I've always loved water and I've always been swimming and diving for fun but I've never been taught to swim for real. Never went to swimming school or had anyone teach me swimming.
So I'm a self-learner, as in programming.
I knew could get better by hiring an instructor or taking a class but I've decided I like to hack myself. Especially, I wanted to experiment with self-analysis and trying to engage into self-correcting style of swimming, optimizing problems out of my way as I become aware of them. For the setting, I wanted to learn about the art of breast stroke. I wanted to learn to swim breast stroke well.
I first measured my progress by swimming until I felt exhausted (with occasional small breaks at the ends). When I started, I could do a mere 500m doing breast stroke and all my muscles were dead at that point. Then, my muscles got much better and I could swim slightly more but not much. Eventually, through careful thinking, trial-and-error, and finding a way I could move in a relaxed manner, I apparently learned something and within months I could swim 2000 meters of breast stroke in about one hour. There were still faster swimmers in the pool but I had overdone myself by a few times, and that was good enough.
In the second phase, I began to measure my progress by counting how many strokes I would do per 25 (or 50) meters, i.e. one stretch of a pool. I started at about 15 and again, by experimenting, finding the easiest movement, and dozens of hours of trial-and-error I got that down to about 8-9, given I was really really warm and not exhausted enough physically. So, I knew that again, I could do something more right, even if at the slight expense of excess muscle wear.
Now I'm in my third phase which is measuring my effortlessness. I try to swim without feeling the exertion of force at all. If I notice a slip (like a kick that doesn't propel me forward enough) or if I notice that I have to continuously [over]use certain muscles (which then start running out of juice), I try to self-correct myself into not doing that, into not having to use muscle power per se. I can surely walk 12 hours a day if I have to, why couldn't I theoretically swim 12 hours a day? The results so far are that I can occasionally "fly on the water"; that is, engage into some kind of a suitable circular moment that allows me to flow forward as if riding on a sine wave perfectly aligned to my movements, giving me a practically endless slope downwards. I can't describe it but it feels great!
The next phase is to try to get more speed while maintaining the effortlessness that I will hopefully achieve. I will need more muscle power but only slightly: my idea is that by using the slight advance in muscle power and by developing the right timing and alignment, I could apply them both together and gain more than I put in.
I don't know about the fifth phase, or that if one exists. Will see about that.
"The results so far are that I can occasionally "fly on the water"; that is, engage into some kind of a suitable circular moment that allows me to flow forward as if riding on a sine wave perfectly aligned to my movements, giving me a practically endless slope downwards. I can't describe it but it feels great!"
That's the 'point of enlightenment' I mentioned below. Very cool that you figured it out on your own. Gratz!
Your 2nd phase measurement of how many strokes you do per 25m is a good one. Once you've learned how to glide and keep your momentum between strokes, you can really stretch the distance you move per stroke.
Hey, thanks for pointing out the enlightenment. I read your post now and I could totally relate to it. I'm very glad I got the confirmation that I'm onto something now, so thanks for that ;)
Figuring it out on my own was deliberate as I like to decipher how things work, including myself. I don't intend to become a successful competitive swimmer so I could easily afford the time I spent on that. And all that time has been fun as hell!
Of course, like I said, I'm only in the middle of the more recent phase, thus I only get into the "flying mode" occasionally; it will take more practice to be able to stay in it. I'm certain that it will come in time.
One thing I've noticed is that glancing sideways at the passing track markers keeps me better in the rhythm (in breast stroke): I can see exactly when my momentum stalls or would stall so I can adjust my timing accordingly. It's becomes much harder if I keep my head straight ahead, due to the lack of immediate visual feedback.
Ah breaststroke. It's actually harder to glide in breaststroke than freestyle because in freestyle you can at least have one arm fully extended ~95% of the time, keeping you longer in the water (and less draggy) for a longer portion of the time.
Breaststroke on the other hand requires constant bunching up and exploding into a glide, but it's alot easier to lose your momentum between glides when you have to bunch up again.
Cool trick with watching the side lane markers to time your stroke to your momentum. Hacking swimming ftw. Once you've got it down, you might be able write a post with all your hacks and get it posted on Lifehacker.
So I'm a self-learner, as in programming.
I knew could get better by hiring an instructor or taking a class but I've decided I like to hack myself. Especially, I wanted to experiment with self-analysis and trying to engage into self-correcting style of swimming, optimizing problems out of my way as I become aware of them. For the setting, I wanted to learn about the art of breast stroke. I wanted to learn to swim breast stroke well.
I first measured my progress by swimming until I felt exhausted (with occasional small breaks at the ends). When I started, I could do a mere 500m doing breast stroke and all my muscles were dead at that point. Then, my muscles got much better and I could swim slightly more but not much. Eventually, through careful thinking, trial-and-error, and finding a way I could move in a relaxed manner, I apparently learned something and within months I could swim 2000 meters of breast stroke in about one hour. There were still faster swimmers in the pool but I had overdone myself by a few times, and that was good enough.
In the second phase, I began to measure my progress by counting how many strokes I would do per 25 (or 50) meters, i.e. one stretch of a pool. I started at about 15 and again, by experimenting, finding the easiest movement, and dozens of hours of trial-and-error I got that down to about 8-9, given I was really really warm and not exhausted enough physically. So, I knew that again, I could do something more right, even if at the slight expense of excess muscle wear.
Now I'm in my third phase which is measuring my effortlessness. I try to swim without feeling the exertion of force at all. If I notice a slip (like a kick that doesn't propel me forward enough) or if I notice that I have to continuously [over]use certain muscles (which then start running out of juice), I try to self-correct myself into not doing that, into not having to use muscle power per se. I can surely walk 12 hours a day if I have to, why couldn't I theoretically swim 12 hours a day? The results so far are that I can occasionally "fly on the water"; that is, engage into some kind of a suitable circular moment that allows me to flow forward as if riding on a sine wave perfectly aligned to my movements, giving me a practically endless slope downwards. I can't describe it but it feels great!
The next phase is to try to get more speed while maintaining the effortlessness that I will hopefully achieve. I will need more muscle power but only slightly: my idea is that by using the slight advance in muscle power and by developing the right timing and alignment, I could apply them both together and gain more than I put in.
I don't know about the fifth phase, or that if one exists. Will see about that.