2021 10 Pool Comfort

Currently our Pool Comfort and New Swimmer Course is under construction. Normally our notes are not so lengthy. If you don’t want to read the explanations at this time, scroll down to the Lesson Reviews and Practice Plans  of each topic for notes to take into your solo practice sessions.

2021/10/06 Lesson 1: Introduction to Adult Aquatic Play, Air Management and Balance Basic

Introduction to Pool Comfort/New Swimmer

Welcome to Pool Comfort!

In our first lesson we explored the initial building blocks for aquatic activities, Air Management, Balance and Play. Each activity we do will aim to…

1. Build dialogue between you and your holistic body
2. Define your proprioception in the aquatic environment
3. Relax the Mind and Body
4. Shape Body Structure
5. Incorporate Air Management Skills

As we progress your list of passive and active details and skills will grow. To best incorporate these skills and not overwhelm the system, we use drills and cues. I will give you a drill (a shape or activity for the body) and ask you to hold one cue (a skill, a body part, sensation, or movement) at a time until it becomes more familiar and comfortable. Eventually it will become easier to hold and balance two cues, eventually three at the same time, and so on. In the meantime, you may like to organize your body into sections.

• Head and Spine
• Shoulders and Arms
• Hips and Legs

For example – You can use this organization while working through drills and cues by first consider learning to hear your Head and Neck and what it’s doing, where is it and how to does it feel; then relax it fully; followed by noting the ideal shape and structure you want to hold it in for that activity; then incorporate the air management.

There is a lot of feedback in the pool environment. It can easily distract and even overwhelm the nervous system from the activities at hand. To help isolate and alleviate some of the pressures, you may consider using Support Structures as outlined in How to Use Support Structures until you feel more confident with the skills and activities.

Introduction to Air Management

You breath all day, every day, from the first day until your last day. Unless their is a change in physical condition or environment, our access to air and ability to breath is unconscious. Once a change in ability or environment is introduced where oxygen access is potentially compromised, like in the water, your nervous system will make breathing your top priority. We see this even in the best of swimmers in how their head tilts up in a stroke or the reaching and lift of the head during a breath to get closer to air. It’s a natural instinct. But allowing it to go unexamined and work outside of our control, can compromise our comfort, ease and efficiency in the water.

To allow the body to relax and be free to position in the body in the ideal shape, you must first understand how air management works in the water, listen to the natural warning signs the body communicates, and rehearse an ideal rhythm to your air exchange.

There are two main gases that your exercising body needs to deal with. It needs to take in oxygen from the air and deliver it to your cells. And it needs to take carbon dioxide away from the cells and expel some of it from the body. But it is not that simple. The brain is carefully tracking the levels of these two gases in the blood and a certain balance is required between them to trigger the proper responses in the body. The two gases work together in a feedback system inside the body in a process known as the Bohr Effect.

When most people think of breathing distress, they may assume it is a result of insufficient oxygen – hypoxia – like what many high altitude mountain climbers experience when working long hours in thin air. And, it may also be commonly understood that the body needs to get rid of a build up of carbon dioxide or the muscles will start to feel sluggish and slow down. However, just as exercise distress can be triggered by too little oxygen or too much carbon dioxide, it can also be triggered by too little carbon dioxide in the system. That deficiency can be caused by breathing too frequently and too shallow – what is more commonly known as hyperventilation. In this mode of breathing you are you are giving off too much carbon dioxide too quickly (Fried, 1999, p. 26).

To keep relatively comfortable in athletic exertion, the body needs to keep the oxygen-carbon dioxide ratio in a certain range – not too much and not too little – and it does this best by using the proper breathing mode for that activity. To read more in depth on this topic and get some book recommendations see our article on “Could you be Hyperventilating?”

In the Air Management Lesson you will explore not only the means by which to breath in the water (nose and mouth), the platform from which to breath (thoracic, upper chest breathing or diaphragmatic breathing), but also the ideal ratio of exchange (oxygen to carbon dioxide).

Lesson and Practice for Air Management

You may choose to exhale through the mouth or nose, which ever feels most comfortable. However, if your are building up to an active swim stroke, we recommend starting with the nasal exhale as this will be the ideal form of expulsion during swimming. A nasal exhale allows you more control and protects against water running up. During all other drills and activities, you will interchangeably hold your breath and exhale, incorporating both sensations.

Air Management Drills:

• Diaphragmatic Breathing (Dryland)
• Holding Breath Rehearsal
• Holding Breath (Face Down or Head Submerged)
• Steady Exhale via mouth Rehearsal
• Steady Exhale via mouth (Face Down or Head Submerged)
• Steady Exhale via nose Rehearsal
• Steady Exhale via nose (Face Down or Head Submerged)
• Extended Breath Hold
• Extended Breath (with mouth open)
• Submerged Exhale

Air Management Cues:

• Listen for the Body’s Feedback. Where in the body, when (how long do you last) and how (with tension, discomfort, stress in a certain area, or thought) does your body communicate your comfort or lack of comfort during the drill?
• Fast and Forceful Exhale
• Slow and Gentle Exhale
• Medium level of Force, Exhale
• Aim for 6-12 seconds of control

Practice for Air Management

Repeat the above drills and cues, exploring your body’s response and comfort with each kind of breathing. This is a curiosity exercise and an introduction for the nervous system to the aquatic environment.

Added Activities:

If Air Management in the entire pool environment is overwhelming, practice the following at home.

• Grab a towel and bowl of water in an area of your home you don’t mind getting some water on the floor. Practice your breathing exercises while seated, placing your face in the bowl to hold or exhale.
• In the shower, allow the raining water to hit your face. While here do the following activities. First try holding your breath and feel how the water hits the face (the temperature, the pressure, the rhythm, the skins sensations, etc.). Next Exhale out the nose, removing the face from the water to inhale and return to exhale out the nose. Next, with the mouth open, breath in and out the mouth while water hits the face. Some water will enter the mouth, but you can freely breath in an upright position.
• Over a sink or bowl, with a cup of water, sip and trap some water in your mouth. Hold the water, while breathing in and out or talking. Try gently leaning forward or turning the head on its’ side to feel how the water moves positions. You are able to keep the water without it going down the throat. Avoid leaning back in this activity, it will go down. Let gravity keep it where you want it.
• Before getting in the water, sit on the side of the pool with your feet in the water or on the stairs and practice diaphragmatic breathing. Listen to the water, feel your breath and allow yourself to find a calming association between breathing and the water.

*Note: If during your other lessons you find the air exchange and drill overwhelming to combine, practice breathing separately at first. When doing the later drills, you may hold your breath until you feel more comfortable with that activity. Once at ease, then incorporate the air exchange to that skill.

Introduction to Balance Basics/Build the Frame

Balance refers to keeping the body parallel to the surface, in the ‘neutral corridor’, or the ‘neutral zone’ between gravity pushing down and water pressure pushing up. This is the corridor where you can swim along without having to waste energy fighting against those two natural forces. We recommend reading further on balance and how it effects movement in the water, in Intro to Build the Frame.

Even as you explore other shapes on the water, your body will seek to find this neutral space. You can play with it, try not to resist as the body bobs around finding balance.

Lesson for Balance Basics/Build the Frame

This lesson will be the foundation in which all other swim strokes are built, which encompasses lengthening, balance and streamline skills.

If you’d like a smooth transition from front float to standing, Front Float Recovery here is a possible solution.

Build the Frame Drills:

• Standing rehearsal of Balance Position (aka Superman)
• Weightless Head in Deadman Float
• Balance Position Glide

Build the Frame Cues:

To help you pay attention, interpret and send commands to particular parts of your body your instructor gave you a selection of cues in each drill. There are more cues on the lists below than you were given in your lesson, as the instructor chose a few to get you going, without overwhelming with too many details. You may be able to figure out the meaning of the others you were not originally exposed to and try them if you’re feeling curious.

• Cues from Torpedo and…
• Weightless Head
• Tippy Toes (thighs straight behind torso, toes pointed gently)
• Arms On Wide Tracks
• Arm Straight (no bend at elbows)
• Hands at Target
• Let arms hang heavy
• Shoulder blades (scapula) slide outward and forward (but not strained)
• Keep forearms soft (like a tree branch)
• Keep fingers soft

Practice for Build the Frame

Skills to Develop

• To maintain a neutral head position
• Hold long, straight, firm frame
• Keep arms connected to torso through the scapula

You want to feel your head and upper body fully resting on the support of the water. You want to feel your spine in neutral (good posture), from head to tail, including the legs streaming straight behind. You want to feel as if your body, from head to ankles, is one long, firm fuselage.

Choose 4 or 5 of the cues from the lesson to work on today.

Then, for each cue, work through these activities, as far as you can go successfully. Take one cue and work through the list. Then take the next cue and work through the list again, and so on.

• 5x Balance Position (time of comfortable breath hold) examining one section of the body at a time.
• 5x Balance Position (time of comfortable exhale) examining one section of the body at a time.

Introduction for Adult Aquatic Play

The science is out, the books have been written, the evidence shows that we learn best when we play – kids and adults. Tying the motor skills in with our nervous system allows the Right side of our brain to take over writing a new program into our entire body, allowing for a deep connection to the mind, body and environment. Although the Left side of our brain is great for those details, outlines and bullet points it alone simply can’t hear all the points are body needs to listen to for a full connection in the water.

When you see a confident child playing in the water, they throw themselves at an activity. At times, you might think they are struggling as they work their way to their goal or target. Unless they are in actual distress, their wriggling little bodies are building their nervous system’s proprioception in the water. This is where they learn their body’s relationship between body density/mass, gravity and buoyancy. They learn how to manipulate the physics in the water for their goal. And ultimately learn their limits, gain a healthy respect of its challenges, and build skillful movements.

It’s time to get out of our comfort zones as adult and learn how to play again in the water. Play not only helps build up our perception in the water, but it also serves as a great introduction for the nervous system in the water and a reset for when we get overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated or bogged down. While you are learning to get comfortable in the water, we highly recommend dedicating some of your time to the practice of play.

Lesson for Adult Aquatic Play

• Toe Touch Video
• Balance Ball Video 
• Balance Ball with Arm Propulsion
• Dead Man’s Float

*Make sure to notify the Lifeguard before attempting the Dead Man’s Float exercise, so they don’t mistake it for an emergency.

• Play catch with a friend. Allow yourself to reach, fall over, dunk under, lose your footing. Make it messy, then make it tidy.
• Pick up Weighted Objects from Steps (Try it keeping feet on the ground. Try it while floating.)

Practice for Adult Aquatic Play

A good athlete will have a warm-up and cool-down to every workout. It is good practice to have one for your nervous system too! During your Adult Aquatic Play Practice session, you will build an Intro Routine and End Routine to incorporate into your regular solo practice. As you continue learning and growing your water skills, you may find new activities to add or interchange into this list.

1.  Create an Intro Routine with play or a calming activity. This is a gentle way to introduce the nervous system into the new environment and bring the right hemisphere of the brain into action before jumping into technique left hemisphere training. This can be 3-5 minutes long or more, depends on how at ease and in the zone you feel that day.

2. Create an End Routine with play or a calm activity. The power of positive reinforcement will go a long way into helping you associate the water with a positive experience instead of a tiring or stressful place. So give yourself a reward. Make a little time for care and reflection. End on a high note. You could choose to do something pleasant in the water from the list below, or take an extra long shower, a soak in the hot tub, a treat or a cup of tea at the end of each practice. You’ve done a great job in the water today, let’s invite those vibes into the rest of your day.

Choose one or more from the following:

• A play activities
• A diaphragmatic breathing activities
• A floating or balance activities

Make a combination that you like the best