Swimming Client Charles and Instructor Andrew

Client Charles and instructor Andrew have been on a swimming journey together for a few years now. At first Charles, joined Turner Swim to turn his slow, uncomfortable, “head up” breaststroke into a stylish front crawl (click here to read his blog on lesson one). Then Charles was onto a 400m swim in a triathlon, next it was 750m swim sprint triathlons, then onto the Olympic distance triathlons with a 1500m swim before the 70.3 Ironman bug truly took over and he was swimming 1900m before his 90k bike and 21.1k run. Oh, and we shouldn’t forget a couple of 5k open water swimming successes thrown in for good measure too. Not bad for a guy in his early 60’s who couldn’t swim a length of the pool when he joined us!

2018’s new year’s swimming aims

Each year multiple new challenging events are thought up together. Now as 2018 has arrived, Charles’ sights have been set on his toughest swimming challenge yet in aiming to complete the 6.5km Istanbul Bosphorus strait swim from Asia to Europe in less than 2 hours! Andrew has of course been inspired to compete in the Bosporus swim too and training has begun.

Whilst many reading this may feel inspired by how well Charles has taken to water and how his hard work in the pool have reaped plenty of enjoyable life moments, we appreciate that not everyone we see at Turner Swim is set on swimming for miles in rivers and seas. Far from it. What we particularly value is when clients who have found swimming or exercising to be incredibly challenging in the past and who then learn to swim with us or who become fitter, healthier adults because of swimming regularly.

The NHS have devised a ‘couch to 5k run’ programme’ and we have worked with many clients for whom this was an excellent programme in kick starting their appetite for exercise, fitness and good health. Many started with running and then moved into swimming thereafter. If you are someone who has enjoyed running in the past then why not give the couch to 5k run a go as your new year’s resolution for 2018.? One great advantage of swimming over running is that it is a low impact sport, and so works very well for general fitness and especially weight loss, without damaging the knees and other joints.

Selecting a realistic new year’s goal

The real key to selecting your new year’s exercise aim, is to make it achievable. However small the goal, we recommend that you set an achievable one. Then you can complete your first goal, feel good about this and set yourself your next goal. If smaller steps are taken regularly then achieving multiple goals will almost certainly feel really good!

The WHO and HOW – making goals a reality

Mechanics matter! It’s all very well to set an achievable Goal, but as hard is deciding WHO to do the exercise with and HOW and WHERE to do the exercise; If you are not trained, you may not only fail to achieve your goals, but may be putting needless, fruitless stress on your body.

Exercising is more enjoyable when part of a congenial group or with a partner or trainer, but if you are new to exercise, or are starting again after a while off then joining a group straight away can sometimes feel soul destroying. The group may be too advanced, or not advanced enough, so we recommend taking one-to-one sessions with a coach instead. By having a coach your programme is made for you. Your levels of motivation, your learning styles and your current fitness levels are all understood by your coach, and this enables them to create a session that suits you, as you are, that day. In addition, you’ll learn the correct techniques to help your body to be better protected and your muscles to develop correctly.

A good coach will push you further, faster and better than you can ever push yourself, and so you make the best possible use of that precious hour you have devoted to yourself and achieving your goals, not just swimming!

The other key advantage of booking, and paying for, an individual coaching session is that you are much, much less likely to find an excuse to skip it, and this, in turn, makes your motivation much stronger.

Most Common Swimming Errors

One of the most common errors in UK leisure swimming for example is adults swimming a “head up” breaststroke without goggles. Swimming this way puts uncomfortable pressure on your neck and lower back as your head has to be tipped back to breathe. It’s horrible, and you feel constantly short of breath. Most adults know that we should have a flat spine when we walk or run, but equally our spine should be flat when we swim too – an area only achieved while swimming with our face being in the water while we exhale.

All of our swimming instructors at Turner Swim have 4 or more years teaching experience. We all love swimming and through extensive Turner Swim in-house training, each instructor knows exactly how to get the best from our client’s body and mind. We truly believe everyone can use swimming as part of their routine for good health and fitness.

Book Swimming Lessons online:

If we have even slightly helped to tempt you to starting your new year’s exercise resolution, then please go one step further and book a one hour swimming lesson on a one-to-one base with us at Turner Swim. It couldn’t be easier:

1) visit our bookings page

2) click ‘Book‘, select an instructor, date and time before completing payment.

You’ll receive a confirmation email and we’ll see you for your first session poolside.

Now you’re already on your journey to a successful good health in 2018. We hope to see you soon.