Swimming: from enemy to element.

How a swimming coach changed more than my swimming.

About 18 months ago I decided to have swimming lessons. Not because I couldn’t swim, I could and I loved it. But because I wanted to swim better, I wanted water to feel more like my element and less like my enemy. So I contacted the local leisure centre and enrolled on the intermediate swimming lessons. That word — lessons. Made it harder to sign-up. But I dived in.

My coach was a guy called David Pycroft and I explained to him that I swam like a boxer and I wanted to swim like a swimmer. He said that he could sort that, and he did. I learnt to swim gracefully, strongly, faster and more like a swimmer. Here are the top lessons that I’ve learned from swimming and I’ve been able to take each of them out of pool.

1 It’s all about breathing

Managing your breathing in the pool is one of the most important lessons that I’ve learnt. I’ll talk more about this in other points but here I’m talking about timing. It’s crucial. Even those strokes where it would appear obvious when to breath, breaststroke for example (my favourite stroke), I found I was breathing too late. What I really mean is that I was lifting my head out of the water too late, which meant I wasn’t getting a full breath in before plunging in for the glide. So I was permanently out of breath, permanently snatching for air. It’s the same in many sports and it’s definitely the same when you are presenting. Managing your breath is crucial. Slowing your breath to the magical five breaths per minute (4 seconds in and 8 seconds out) also brings your heart rate down and is a gentle way to reduce panic. Doing so with alternate nostril breathing is even more effective. Breath is magic but we overlook how important it is to performance and focus. In his book “The Oxygen Advantage” Patrick Mckeown outlines the performance and health benefits of nasal breathing over mouth breathing and Wim Hoff’s breathing techniques are legendary. Breath, its where everything starts and ends, literally.

2 Slow down to speed up

When I was growing-up I sprinted, 100m and 200m. Then I long jumped. Then played rugby at a high level — fly-half. I was all about the explosive fast-twitch sports. This works less-well in the pool. You end up looking like an egg-beater churning the water up. One of the first things Dave said to me was “slow down to speed-up”. I had to reduce the number of strokes and make each stroke count. It’s the same in life and at work. When I rush at things to get them done faster it rarely works. Slower and stronger nearly always wins.

3 Meditation matters

I arrive at the pool, chat to the heavily tattooed retired chap in the changing rooms, change, shower, walk poolside. Stand on the edge whilst I put my goggles on. Dive in. The water takes the heat from my skin. I dive deep and love the way that the sounds of the poolside fade away the deeper I get. I love the way that the light changes as I move deeper. I stop when my chest is on the pool floor and then I swim along the length of the pool, slowly rising. Repetition of stroke, regulation of breath. I slowly let the air out of my lungs. I watch the bubbles rise. I stay down until my lungs are screaming for oxygen. Then I stay down a little more. When my head finally breaks the surface I pull-in the air. This is my medium. This is my meditation. We have our best ideas when we have shifted brainwaves from Beta, through Alpha and into Theta. Meditation and repetition do this. We are more freely creative in this state. You don’t need to get all “namaste” about things to meditate (although I highly recommend it), the joy of repetitive activity does the same thing. Running, knitting, cycling, gardening and of course swimming take you there. The mental health and creativity impacts of meditation are well known and documented. I meditate in a chair and in the pool.

4 You’re never too good or too old to not need a coach

Always be learning. At 49 I took a swimming coach and I wished I had done it at 15. My swimming is so much better, which means I enjoy it more, which means I do it more. It’s also easier. There is always someone out there that knows more than you, sees things differently to the way that you see them, and can help you travel further, faster, with less effort. The same is true in and out of the pool.

5 You can’t learn by staying dry

You can read all the books in the world. You can watch all the best talks, all the best youtube videos, listen to the best podcasts. But you won’t get better if you don’t get wetter. Stop reading and start doing.

6 Invest in good goggles.

Clarity matters. In and out of the pool. Being able to see further, being able to see more clearly enhances performance. You need to know the exact position of the wall and floor to execute a tumble turn. You need to know where the ropes are. In business you need to have foresight, you need to know the difference between data and trends and why it’s the latter that matters. You need to be able to see clearly to pivot or innovate. Get better goggles.

7 You need to breathe on both sides

Breaststroke is my stroke. I’m really fast. I mean really fast. But I started having a coach because I wanted to swim better front crawl. My crawl was shit. A few basics corrected and its okay now. But I still struggle to breathe to the left. Consequently, I only breathe to the right. So I breathe every 4 or 6 strokes, to my right. This is due to an old rugby injury that hampers mobility, when I do try and breathe that side it takes all my effort and I slow down and begin to drop in the water. This in turn makes the breathing harder as I have to lift my head higher to get it out of the water. Therefore, I have no idea what is happening on my left. This means that I can tend to hit the ropes on the left and if I was ever racing (one day) I would have no idea what was happening down that side of the pool. Of greater immediacy when I swim open water this presents another set of challenges. Firstly, there’s a greater chance of bumping into people on that side. Secondly and most importantly, any choppy water from the right will hinder my breathing. So I need to be able to see both sides, which means I need to be able to breathe both sides, which means I can breathe at my natural rate which is every 5 strokes. This means that I won’t be out of breath or breathing too early. Look both ways, breath at your pace, great general advice.

8 Don’t fight the water

I swam like a boxer. I told Dave that I wanted to swim like a swimmer. He said “well, stop fighting the water then”. I did. I now swim with the water. Go with the flow, go with the grain, there are many sayings that encourage this general behaviour. But I’d ignored them all. I fight everything. Fighting is how I had become to define myself. Dave’s advice and the discovery of the chi-running movement, changed the way I view swimming and running; for the better. It also changed the way I view work, friendships, and my body. Go with things sometimes. Still keep the fight though, somethings are worth fighting for: equality, diversity, sustainability, fairness. But recognise that not everything is a battle, least not the swimming pool

9 It’s all in the glide — rest to strike

Breaststroke is my stroke. I’m strong and I’m quick. But I got better. I got better by slowing down and I slowed down by elongating my glide. I used to strike hard and before the maximum yield of that strike had been attained I would strike again. Too many strokes, wasted kinetic energy. Slow down by elongating the glide. Take every cm of advantage from your effort. But when you do strike again it is whip-fast and hard. I don’t need to draw a clumsy business analogy here. Take advantage of your momentum but be planning your next move.

10 Swim clean

This is my pet hate. I could have called this one “don’t shit in the pool”. A swimming pool is shared. We all spend time in each other’s effluent. Don’t piss in it. Definitely don’t shit in it. And take a shower before getting in the pool. Yes before. There is one woman in my class that doesn’t shower. I know when she’s got into the pool as I can taste her perfume. Yep, taste it. It forms a thin layer on the pool and it tastes shite. You can contaminate a pool with a dab of perfume and you can contaminate a business with a little bad culture. It only takes a drop of negativity to make company a horrible place to be. Whatever is going on outside, don’t bring it in. Shower before you swim.

11 Go down to go up

Climbing out of the pool at the end of the lesson was tricky. The steps are removed to allow an extra lane to be used without someone twatting their arm on them as they swim past. So you have to do the ungraceful clamber out. Or I did until I realised that if I swam towards the wall and then duck-dived a metre or two out before striking for the surface. My buoyancy and kick served to lift me out of the pool effortlessly and with (some) elegance. It seems counterintuitive to pull back when you want to go forward (yet that’s how catapults work), so go back to basics when you want to develop, and to go deep when you want to launch high but each of these collects energy, creates potential energy that is soon converted to kinetic. Go down to go up.

Swimming has become my meditation. As important to my mental health as running or cycling. I wished I had found it earlier. I could have been a contender. But that’s another lesson right there: don’t let yesterday take up too much of today. So, thank you Dave Pycroft, you’ve started something in me.