pool Comfort II, Session 3 of 4
Our third lesson uses all the combined skills we’ve worked on so far to ready for the Self Rescue Kata.
Take a preview of the full Self Rescue Kata in this demo video. When we come together next week we’ll build up to this kata, including falling in.
This lesson, as we simulated a falling sensation, you did marvelously. You remained calm, found stability easily, and held composure as the difficulty increased. In preparation for the next lesson, keep practicing your swimming/interrupted breathing sequence and also playing with the falling in/instability sensation that you can recreate safely in the pool your are practicing in.
It may not be safe, just yet, to practice the full material from our recent lesson by yourself. Until you feel more confident in the environment and with you skills, I recommend waiting to do any safety bobs in depths greater than 8 feet until you have a partner with you.
That being said, if you do feel confident and comfortable with your skills and would like to practice in a deeper pool, perhaps consider getting a couple passes to a public pool near you. Typically they are under $8 for an adult. Open/Public swim times can work or if they have a light lap swim hour. Often their office will know what pool traffic is like.
Below I’ve listed activities you can do to keep developing your new skills according to which environment you are practicing in.
Shallow Pool Practice
- Air Management practice with a weighted object
- Pretend to fall and disorientate in the pool to then recover
- Self Rescue Kata Routine (Simulated fall, Recover, Interrupted Breathing, Swim, repeat)
- Play, explore, be curious (getting in touch with the inner kid who didn’t want to get out of the pool)
Deep Pool Practice
- Shallow Pool Practice Activities…
- Safety Bobs (Solo practice – between 4 to 6 feet deep)
- Safety Bobs (With a buddy – between 6 to 9 feet deep)
- Swim with Interrupted Breathing to as deep as you are comfortable
Looking forward to next week.
Happy practicing!
2020/01/26 – Pool Comfort II, Session 4 of 4
Well done, Bruce! I am so proud of you and what you’ve accomplished in such a short time.
In our fourth and final lesson of Pool Comfort II, we combined all skills acquired for the final Self Rescue Kata.
All those skills are still fresh and new. As you experienced, your mind and body might not be able to start at the last place you left off. Until you have fully relaxed into your new skills and comfort, you will require a warm-up period before trying the full extent of these skills.
I encourage you to continue practicing faithfully and patiently. During this initial phase, if you take a long absence from practice you will see a regression from your last comfort zone. Not to worry, you have the notes and knowledge of progression to work back up to your desired comfort level.
When you look ahead at the things you want to try in the water and are daunted by the task or environment, remember you’ve done it and can do it. You simply need to remind your nervous system of what it’s now capable of.
Because most of our final lesson was a compilation of previous skills, I have outlined the process by which you can rehearse any of the skills involved in jumping into deep waters, recovering and coming to stability to either swim, or find safety or help.
Elemental Skills of Entering
When you look at entering the water with either unintentional or intentional momentum, you may only see the deep and imagine the falling sensation. However there are several elements which contribute to the action and the sensations involved. Here are the primary features and the skills we used to explore them…
1. What to expect when beneath the surface
- Air Management with brick sit on the ground, Safety Bobs with ground contact, Safety Bobs without contact.
2. The many ways to enter the water
- Stand and fall, Stool and fall, Sit on deck and fall, Kneel/Squat on deck and fall, Stand on deck and Pencil Jump, Standing on deck and Seated Jump, Standing on deck and front fall, Lean on edge and back fall
3. How to recover and reach the surface
- Listen for slowed momentum, Float to surface, Push off ground, Swim towards surface
4. How to stabilize and get to air
- Superman to Streamline to Interrupted Breathing Position
5. Getting help or to Safety
- Interrupted Breathing to call for help, Back float paddle to side of pool, Front stroke paddle to side of the pool
Each one of these activities and skills were a rehearsal for the nervous system, to know what to expect and acclimate accordingly. Instead of being overwhelmed by all the elements of falling in the water, you nervous system and mind was relaxed and prepared.
Beneath the Surface
As you found, the Safety Bob can be both useful and fun. We explored the skill to not only rehearse a Safety Bob self rescue, but to also simulate the trajectory of falling below the surface and when that momentum slows what to do next.
In the case where the feet make contact with the ground, you soften the knees to absorb the impact and then press down with force to shoot up towards the surface. See previous lesson for full notes on exploring Safety Bobs at a depth greater than your height to make contact with the ground.
Should you not make contact with the ground or the surfaces is farther than your push up allowed for, then you can stroke upwards to aid the slow rise to the surface. Long, controlled arm movements are more effective than small, quick movements.
- Grab the water with the hands, forearms and undersides of the biceps to press firmly down to your sides and repeat, kicking to aid the motion. All the while you can either hold your breath or slowly exhale air as you travel towards the surface.
To practice no contact with the ground and swimming to surface, start at a depth you can touch from standing. Start a Bob from the surface, but instead of straight legs, bend you knees. Listen for the down ward motion to slow, then erect the body towards the surface and begin arm and leg movements upward.
When you can confidently and comfortably reach the surface without the aid of the ground and can reach the wall, increase the depth incrementally
Entering the Water.
A person can voluntarily jump into the water any number of ways. The most common and controlled will be either a ‘Pencil Dive’ or a ‘Seated Jump.’
- ‘Pencil Dive’ is for jumping from ground level into water that is deeper than you are tall, to reach the greatest depth. Legs are straight and narrow, arms are either together above the head or straight to the sides.
- ‘Seated Jump’ is for jumping from a high surface, when you can’t determine the depth, can’t see the bottom, or in a depth that is less than your height. This position will slow the momentum. After jumping and before making contact with the water, bend the knees into an upright seated position. The thigh and knees should be perpendicular to each other, the thighs parallel with the surface of the water. Remain seated as you enter the water and until the downward trajectory slows.
When in doubt, do a ‘Seated Jump.’
During an Involuntary Entry, there isn’t much control over where you fall or how you fall. Whenever possible, tuck the head and limbs to avoid hitting objects. For the purpose of practice, you may need to fall sideways to avoid lane lines and always push out from the wall. Also, make sure the area is clear to avoid jumping onto something or someone.
To warm up to the falling sensation we rehearsed in the following order…
- Standing in 3 feet of water, falling forward to recover
- Standing on a stool at 4 feet and falling forward to recover
- Standing on a stool at 5 feet and falling forward to recover
- Standing on stool at 6 feet and falling forward towards Deep End to recover
From here you increased the complexity of recovery.
- Fall, Stabilize in Superman, flip to Interrupted Breathing and paddle to wall
- Fall, Stabilize to Superman, flip to Interrupted Breathing, then to Superman to swim to wall
- Repeat above, but add two Interrupted Breathing and two strokes
- Repeat in adding intervals of Interrupted Breathing and Strokes to travel to the far end of the pool
- Repeat above, travel to a flotation device
Now that your are prepared for what is to come after the jump/fall, we built up to the out of water falling sensations.
- Sit on deck, fall forward in
- Kneel or squat on deck, fall forward in
- Pencil Dive
- Seated Jump
- Standing fall forward
- Lean on edge, fall backwards
The backward fall, isn’t necessary at first. As for mentioned, when in a real life situation, we don’t get to choose how we fall in the water. But this is sensation you can revisit later, when you are more comfortable with back float and back submersion.
Finally, we combined the full falling motions with the recovery skills.
- Falling in to recover and paddle to the end of the pool.
- Falling in to recover and paddle a flotation device.
How to Practice Moving Forward
When trying something relatively new or personally challenging, it can be helpful to have a companion present. Depending on your comfort level, the person can be actively engage with your activity or passively in the same area. Either way, for both safety and comfort you may like to bring a partner on days you are traveling into the Deep End for deep Safety Bobs or Jumps/Falls related skills.
Though you have officially passed Pool Comfort I and II, you still need to practice. If you don’t use it, you lose it. I encourage you, for now, to make going to the pool a part of your regular routine. You may also consider getting a pass to a public pool with a Deep End, and revisiting the Deep End related skills once or twice a month until they come to you easily and naturally.
Although you have a great many new skills, remember to explore with care and caution. Even the most experienced swimmer can get into unsafe situations. There is no need or pressure to go and do anything that makes you feel unsafe. Also always be mindful of your environment and what you are ready for that day. Your Pool Comfort is new and tender, treat it with love and gentleness as it continues to grow.
It was an absolute pleasure working with you. Thank you for partnering with me and allowing me to share in your journey.
Warmest regards,
Coach Jamee
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