ESCAPE THE POOL
Moving from the pool to swimming outside can be daunting. Our brief guide will help you take the plunge.
POOL TO OPEN WATER
In life, “treading water” is a euphemism for failing to make progress but for swimming outside, it’s a useful skill to master. It allows you to wait for your friends and lifts your head out of the water so you can take in your surroundings or adjust your goggles. If you can learn to tread water without using your hands, you’ll free them up for waving to your friends or taking pictures.
The good thing is, you can practise treading water in the deep end of a pool. It’s worth doing. Try using a gentle side-to-side sculling motion with your hands and an alternating egg-beater type motion with your legs.
In fact, if you’re planning on swimming outside, we’d recommend spending some time in the pool first to build your swimming fitness and practising some outdoor swimming skills such as sighting. However, practising in the pool won’t prepare you for everything you’ll encounter outside. Let’s have a look at some of those things, and some strategies to help you make the transition.