The Joy of Swimming: How to Master This Artform in 4 Simple Steps

The French poet Paul Valéry once remarked of swimming: “To plunge into water, to move one’s whole body, from head to toe, in its wild and graceful beauty; to twist about in its pure depths, this is for me a delight only comparable to love.”

Mais oui! Valéry paints an exquisite picture of swimming. Chances are you either totally get what he’s saying -- or you think he’s some quixotic poet prone to hyperbole.

The fact is when it comes to swimming, there are two camps: sinkers and swimmers. Swimmers see the sport a total mind-body-spirit release that soothes the spirit, relieves the pain and energizes the body. Sinkers fear and loathe swimming, because…well…they sink. To them, the sport is painful and boring and miserable.

Both groups are right. That’s because in exercise, as in life, we enjoy what we do well and we dislike what we do poorly. In hopes of moving you from sinker to swimmer (or swimmer to Valéry!), here are five tips and exercises to help you swim with more grace and gusto, so that you can reap the many rewards that swimming has to offer.

TIP: Get “organized.” Swimming is a technical sport much like golfing. You can be Brad Pitt fit, but if you don’t know the mechanics of the stroke, you’ll plod torturously through the water. Consider this: Water is roughly one thousand times denser than air. So, every move you make in the water has major implications on how you move through it. For example, if your hips drop, you’ll feel like you’re dragging your body through the water like an anchor. The best way to swim is to be as efficient as possible and slice through the water with torpedo-like precision.

TRY THIS: Get thee to your local pool and try this two-part drill: First, push off the wall underwater in the most wretchedly un-streamlined position you can: with your arms held straight out from your sides and your legs bent and apart. You’ll go about a foot. Next, push off the wall and hold your body in a perfectly streamlined position: Draw your hands together, one on top of the other, with your arms overhead as you look down at the bottom of the pool. Keep your legs together and your feet one on top of the other. If you do this right, you’ll glide effortlessly for ten feet or more. This exercise will help you start to understand how to “organize” your body in the water for maximum efficiency.

TIP: Work those hips. When I go to the local pool, in a blink, I know who swam as kids and who didn’t. Inexperienced swimmers think about their hands and arms and tear through the water. Experienced swimmers are all about their hips and look like professional ice skaters gliding effortlessly from one skate to the next. The natural tendency is to swim with your arms; that’s the dog paddle instinct. A powerful, efficient stroke, however, originates from your hips. Let’s return to the golf analogy: Imagine yourself swinging a golf club with complete freedom to rotate your hips. Now imagine yourself swinging a club while buried waist-deep in sand. This saps all of your power and leverage. In swimming, the magic is in your hips.

TRY THIS: Each time you extend your arm in swimming, roll your body and allow that arm to extend forward as much as possible. Then, rather than “ripping” through the water with your arm, engage your hips and hold” the water to generate more force and power. This takes some practice, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a thrilling feeling.

TIP: Break it down. There are four phases of the swim stroke. First, the “entry”: Your thumb and index finger enter the water slicing in at roughly a 45-degree angle. Your hand should enter a few inches in front of your head. Next, the “rotation”: roll into the stroke as if you are reaching for something just beyond your grasp. Allow your body to glide on its side. Now, the “catch.” With your elbow high to maintain your leverage and power, grab hold of the water and engage your hips to pull yourself through the water. Your hand should follow an “S” shape beneath your chest and past your hips to your thigh. (If you were to pull both arms together simultaneously, the resulting path would resemble Marilyn Monroe … or, um, Shakira.) After your hand finishes its pull, it’s time for the “recovery”: relax your muscles and release your hold on the water. Lift your elbow up and allow your hand to sweep freely as your hand prepares to enter the water again. Keeping your elbow higher than your hand during the recovery takes the pressure of your shoulders, which tire first in swimming.
TRY THIS: Drills are an effective way to learn each phase of the swim stroke. Swim down the pool and focus on just one phase of the stroke until you feel like you’ve got it. When you do, move on to the next phase and keep progressing until you master them all. Then, put them together. Remember: practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Take your time with these drills.

TIP: Breeeathe. We tend to hold our breaths when we swim; it’s instinctual. “I’m in water. I’m a mammal. I will hold my breath! HELP!” This tendency is why inexperienced swimmers get winded so quickly. Nothing will incite panic and desperation in a person more than running out of air. Learning to breathe fully and efficiently will put you at ease in the water.
TRY THIS: Focus on breathing out rather than breathing in. As you complete your arm pull, exhale forcefully and blow a steady stream of bubbles, then roll your head out of the water, and allow yourself to draw in a deep breath of fresh air. Remember: when you feel the need to breathe, it isn’t so much that your body needs more oxygen, it’s that it’s trying to drive out the CO2. Focus on the exhalation, and the inhalation will happen more naturally.

TIP: Enjoy it. I recently got my first dose of bona fide “taxi cab wisdom” on a return trip from Denver. I was greeted at the airport by an 80 year-old cab driver named Sherman (“call me ‘Sherm!’”). He was, in his words – and I am not making this up – a “professional cab diver and part-time etymologist.” He proceeded to fill the hour-long ride with a poignant and eloquent account of the origins of the verb “to enjoy.” He said that most of us expect joy to come to us and that this is what gets us into trouble. Enjoyment has become a passive experience, something that we seek. We expect things, people, Prada, experiences and such to give us joy. However, Sherm explained that ancient definitions of the word point to joy being something you put into an experience. In other words, it’s dynamic and active. It comes not from what’s outside, but from what’s inside. When you decide in advance to enjoy something -- and this is particularly true of exercise -- things tend to align in that direction. It’s like Henry Ford said: “Whether you believe you can, or you can’t, you are right.” The joy you experience, in swimming or in life, is entirely up to you.

TRY THIS: Before your next dip in the water, commit to enjoying yourself as fully as possible. Put joy into the experience. Focus on how the water feels against your body. Be a kid again and revel in the delight of weightlessness and freedom and the “wild and graceful beauty” of swimming. Do this, and you’ll begin to understand what Valéry meant when he said swimming is “a delight only comparable to love.”