Unit 8. Living in a pool

Benefits of swimming

One of the biggest benefits of swimming is that it truly works your entire body, head to toe. Swimming:

increases your heart rate without stressing your body
tones muscles
builds strength
builds endurance

There are various strokes you can use to add variety to your swimming workout, including:

breaststroke
backstroke
sidestroke
butterfly
freestyle

Each focuses on different muscle groups, and the water provides a gentle resistance. No matter what stroke you swim, you’re using most of your muscle groups to move your body through the water.

How to swim

Practice exhaling underwater. While you're still in a shallow depth, take a deep breath and put your face underwater. Slowly exhale out your nose until you're out of breath, then come back up. Bubbles should come out. You can also exhale out of your mouth, but usually in big bubbles until you finally let out a stream of bubbles.

- If you're uncomfortable exhaling through your nose, you can hold it closed or wear a nose plug and exhale through your mouth.

shallow adj

(water, etc.: not deep)

poco profundo loc adj

Wear goggles (optional). Wearing goggles can help you feel more comfortable opening your eyes underwater, and might allow you to see more clearly. Find a pair with spongy circles around the eyes and dip them in the water, so that they'll stick to your skin. Tighten the strap around the back of your head so that the goggles fit snugly.

tighten v.

make more snug or secure

ajustar

snugly adv

(tightly)

ceñidamente adv

3 Practice kicking your legs. Whether you're floating on your back or still holding on to the side of the pool, you can practice kicking. (To see how far eachkick can propel you, practice it using a kickboard. This allows you to focus on your kicking technique without worrying about keeping your head above water.)

- Try a flutter kick. Point your toes out like a ballerina, keep your legs mostly straight, and alternate legs as you make small kicks. You should feel the most flexion in your ankles.
- Try a whip kick. Keep your legs held tightly together from your hips to your knees, and from your knees to your ankles. Bend your knees so that your shins come up to about a 90-degree angle, then quickly bring your shins apart and move them in a circular motion, keeping your thighs together the whole time. (That is, trace half a circle with each leg, moving your right leg to the right and your left leg to the left.) Bring your shins back together at the bottom of the circle, and lift them up again to restart the kick.
- Try an eggbeater kick. This kick is commonly used to tread water, and stay in a vertical position with your head and shoulders above water. Start with your knees bent and your legs slightly wider than hip-width apart. Then "pedal" each leg as you would on a bike, only they'll go in opposite directions: while one leg pedals "forward," the other leg should pedal "backward." This one takes some practice to get used to, but it's handy for "resting" when your feet can't touch bottom.

flutter kick n

(swimming: kick with straight legs)

pataleo nm

(Dep)

Learn how to do a crawl. Crawls are great strokes to learn as a beginner, and they'll move you pretty quickly. Here's how to do them:^[7]

- Try a backstroke first. Float flat on your back, and do a flutter kick with your legs. With your arms, do the "crawl" motion, lifting one arm straight into the air and keeping it straight as it re-enters the water next to your head. Once it's underwater, bend it to bring it back to a straight position next to your side, and repeat. Alternate arms as you swim, and try to keep your fingers together and your hands as flat as possible.
- Try a front stroke (also known as a freestyle or American crawl). Floating on your stomach, do a flutter kick with your legs and use your arms to "crawl" forward. Bring one arm out of the water so that it's "reaching" forward, then bring it back down and use your cupped hand to "push" the water behind you. Alternate arms. To breathe, turn your head to one side under the arm that's currently crawling, lifting enough for you to take a breath. Take a breath under the same arm each time, so that you're breathing once every two strokes.

stroke n

(movement: swimming, rowing)

brazada nf

crawl vi

(move on all fours)

gatear⇒ vi

cup [sth]⇒ vtr

(form cup shape: with hands)

ahuecar⇒ vtr

- - - AQUAFITNESS

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- - - - ANKLE WEIGHTS

- - - - WRIST WEIGHTS

- - - - SWIM FINS

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- - - - SNORKEL

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- - - - SWIM PADDLES

- - - - NOSE CLIP

- - - - GOGGLES

- - - 1. Exhale underwater: exhalar bajo el agua
      2. kick your legs
      3. Float flat on your stomach
      4. Lift your arm
      5. keep your legs straight
      6. q

https://www.aqua-exercises.com/

FOUR SWIMMING STROKES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAPI9lWjgL8

COMMON FREESTYLE MISTAKES https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5yvhDCBj7I

WIKIHOW https://www.wikihow.com/Swim

AQUAGYM https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=aquafitness+AQUAGYM+EXERCISES&qs=n&sp=-1&pq=aquafitness+aquagym+exercises&sc=0-29&sk=&cvid=A90ED90380FE4104B9DBA882F5531AF3&ru=%2fsearch%3fq%3daquafitness%2bAQUAGYM%2bEXERCISES%26qs%3dn%26form%3dQBRE%26sp%3d-1%26pq%3daquafitness%2baquagym%2bexercises%26sc%3d0-29%26sk%3d%26cvid%3dA90ED90380FE4104B9DBA882F5531AF3&view=detail&mmscn=vwrc&mid=5E3F4B7CD93DEF65C1EF5E3F4B7CD93DEF65C1EF&FORM=WRVORC

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