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- Fear has helped the human race to progress
to where we are now.
And knowing when to protect ourselves from danger
is obviously essential.
But when fear becomes irrational
it's not an advantage to our safety
and in a sporting context
it's not going to benefit our performance.
- Yeah and it actually makes absolutely no difference
whether you're a weaker, novice swimmer,
or someone on the opposite end of the spectrum,
who perhaps is swam their entire life
and perhaps even competitively.
This fear of the open water
and swimming in the open water it not rational
and it is quite hard to understand really.
So actually there's some specific techniques
and some coping mechanisms that can really help us to
enjoy this experience of open water a little bit more.
Which, we've got a number which we're going to
share with you today we've tried and tested
to really crush those fears for you.
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- It's really helpful to remember
that you can't actually keep your head above the water
when you're out of the depth without having to swim.
Now we all float to a different amount,
but you add in a wetsuit and we're pretty much
all going to be buoyant.
Especially with salt water,
you'll find you're even more buoyant.
But it's a good idea to practice just getting
comfortable with floating and keeping your head above water,
when you're still in the shallow waters
so you can actually stand if you need to.
So start off by swimming a few strokes
and then just flip over on to your back
and just try and relax in that position.
Imagine, trying to push your stomach up to the sky
and that will help just lift your hips.
And yes you want to keep your head up, but not all of it
'cause as soon as you lift your head right up,
your legs are going to sink.
So try and put your head back and relaxing up.
This should just keep your face out of the water.
But, obviously if it's wavy,
it's going to make it a little bit harder.
And then have a play around with your breath.
So take a deep breath in and you'll feel your lungs inflate
and it'll actually make you a little bit more buoyant
in the water.
Obviously, you do need to let the air out
so you're going to feel yourself drop slightly,
but play around with that and just start to
feel as relaxed as you can
and as you get a little bit of very gentle leg kick
when you're floating on your back
or just help your legs to float as well
and before you head out into the deeper water,
just practice this several times until you're nice
and confident so you know how to control yourself
when you get into that deep water.
- Open water swimming can sometimes be peacefully clear,
as we've got here Vobster.
But other times, you could struggle to even see
your hand entering the water.
But, even if it a lovely and clear,
at some point very often, you will lose sight of the bottom
and it's this big unknown and it's drastically different
to swimming in the pool.
And it's something we want to make sure you get used to.
And it's going to sound very basic,
but if you stand shoulder depth in the water,
submerge your head slowly in the water
and then start taking a look around
and start getting used to that feeling
and the environment around you.
Breath out a little bit to help you relax
and this will really help you,
just get used to that feeling of being under the water.
But, when you're actually swimming,
you can very often see at least part of your arm,
if not your whole arm and your hands entering the water.
So try to focus on this and the things that you
can actually see.
- For the next step from standing
with your face in the water,
is actually having your body horizontal
with your face in the water.
So for this, just venture out where
it's a little bit deeper, take a deep breath,
and then lie face down.
If you put your arms and legs out into a star position,
it'll just help you float and try and relax in that and
look around so you're really familiar with your surroundings
and when you need to take a breath,
simply stand up and get your breath back.
And to progress this, you can actually use a snorkel
so then you can stay in that position for that much longer
and you can concentrate on just having a nice,
controlled breathing and when you're in that position,
just gently add in a little bit of leg kick.
And when you're comfortable, you can then add
your arms in as well.
- Now, no matter how comfortable you are in the water,
you should always have a buddy watching out for you
from land, or better, actually in the water with you.
But if you're actually a little bit nervous about
open water swimming then you can take this a step further
and have a few friends swimming with you
because that feeling of safety in numbers can really
help your confidence when you're swimming in the open water.
But also to help with this, actually by swimming in a group
and focusing on keeping up with the other members
of the group, tracking their feet,
can also be a really nice distraction.
Before you know it, you are happily swimming in open water.
- There are also more specific distractions techniques
that can work quite well in the open water.
So think back to when you're training in the pool
and you're trying to meet these really tough
turnaround times, well your brain doesn't really have
much chance of worrying about those dishes that you've
not washed up at home, for example.
So the same crosses over when you come to open water.
Try to do some really strong efforts
and you'll find you're concentrating so hard on that
that fear will hopefully go out the window.
Also you could do this with concentrating on
maybe a drill that you're doing,
or on sighting or maybe even catching your stroke,
anything that occupies your brain
and doesn't let it have chance for your imagination to run
away with you.
I don't know if there's any science behind this one,
but it's something that I find,
if I'm swimming in cold water,
then I actually have less chance to worry
'cause I'm so concerned about trying to stay warm.
Although, if you could avoid cold water
I would still recommend that.
- Now for some, the fear of open water swimming may
simply come from the fact you're in a vast,
open space and you're worried you might now be seen
by other water users such as boats, kayaks, etc.
So you want to make sure you can be seen
and that's where something like swim float
or a tow buoy can come in really handy.
They're really easy just to blow up,
attach around your waist.
You won't even notice the thing's there,
all whilst being easily seen.
In addition to that, why not add in a nice,
brightly colored hat.
- Open water swimming conditions can vary drastically.
You could have a completely calm, still, clear lake
to swim in or it could be choppy, murky sea water.
Whatever it is, you need to get familiar with that
and try to become relaxed in that environment.
So, say you've got a sea swim coming up.
It's a good idea to try to head to the beach
with a group of friends and just play around in
the shallows and in the waves.
Maybe try and catch some and do a bit of body surfing
and maybe even take a body board.
Any thing that just starts to get you familiar
with those surroundings, so when it does come to race day,
you'll be more prepared and more relaxed.
Again, for flat water, just go stand in the shallows.
You could maybe even just play a game of ball,
mess around with your friends and you'll soon find that
you're swimming in those conditions and not even noticing it
and then when it does come to pure swimming,
that confidence should cross over.
Sometimes there is just no logic reasons of open water fear.
As I know from my parents frustration,
as a child I was a competitive swimmer,
very competent in the swimming pool.
But take me to the lake on the open water
and I actually didn't like going out of my depth
and there was no reasoning behind that.
But it's something that I've had to work on
and I actually found that going scuba-diving
has helped 'cause it's just getting me to relax
in the water.
But, it's such an individual thing
so you're going to need to experiment to find out
what can help you.
- And another factor with open water swimming actually,
all those added bodies in the water.
Unlike pool swimming we don't have the
5 seconds or 10 seconds gap between you
and the person in front of you.
You also don't have those lane ropes to make sure
we swim in a straight line so you may end up
bumping into another swimmer,
which can be really quite off-putting,
particularly if your in the middle of a race.
So, we really suggest trying to replicate that situation
and trying to swim in close proximity to some
friends or training partners.
And also just remind yourself of that,
there will be other people in the water
that are feeling just the same as you
and actually anyone that bumps into you,
more often than not, they're probably just as scared of you,
as you are of them.
- Yeah, completely.
Well, I think that leads off to say, good luck,
because being able to overcome your open water fear
really is a game changer.
Getting out of the chlorinated pool
and into fresh or sea water is such
an exhilarating feeling.
It's also really good for your mental health.
So, if you've enjoyed this, give us a thumbs up like
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And if you want to see a video on open water tips
that's kind of tailored to racing,
we've got a video on that just down here.
- If you'd like to find out what you should be taking
to an open water swim, you can see our Open Water
Swim Kit list by clicking just down here.