General

How to Make Your Next Summer Holiday Even Better for the Whole Family

Leave a comment

‘According to a survey by NUK, 87 per cent of mothers feel guilty at some point, with 21 per cent feeling this way most, or all, of the time’.

After reading through Guilty Mother’s blog, I stumbled upon the above statistics. Needless to say, they threw me. Does parenthood really have to mean automatic guilt? Every mother, or father, wants to parent their child in the correct way – which translates into doing what we see to be the best for our kids. But when did this inherent self-accusation become so deep rooted in our society, that parents have lost sight of ensuring that their own health and well-being is preserved? Surely parental wellness is inextricably linked to that of their children’s – and therefore wanting to take some time for self-care should be met with understanding, not judgement. This could mean wanting to pop to the gym, enjoy an hour of downtime, or relax when you’re on holiday… but can this ever be a possibility?

When setting off on a family break, I’m sure that parents would appreciate a stress free and untroubled time, which is not always easy when your child is in, or around, water. Although children should never swim alone, and should always be supervised – the ideal goal would be for a mother or father to be rest assured that their child is a confident swimmer. To achieve this, every little one should be taught the principles of floatation along with energy saving, which in turn enhances water confidence and safety.

With this in mind, what exactly should be implemented in terms of making sure an individual is safe when swimming? The RNLI offers plenty of useful advice on this topic, as part of their ‘Respect the Water’ campaign. In order to minimise the risk of drowning, the RNLI have produced ‘5 steps to float’, which simply and succinctly explains how float on your back. Firstly, it’s suggested that you should fight any instinct to thrash about, and instead lean back until your body is parallel to the water, whilst you extend your arms and legs. If appropriate, moving your limbs to help you assume this position is advised. You should then float until you have complete control of your breathing, and only then should you call for help or swim to safety.

                Championing this approach relates to our own unique practice of teaching, which rests on encouraging all students to float before they learn any form of swimming technique. Some traditional methods instruct children to swim a few metres, before they are completely in control of an aquatic environment. This is outdated, and falsely gives parents the impression that their child is safe, when they are not. Instead, every little one should initially learn to float on both their back and front to encourage water confidence, safety and relaxation. When floating on their front, the water should hit the pupil’s hairline, and the body should naturally find the right buoyancy. Legs should be straight, with no movement at all to preserve energy. Similarly, when floating on their back, students should have their ears in the water, with their hips up and feet kept underwater.

                Alongside this, our method encourages water confidence in a manner of different ways too. The aim of building water confidence is to prevent fear, which can lead to panic. By teaching children about the properties of water, you can help to reduce or eliminate this fear by showing them how to have fun and be safe. Building on this, we don’t use armbands or floatation devices in our teaching, which encourages a sense of achievement and control when swimming. Additionally, when on holiday use of a lido or other inflatables can be hazardous– as they can cause the tide to take you out to sea, and they may ‘pop’. Ultimately, by exercising every possible avenue to instil the best way of acting in the water, we give children the highest chance of staying safe when they swim for themselves.

                Having enrolled your little one in our lessons, you can relax a little on holiday, knowing that they will feel safer and more confident when swimming. Although we would never recommend sitting back and assuming your child is completely secure around water, do feel comforted that they will be equipped with the correct protective practices. So battle that seemingly innate guilt – instead book an even better adventure than last year, and enjoy yourself (whilst your children do too)!

General

Why Swimmers Have a Higher Self-Esteem

2 Comments

There has never been a better time to get into swimming. Really.

In a world of constant distraction, screen-gazing and information fatigue, it’s no wonder that our psychological health is under threat. Body image is currently at an all-time low, with 80% of women admitting that they don’t like how they look, whilst 34% of men are dissatisfied with their physical appearance. Combine that with the fact that rates of anxiety and depression in children and young people have reportedly risen by 70% in the last 25 years. Our self-esteem, or ‘a person’s overall sense of their value or worth’, clearly needs attention – and one solution is swimming.

So why do swimmers have a higher self-esteem?

There’s proof that the natural change in hormones which occurs during swimming has a major effect on both body and mind. Swimmer’s bodies start to release more endorphins, because swimming is one of the best all-round exercise regimes. Many of our instructors report getting out of the pool with big grins on their faces, having done a mere thirty minutes of exercise! So, if you can commit to swimming a few times a week, just imagine how you will feel all the time – AMAZING. This natural endorphin high leads to a more positive mental attitude, as well as happiness.

However, this isn’t the only link between swimming’s improvement of the body and a raise in self-worth. A regular swim not only builds endurance, it also tones muscles, improves strength and provides an all-over body workout. By making swimming the basis of your fitness or exercise regime, you’ll see your body shape change naturally. This will do wonders for self-confidence – when you feel you look good, you’ll automatically feel great at the same time.

Aside from the link between body and mind, those that swim also gain a sense of achievement. This particularly applies to children, as swimming races encourage a natural sense of competitiveness, which will stay with them for life. Soon, you can guarantee that medal after medal will be won, as swimmers find themselves standing on the podium after all their hard work. This leads to far more natural, rather than enforced optimism, as a strong sense of self-belief becomes the norm. This goes hand-in-hand with a shift to being more self-assured, which will positively impact on other facets of life, including the achievement of goals and dreams.

Swimming can help distance us from the stresses and strains of daily life that can prevent self-reflection, as it creates more independence and a self-starting mentality. As swimming isn’t always a group activity, a session in the pool gives you the ability to spend time processing your individual thoughts.

It’s a fact that being taught, and subsequently mastering any skill, builds confidence. However, swimming in particular provides the added bonus of learning to be in control of an environment which can potentially be unsafe. Once grasped, this makes every swimmer feel as though they can achieve anything! For children, this new found confidence translates into the classroom, the playground, the football pitch and almost any other part of their lives. Who wouldn’t want this for their little one?

If you or any of your children struggle with low self-confidence or self-esteem, why not give swimming a try? Your mental and physical health will thank you for taking just thirty minutes out of your busy week to visit your local swimming pool. If you’d like to find out more about self-esteem and its link to swimming, please click here, or here.

Have you felt swimming raise your self-esteem? Let us know in the comments.

Uncategorized

James Poole: Learning to Swim as an Adult

1 Comment

Triathlete, Captain of Adidas Runners LDN and five-time Ironman James Poole, has a surprising secret.  Despite being a successful athlete James didn’t learn to swim until he was 34. 

Swimming Nature spoke to James about his experience learning to swim as an adult, overcoming fears in the water and why swimming is the best cross-training activity for runners.

As a child, James could never swim more than a couple of lengths of breaststroke. It wasn’t until he signed up for an Ironman in 2007 that he realised he needed to get some lessons. Some people feel embarrassed about learning to swim later in life, but James didn’t have that problem. In fact, he thought it would be much easier than it actually was. “I thought it just pop on a swimming cap and goggles and I’d be off, but what I found was that there was actually a lot of work to be done. One of the most difficult things was getting the hang of the breathing technique. I would swim as fast as I could, breathing once or twice a length. Within two lengths I was hypoxic and gasping for breath.”

James says that seeing people who have been swimming since they were young has made him realise what he missed not being able to swim as a child. He explains that they usually lack the hesitation that can hold people back when they learn to swim later in life. He confirms what we already know, that it’s still possible to become a great swimmer as an adult, but for most people it takes much more work.

James now coaches triathletes himself, and we touch upon his first competitive swim, the Northampton Tri, which he describes as ‘horribly slow’. “I ended up being passed by most of the swimmers who had started 10 minutes after me. Despite the slow swim, I was pretty proud to have got around.”

Since James’ first experience of the sport, the profile of the triathlon has seen huge growth. He puts this down to fantastic ambassadors like Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, their success at London in 2012 and the broadcast of ITU triathlons on mainstream channels. Despite the surge in popularity, James confirms what we suspected; the swim is the element that people tend to enjoy the least.  “Life-long swimmers love it, but they are probably in the minority. I put it down to the fact that triathletes don’t spend enough time in the pool doing drills and logging metres. Swimming is a very technical sport and it’s hard to be good at it without plenty of practice.”

Even strong pool swimmers can struggle to adapt to open water swimming. We ask James why this is. “Lack of visibility in the water, which can make your first few open water swims slightly unnerving.” James confirms that swimmers of all abilities would benefit from an hour or two of coaching, particularly if they are new to the sport, as the difference between good and bad technique is often very subtle. “I’d definitely recommend that triathletes find a good swim coach for 1:1 or small group tuition. A good swim coach can give a few pointers and drills that will make a huge difference to a swimmer’s technique.”

As an all-rounder, James can vouch for swimming as a great cross training tool for runners. He believes that most runners should include a swim or two in their training to manage overall training stress and to give their body a break. “Running is a high impact sport and pounding the pavement week in week is tough on the body, while swimming has no impact.”

Tips & Tricks

The Ultimate Guide to Swimming: Every Stroke Explained By Eight-Times World Record Holder Mark Foster

1 Comment

Eight-times World Record holder Mark Foster explains the physical benefits of swimming. If you’ve ever wondered what muscles you work when you swim, or what happens to your body as you race through the water, read on to get up to speed on the impact of this super-sport. 

There’s no denying swimming is a seriously energetic sport. It uses just about every muscle in your body and increases your aerobic fitness, too. Even better, it burns energy while supporting your joints making it a great way to get in shape.

Yet despite all these benefits according to the Amateur Swimming Association, a staggering 50% of 7 to 11 year olds can’t swim the length of a 25m pool and as many as 9 million adults in the UK can’t swim at all.

Naturally, I’m all for swimming and it’s great to know that despite these figures, 2.13 million Brits are keen to learn to swim. But I’m not sure everyone knows just how good swimming can be for your health and fitness. So here’s a breakdown of exactly what happens to your body when you go swimming.

What muscles will I work when I go swimming?

All strokes

Before we get into the detail, whichever stroke you choose, you’ll be working all of these muscles:

  • Core abdominal (stomach) muscles
  • Lower back muscles

These muscles work together to keep your body steady and streamline in the water

  • Deltoid (forms the rounded contour of the shoulder) and other shoulder muscles

These muscles help the hands have proper entry into the water and extend your reach

  • Forearm muscles

These help propel you through the water

  • Upper back muscles

These muscles also help to stabilise your torso in the water

  • Glutes and hamstrings

Help move you forward and balance your body

Front Crawl

Front Crawl is the stroke for speed – it moves you fast through the water and generates the most force.

What’s happening?

When you’re using front crawl, your arms are pushing and pulling underwater, your torso is working hard to keep you steady and rotating to give you a longer stroke. Your hip flexors (at the top of your thighs) are engaged too, to maintain a steady kick.

Backstroke

Less intensive than front crawl, backstroke is a great recovery option.

What’s happening?

As the name suggests, it works your back. Your lats are engaged – that’s the wide muscle on either side of your back, beneath your shoulder blade. This muscle is pulling your arm under the water and then back to the surface again. In addition, your hamstrings (back of your thigh) and glutes (bum muscles) are engaged to propel you through the water.

Breaststroke

Synchronisation is key here – having the arms in time with the legs. This stroke will work all your muscle groups equally.

What’s happening?

Your shoulders are working hard to move your arms from behind to in front of you. The chest and your lats then work together lift your chest out of the water as you take a breath. Your legs are doing a frog kick that’s similar to leaping off the floor from a squat, working your glutes, quads (front of thigh), hamstring (back of thigh) and your calves, too.

Butterfly

Butterfly is a super-powerful stroke that will build strength and boost your metabolism.

What’s happening?

Both arms move simultaneously, working your shoulders, lats and arms. Your core and lower back muscles go into overdrive to stabilise your core in the water and lift your body out of the water, and your glutes ensure your legs move as one, like a dolphin.

Phew! It’s energising just thinking about it. As far as an all-over body workout goes, it doesn’t get much better. Add to that increased lung capacity from taking huge breaths frequently and precisely, and swimming helps to improve your aerobic performance, too.

If you’re keen to get in shape by swimming, Swimming Nature offers premium tuition and fast results. Our award-winning technology and bespoke programmes ensure you and your kids develop precision techniques and complete mastery of the water. Whether you’re looking for yourself or your kids, we cater for all abilities from beginners to triathletes, and our exclusive Mark Foster Programme takes advanced swimmers to the next level. For more information, explore our programmes today.
Tips & Tricks

The Ultimate Swimming Kit Check List for Kids

2 Comments

So, you’re going swimming! Have you packed your kit yet?

In all that excitement to jump in and start blowing bubbles, perfect your front crawl or smash your personal best, don’t forget your swimming essentials!

The Ultimate Swimming Kit Check List has been designed especially for you and your parents, so you know exactly what to pack for your swimming lessons.

See you in the pool!

Hugs and high fives,

Speedy Ray

P.S. Feeling like a real swimming super star? Pack your bag by yourself for extra brownie points from Mum and Dad!

  1. Swim suit – you’d be pretty bummed if you forgot this one!
  2. Swim hat – get all that hair safely out of the way – hats help the nice pool people keep the water clean, too.
  3. Googles – give you the magical ability to see underwater!
  4. Shampoo and soap – chlorine keeps the water safe but it doesn’t smell all that nice. Bring your favourite shampoo and soap to wash it all away!
  5. Your Swimming Nature towel – after all that hard work, snuggle up and get dry quick!
  6. Comb or brush – so you can sort out your hair and smarten up.
  7. Progression book – now you’re clean and dry, remember to put the stickers in your book to see how far you’ve come!
  8. Energy snack – phew! You must be exhausted! Be sure to top up those energy levels with a healthy snack like a banana or a nutty biscuit.
  9. Water – being in water doesn’t mean you don’t need it! And all that exercise will make you super thirsty. Bring along a nice drink of water to top you up!
  10. Your Swimming Nature backpack – to carry it all in, of course!

And that’s it! Everything you need to go swimming. Have I left anything off? Tell me in the comments and I’ll make sure I update the list.

Thanks again,

Speedy Ray

Uncategorized

Amateur Swimming Association says fifth of Adults in England can’t swim

2 Comments

9 million adults in England can’t swim but 2.13 million are keen to learn! Are you one of them?

Recently reported across the media and on Metro, the Amateur Swimming Association has published a new report that found 20% of men and 22% of women over the age of 14 in England can’t swim.

The article goes on to mention 2.6 million adults are doing 30 minutes in the pool at least once a week and that 2.13 million adults are keen to learn.

And if you’re reading this article on our Swimming Nature blog you are probably one them – perhaps you’re seeking the right instructor or location right now.

If you’re keen to learn, improve or perfect your swimming this Spring, here’s what makes Swimming Nature a great choice for your swimming development.

Our instructors train you in the water

They’re right there beside you, demonstrating the correct mechanics of the strokes, enabling you to truly grasp the right technique. You’ll learn how, why and what you should be doing which helps develop confidence and precisely improves your technique.

Rapid progress, bespoke lesson plans

Your bespoke lesson plan is tailored just to you. It’s modular, allowing you to see great results, fast. As an adult, we know you’ll like to progress quickly so we’ll work over short distances to maximise your sense of achievement. We’ll also show you how you can continue your training independently for best results.

Multiple class options

Swimming Nature offers a range of class options so you can choose what suits you best:

We offer one-to-one tuition – we’re like personal trainers for the pool!

We also offer coaching for novice triathletes through to elite PB-hungry performers.

And our Mark Foster Programme is perfect for advance swimmers looking to move to the next level. Yes, that’s right. We’re…

Endorsed by Mark Foster

Six-times Olympic World Champion Mark Foster has put his name to the Swimming Nature style of swimming and is our very own Ambassador. He’s put his stamp of approval on our teaching technique and adult swimming programme exclusive to Swimming Nature, so you can draw on the trade secrets of a world-class athlete.

Locations across London and beyond

Our exclusive partnership with Fitness First is taking us beyond London as we expand into Dorset and the Home Counties. To find a Swimming Nature location near you, type your postcode into our venue finder.

Are you one of the 2.13 million Brits determined to learn or improve their swimming this year? Contact Swimming Nature today and book your first lesson!

 

General

Swimming Nature Wins Innovative Concept of the Year!

3 Comments

Swimming Nature is delighted to announce that we have won at the Active Training Awards for the category of ‘Innovative Concept of the Year’. With the recent statistics from the ASA showing that 45% of 7-11 year olds cannot swim a length of an average pool, this award comes as validation of the hard work we have been undertaking here to motivate more students to swim longer. Additionally, with the strong industry competition in this category, this award has meant that we can start to bring swimming to the forefront of getting more people engaged.

Our innovative concept is based around our great teaching programmes which we undertake for our instructors, coupled with the data we gather from student assessments on poolside. This important data is used in order to develop our programmes further, as well as target students who require additional training in order to achieve more.

Swimming Nature 2We have also created our innovative teacher lesson plans which we are currently rolling out within the company. These digital lesson plans have been developed in a way that creates a bespoke lesson plan for the students who are swimming in the lesson – personalised to where their progression is at.

We look forward now to developing further, and releasing some of the great new projects to motivate our students further.

More information on the training award winners can be found here.

Uncategorized

The statistics are in on how consistency with lesson attendance boosts progression

Leave a comment

As the weather starts to take a dive and the busy festive period approaches, we all feel the struggle to keep on top of all of the different commitments in our social calendars. Activities such as the life skill of swimming may sometimes take a backseat, though inevitably taking time out will make an impact on how fast students can learn skills.

In fact, when looking at all of our students in the past two years who have learnt to kick on their back for 10 meters unaided, we have seen a direct correlation between progression rates and attendance. For students who missed no lessons, they in fact learn twice as fast than students who missed one or more lessons. Additionally, students who missed less than 3 lessons progressed on average 40% fast than those that didn’t.

Of course there will be times when attending swimming lessons is impossible through reasons outside of your control, though as we can see, staying on track with your lesson attendance is hugely important.

The more you attend, the faster you’ll see the results!

Uncategorized

Swimming Nature makes waves to set new standards for swimming tuition across the UK

Leave a comment

Swimming Nature, the largest independent provider of swimming tuition in the UK, has developed a unique program of tuition for pool operators and private tutors to help deliver excellence in tuition and improve the level of swimming ability across the country.

The Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), says that over 45% of children aged seven to eleven cannot swim the length of a standard swimming pool (25 metres) unaided. This means that 1 in 5 children enter adult life unable to swim, which contributes to approximately 400 UK deaths from drowning each year in the UK[1]. As a result of these figures, parents have become increasingly concerned about the standards of swimming teaching in schools, and are now looking outside of the school system to find lessons that can help support and enhance their children’s personal development.

newsletter-markNow, with the support of multiple World champion swimmer Mark Foster, Swimming Nature, who first pioneered the ‘in-water’ method of teaching in 1993, and have taught thousands of children and adults how to perfect their swimming technique, are looking to tackle this issue, by working with pool operators, local authorities, schools and private tutors across the UK to deliver an approved program of swimming tuition, to help meet demand and improve tuition standards throughout the country.

“Swimming is an essential life skill as well as being a fun activity for all the family. Swimming allows people to stay fit as well as being a vital skill required for safety, yet the provision for teaching children in the UK is inadequate” said Founder and Managing Director, Eduardo Ferré.  

 

The 2013 National School Swimming census found that 51% of children aged 7 to 11 could not swim 25 metres unaided. The method used also tends to be the “multi-stroke” method.

 

“This is a fast and effective way of teaching beginners to swim in a group” Eduardo explains, “but it also has disadvantages that can affect your confidence, skill and ability, which can result in a lifetime of trying to reverse bad habits, and is also the reason many adults in the UK cannot swim and may never learn.”

 

Eduardo continues: “Because of this and the sheer scale of the problem, Swimming Nature strongly believes that only in partnership with pool operators, start-up businesses, and independent swimming instructors across the UK, can we really tackle the problem”.

Swimming Nature are now looking to expand their business and offer our proven programs and processes to more sites and more private tutors across the country. Their aim is to help increase the number of classes available across the UK, as well as set better standards for swimming tuition in the UK.

The Swimming Nature program offers pool operators, entrepreneurs looking to start their own swim schools, and individual swimming instructors, training and coaching on their unique methodology, believed to be the most advanced swimming tuition method in the world.  The modular training programme builds on teacher’s skills, covering all four of the main types of swimmers: babies, children, adults and advanced ‘triathlon’ swimmers, and provides a range of personalised teaching programs and lesson plans, based on pioneering scientific research, observation, and an understanding of cognitive development.

For pool operators, and entrepreneurs looking build or grow their swim schools, Swimming Nature also provides access to a suite of software and business management tools that cover every element of running a successful tuition programme. From setting up as a company to day-to-day scheduling, budget controls, and bookings, to communicating with staff, customers, clients and colleagues, each program provides detailed business and monitoring systems to easily control and manage the teaching operations across individual or multiple sites, as well as marketing and PR support, helping businesses maximise revenue opportunities, and the greatest possible ROI.

Unlike any other system available in the market, Swimming Nature’s central management system offers ongoing support to all of its partners and regular assessment and monitoring, ensuring the highest possible standards of teaching are employed across all sites.

“Swimming Nature is dedicated to excellence in business. Our technology significantly improves efficiency, making the pool operators’ and instructors’ lives as easy as possible, whilst providing them with maximum control of the tuition activities, and setting better standards for swimming tuition across the UK” says Eduardo.

World champion swimmer and GB Olympian Mark Foster comments: “Swimming has a unique role in society today, providing a great deal of enjoyment for all the family making people safer near water, In addition to helping to deliver the Government’s health agenda”.

“But as evidence shows, because of the lack of teaching, more and more children in the UK unable to meet the national standards in swimming before they leave school, the consequences of which are worrying” he adds. “It is encouraging that Swimming Nature are leading the way in developing a network of well-run swimming schools and excellent tutors who will teach our children how to swim properly, and I am thrilled to be a part of their program.”

Swimming Nature is appealing to entrepreneurs and instructors across the UK to get involved and help deliver excellence in swimming tuition for our children and adults by adopting their unique programs.

General

Swim yourself off the sofa as the temperature takes a dive

Leave a comment

As the gloomy winter months start to well and truly set in, we all tend to find ourselves replacing the outdoors for the sofa. With plummeting temperatures and routine rain, even contemplating venturing outdoors for that weekly run you enjoyed in the summer no longer seems so appealing. With the impending festive season, our fitness routine seems to taper off, invariably leading to panic button pushing as soon as the calendar hits the 1st of January.

So, how can we all stay fit without having to jog in the local park in our wellies and woollens? Swimming! Not only is it something which can be enjoyed indoors, it is also low impact and great to keep up your fitness levels. Consistency being essential to not only improving stroke technique, but also keeping the muscles active, and the pounds off. Making swimming a weekly routine is key to success.

According to the NHS, regular swimming can reduce the risks of chronic illness, such as heart disease and a stroke. One of the other main benefits is that it’s a great exercise to release endorphins and lift your mood, which we all tend to battle with as the darkness sets in mid-afternoon.

It’s important to find somewhere to swim which works with your daily routines, whether it be work or other activities. Also be sure to invest in some goggles and a swimming cap. If you are a beginner, lessons are a great way to give you confidence and keep you swimming better for longer.

So there is no excuse to be snoozing through the winter months, it’s time to get off the sofa and start swimming!

Swimming Nature runs lessons throughout London and Edinburgh for babies, children and adults, whether you are a beginner or capable swimmer looking for stroke development. You can find out more about the programmes they offer by visiting swimmingnature.com or by calling 08445040506.

A pool full of swimming news, articles and tips.