[davecom]

I'm taking swim lessons currently to help me pass a 50 yard swim test in a week. However the instructor doesn't want to concentrate on dog paddle because he doesn't think I can sustain it for 50 yards (I get tired pretty easily and have trouble with the swimming breathing). But I'm curious how does one do it and is it really the easiest as I have heard?

[Albert Pujols]

you just move your arms and legs up and down under the water kind of quickly. It is easy but you will get tired trying to swim 50 yards with it.

[JoshuaZ]

Throw a dog in the water. Learn from him.

[AKcrab]

Is this about speed or just going 50 yards? If you have time, just do the backstroke, or even the sidestroke. Both let you breathe whenever you want.

[mdc]

Originally Posted by JoshuaZ

Throw a dog in the water. Learn from him.

HAHA!

[Millennium]

Dog paddling is not so much easy as it is intuitive; most people learn it before any of the conventional strokes. The styles tend to vary, but there are basically three things to remember:

• Your head never goes under the water.
• Your arms and legs never come out of the water.
• You're not doing breaststroke (though if you were to do a proper breaststroke your head would go under the water anyway).

The problem is that although the dog paddle is very intuitive, it's very inefficient and extremely slow. Even Going fifty meters would likely take several minutes and tire you out.

[crazyjohnson]

This swim test wouldnt be for a certain college would it?

Anyway, try swimming on your back. With a little practice you can learn to float on your back with no effort at all. To move just add a little arm and leg movement. While on your back hold your arms directly out (creating 90 degree angles - your body will form a "T") - at the same time pull both of them in to your body - kick at the same time as your pull. Pull your arms up out of the water and return them to start. Repeat . You can get some good power by pulling and gliding. If you get tired just float on your back then start it up again.

Originally Posted by davecom

I'm taking swim lessons currently to help me pass a 50 yard swim test in a week. However the instructor doesn't want to concentrate on dog paddle because he doesn't think I can sustain it for 50 yards (I get tired pretty easily and have trouble with the swimming breathing). But I'm curious how does one do it and is it really the easiest as I have heard?

[RAILhead]

/obvious
//got nothin

[davecom]

Originally Posted by AKcrab

Is this about speed or just going 50 yards? If you have time, just do the backstroke, or even the sidestroke. Both let you breathe whenever you want.

No speed requirement, I may try out the backstroke.

[von Wrangell]

huh? Sorry but I have to ask. How old are you?



:tries to remember different cultures etc but is still in shock:

[Salty]

I can float standing up

Even after loosing like 50 pounds I could still do it. I'm not sure if it's because I still have a lot of body fat, or if it's because I just have been floating around for so long.

[von Wrangell]

Just to clarify my post above. I'm not making fun of you or anything. It's just so surprising to see this coming from where I'm from.

If you just have to get 50 meters there's a really easy way to do it. Lay on your back and find out how while breathing you float differently in the water. Then begin by just moving your hands (not arms) every time you exhale. Then when you are comfortable with that start moving your arms. You'll figure out how easily by yourself. This will get you across the 50 meters easily.

[Salty]

I gota wonder how useful this test is... I mean... 50 yards isn't tough... you should try a game of marco polo with my youth group kids. I swear some of the best cardio I've had. Very fun too, till they caught on that I just always swam right under em So they started going down closer to the bottom when they were after me...

[davecom]

Thanks for the replies everyone! At the lesson today I was just dieing so I was like could we try the backstroke again, and then before I realized it I made it accross the pool with the backstroke, so we decided this was the way to go. I think I'll probably be able to do the 50 yards with that...

And ummm Von Wrangell - you do sound like your poking fun - and umm yeah that's not very nice - we all have our deficiencies, swimming has been mine - I took it as a little kid and then we moved a bunch of times and I never started again so I never got very good, throw in heart surgeries, etc. Basically I didn't ask for a critique on my ability but an explanation of the doggy paddle if you read the original post. I'm sure you have a deficiency too - maybe you don't know how to cook or can't run 2 miles or perhaps are a slow reader, or don't know how to drive, or whatever...

[JoshuaZ]

You could always someone to throw a ball in the pool, then you jump in, and then grab it with your mouth. Then give it back to the guy who threw it. This is a great way to learn how to swim like a dog.

[AKcrab]

Glad the backstroke worked out.

I'm pretty sure Von Wrangell was just surprised to encounter a non-swimmer, as he comes from a country surrounded by water with lots of boats around, much like Alaska. Here they teach swimming as a part of PE in school. In fact, before my hometown got a swimming pool, they used to pack up every fourth grade class and go to Juneau for a week of "survival swimming". They wanted to make sure every kid could at least float, don a lifejacket, survival suit, etc. I would guess that 80%+ of the people in Alaska are on the water quite frequently, hence, many know how to swim.

[MrForgetable]

actually, you shouldn't breathe all the time with backstroke either as water will probably go up your nose/mouth. but it is easier to time the breathing as you don't need to move your head or your body much to breathe.

[air]

actually, your entire body should move up and down like a piston when doing the backstroke.

[Salty]

Swimming is no where near a requirement in Manitoba. I'm fat and I'm a far better swimmer than most people here

[AKcrab]

He's not going to be doing the backstroke like Michael Phelps!

You *can* do the backstroke keeping your head out of the water, breathing whenever you want. We just have to get him 50 yards.

[El Gato]

Originally Posted by air

actually, your entire body should move up and down like a piston when doing the backstroke.

Not exactly. You should imagine that you have a pole running up your ass to the top of your head and your body pivots side-to-side on that pole as you stroke.

For the upstroke, your hand should come up close to your body with a straight arm as you start to pivot that side of your body out of the water. As your arm comes up, face your palm out and reach back above your head for the water. Your arm should be relaxed, though, before it hits the water as this is the time for your arm to rest. The downstroke should be a strong pull down, with an S-shaped scull when your arm is at the bottom of the stroke. This will give you a little more push than just a single arm movement. All while doing this, you should be flutter-kicking (legs moving up and down opposite of each other).

I think an easier one to do so that you don't get too tired would be the breast stroke. If you take it easy, you can keep your head out of the water the whole time. But stick with whatever you feel comfortable with.

[historylme]

Originally Posted by El Gato

You should imagine that you have a pole running up your ass to the top of your head and your body pivots side-to-side on that pole as you stroke.

Uhm, no thank you.

Edit: I stick to the rule that nothing goes up, just down for that region. Remember boys, exit only.

[DeathMan]

I like the breast stroke and the side stroke. easy for breathing.

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by davecom

And ummm Von Wrangell - you do sound like your poking fun - and umm yeah that's not very nice - we all have our deficiencies, swimming has been mine - I took it as a little kid and then we moved a bunch of times and I never started again so I never got very good, throw in heart surgeries, etc. Basically I didn't ask for a critique on my ability but an explanation of the doggy paddle if you read the original post. I'm sure you have a deficiency too - maybe you don't know how to cook or can't run 2 miles or perhaps are a slow reader, or don't know how to drive, or whatever...

I apologise. It's just where that where I come from it's a requirement to be able to swim (which I've always hated because I suck at it) from early age. IIRC it starts in 3rd grade or something like that and then swimming is part of the curriculum until you graduate from what I think would be called high school (16-20 years of age). Swimming is such a big part of our culture here that I simply forgot that it isn't the same in other parts of the world.

Again, I apologise for my comments earlier.

[ghporter]

The dog paddle is only really useful for staying in one place with your head above water. Even dogs don't do well moving around with it.

Our German Shepherd learned how to swim rather abruptly-through curiosity and lack of attention to his footing-and he further found that he couldn't move around very well just paddling. I had to pull his fuzzy (and WET) butt out of the pool he fell into, and after that he was VERY careful of where he stood when looking into something. Water dogs do a "modified dog paddle" that involves a lot of hind leg movement and they still don't go very far or very fast.

The backstroke has a lot of advantages; it uses more powerful leverage through your shoulders than the crawl does, and it basically keeps your face above water all the time-a big benefit if you're experiencing problems with breath coordination, as I sometimes do. My "crawl" stroke would not pass any form competitions because I don't put my face in the water properly-I HATE doing that. But whatever keeps you from drowning and gets you from point to point is a good choice for getting started.