[am1m]

Originally Posted by HTC

Few things I like to share...

+1 to all of these! Been swimming since I was a kid, so almost 35 years now and all these points are great points. The hardest thing to get used to when learning to swim as an adult is keeping your head down while swimming. It's not intuitive and everyone tends to fight that. But it makes a world of difference when swimming.

Originally Posted by prasi55

You could check out the Kensington pool in Ulsoor —...

I think this is the best pool in Bangalore now! Used to be a stereotypical badly-maintained public pool when we were growing up, we would go there only because there was no other option. But since the new management, private-public model, it's become such a well-maintained pool. And with the lake in the background, it's very picturesque too. But avoid weekends, when it gets too crowded.

[yosbert]

What are the options for pursuing competitive swimming in Bangalore? My son attends the regular swimming classes at our apartment swimming pool, but I am not sure how good they are in training further up.
Any pointers or advice in this regard will be truly appreciated.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by yosbert

What are the options for pursuing competitive swimming in Bangalore?

Basavanagudi Aquatic Center, Nettakallappa Aquatic Center, and Dolphin Aquatics (google them, all have websites), all seem to provide coaching. Pick one that is close to your home and visit. Speak with the coaches there, they will be able to advise on the next steps and path into competitive swimming.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by yosbert

Any pointers or advice in this regard will be truly appreciated.

Finding a good coach, that is your starting point.

You can check with the places mentioned by am1m. Those are the places to go. There is one more that you an check - Swimlife.org.

Also if your sons school has a swimming pool and coaches associated, that’s another route. Some schools do represent in swimming competitions or at least the coach there could help you.

He needs to move out of apartment pool and get into formal training in these bigger pools and under good coaches, if pursuing for competitive swimming. Even asking inputs from your apartment coach (if he is a proper certified coach) is not a bad idea. They will have some connects to direct you to.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

There is one more that you an check - Swimlife.org.

If I'm not mistaken, the swimlife folks are more oriented towards the learn to swim, recreational swimming kind of setup. Had a quick look at the pools in their network and none of them seem like competition pools. For a potential competitive swimmer, as important as a good coach is being able to practice regularly in a full-sized pool.

(5am swims before school in cold Bangalore winters- takes a lot of dedication on the part of the swimmer and the parents...good luck! )

[yosbert]

Thank you am1m and balenoed for the valuable inputs and pointers. Really thankful for them.

Originally Posted by am1m

If I'm not mistaken, the swimlife folks are more oriented towards the learn to swim, recreational swimming kind of setup.

I also had a similar impression about swimlife.

Originally Posted by am1m

For a potential competitive swimmer, as important as a good coach is being able to practice regularly in a full-sized pool.

Thankfully our apartment is blessed with a decent size 25m pool (I believe it is called a semi Olympic sized pool).

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by yosbert

What are the options for pursuing competitive swimming in Bangalore? My son attends the regular swimming classes at our apartment swimming pool, but I am not sure how good they are in training further up.
Any pointers or advice in this regard will be truly appreciated.

Have sent you a PM with the details of a friend whose son is/was into competitive swimming.

You may also check out Nisha Millet swimming academy. While most of their classes are aimed toward beginners, I believe they will have advanced programs as well as the connections to boot.

[bhpfaninblr]

Originally Posted by HTC

When I got my job in Bangalore, I started going to public batches in Jayanagar pool. But I never got the hang of techniques which swimmers use so effortlessly. When we put our daughter for coaching, I also joined 21 day course. That is when I learnt the nuances of proper swimming.

Great post. Can you share more details about the 21-day course at Jayanagar swimming pool?

[srini1785]

^^

I will let @HTC reply to your post but generally 21 day course starts with basics of floating, freestyle kicking, arm movement, breathing and then doing all these in sync. Usually a batch is for 1 hour and good luck getting all things right in the first attempt. Unlike me, If you manage to do all these in the first 15 days then they take you to the deep end of the pool (that's 7-10 ft deep) and you learn to let go of your fear. You are a swimmer if you can do at least 2 laps in the shallow end (4.5ft) and that's 50 mts.

Almost all coaches start with Front crawl (Freestyle) but if you are above 40 then IMO, breaststroke would be a natural choice. Treading water is a basic swimming technique that you can also learn but hey start with getting to float right on both your belly and back.

Course fees would be around 3500/- for 21 days.

[HTC]

Originally Posted by bhpfaninblr

Great post. Can you share more details about the 21-day course at Jayanagar swimming pool?

@bhpfaninblr,

Sorry for delay in responding. I attended swimming course at Nettakallappa Aquatic Centre. Its in Padmanabhanagar, South Bangalore. They have a
pretty good pool setup. Little bit on expensive side though. I see, Jayanagar pool is operational too. You can check out there as well.

Cheers
HTC

[alphamike_1612]

Any swimmers in Chennai? This post has 2 parts, one a small review about the Velachery Aquatic Complex in Chennai and the second requesting help for my swimming technique.

SDAT Aquatic Complex
For those searching - The only Olympics sized pool in Chennai that I know of is the Velachery Aquatic Complex. Maintained by SDAT.

They have 3 pools, a warm up 25M pool which is 3m deep but is usually filled only upto 4 feet, an olympic size 50M pool and a diving pool with boards around 10-15m high if I'm not wrong.

You can see the water turning cloudy/murky as the week progresses. They are closed on Mondays for their weekly (and only if I'm not wrong) cleaning and on Tuesday, the water will be spanking clean with visibility around 15M. On Sundays you will be lucky if the visibility is more than 3M.

There is heavy footfall during the weekends and the changing rooms aren't the cleanest, but they are average.

Members have access to lockers. The complex also has a Badminton court and a fitness centre/gym, for which membership is separate. Ample parking space for both 2 wheelers and cars is available.

The staff are a friendly lot and there always is a lifeguard or 2 on duty, and they are very diligent about keeping the non swimmers away from the main pool.

As always, the pool is dominated by men, but there are quite a number of women and children too.

They are strict about giving membership and require you to demonstrate swimming a full length of the olympic pool. Yearly membership is around ₹12000.

However they have a Pay as you go option for ₹120 which mostly means people coming in for a respite from the heat. Most of these people are kept in the warm up pool (for fear that they may drown in the adult pool), so the Olympic sized pool is almost always available if you intend to swim seriously. The pool has 10 lanes and if classes are on, members are restricted to 3/4/5 lanes out of the 10. This makes it a little tight, but it works.

Help Needed -

Now, I have a few queries about my swimming technique, so if all the veteran/multi year swimmers could help, I would be much obliged.

My parents put me in swimming classes when I was a child, all I learnt from there was that I feared water a lot. (I still judder from when I remember an instructor pushing me from a diving board into the 12 feet end of the pool. That guy had to dive in to get me back up ) I also learnt/assumed that swimming was just you cycling your arms and legs with your head under the water.

A few years later in my early teens, I got a community swimming pool and learnt to actually swim. Learnt to give up my fear of the water (I now respect it) and learnt to swim (not from classes, but by seeing others swim and those kind souls teaching me ways to perfect my technique).

Today I can swim very confidently to save my life. I assumed I was quite good in swimming all the 4 strokes, but one week at the new pool and a few hours of youtube videos told me I was all wrong. I have tried improving my technique from Youtube and seeing others swim, but I'm not able to perfect it.

For example, in freestyle, I swim without kicking/1 kick per 2 strokes (doing more seems counter intuitive, hasn't given me a speed advantage and tires me out quickly). I can only breathe on my right side and only my right hand actually does the catch phase. The left hand does not play an active role at all and is simply cycled through. Similarly, I can only breathe on my right side, which I do by turning my head (both eyes out the water, and inadvertently sinking a few cm) but if I attempt to recreate this on the left, I tend to sink a lot more and my respect for the water turns back into fear. I can't even try to breathe with one eye under the water, because water tends to go in and I tried weird mouth shapes to no avail. The lady thing I wanted was for the pool water to go into my mouth, so I decided it was fine even if it meant both eyes out the water and sinking a few cm for me to breathe.

In Breast stroke, YT says I'm supposed to pull, kick and glide. Instead I Kick, glide and pull (where I use the pull to come out of the water for my breath). I am unable to unlearn this.

I'd rather not talk about Butterfly. I can cover a 50m length huffing and puffing and pulling on my last ounce of energy with an incorrect stroke (one dolphin kick per cycle of the arms)

Backstroke was always the casual relaxing stroke for me and that meant floating all over the place enjoying the fact that i no longer have to breathe intermittentlyand can breathe whenever I want. Now I'm trying to make sure I stick on the lane marking all the time.

I am able to cover a length of the 50M pool in Freestyle and Breast stroke in about 1:30. Never noticed the time for Butterfly because I was thanking my stars for pulling me across.

I can swim around 300M/500M (10 lengths) before I need a 1-2 minute break.

I'm 24 years old, obscenely obsese, with poor core strength (not that my arms and legs are ripped) and kids younger than me and uncles older than me swim faster (much faster). I have learnt to take them as a sign that I am poor at swimming and learn from them, but unfortunately they are so quick that I'm unable to learn anything at all.

I have tried the numerous drills on YT for improving this, but never seem to gain anything from them.

What am I missing here? My goal is to reduce weight, but also to actually be a better swimmer with good technique.
I set a goal of being able to complete a 50M swim in 30-45 seconds (30 being the ultimate goal)

I think I might need a coach for improving my technique, but the life guards (who double up as coaches for the non competitive swimmers) are not a confidence inspiring lot. Infact they remind me of the "coaches" I had who dunked my head in the water and pushed me in, hoping to quell my fear of water. (I don't blame them, they were probably taught like that and they just meant the best for me, but of course, it didn't work)

The coach for the competitive swimmers is, well very busy when the swimmers are there and can't be seen when the swimmers aren't.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by alphamike_1612

What am I missing here? My goal is to reduce weight, but also to actually be a better swimmer with good technique.

First of all big appreciation to you for persisting with swimming. With such a crappy introduction to the water, I would have given up. Sadly most coaches from years past used to just push kids into the water, literally 'sink or swim'. Such idiots shouldn't be allowed anywhere near children!

Now about improving technique, yes, a coach would be best. Public pool and competitive pool coaches rarely have time or care about amateurs and people who don't want to compete. Try finding a private coaching pool with instructors.

And in parallel, start lifting weights at a local gym. Swimming will take care of the cardio bit, but weight-loss will be more effective when you add a weight-lifting regime (and watch your nutrition!) as well. Again, under the supervision of a trainer would be good.

All the best!
-------------------------------------

Also, had a question for the forum: Any publicly accessible pools in Mumbai? Along the Western Line would be great. (Thanks in advance for any pointers.)

[jeetumg27]

I rediscovered my love for Swimming last year.

I had been walking nearly every day for an average 5 kms. I somehow don't prefer walking in the same place within the confines of a gym on a treadmill. I have tried it multiple times and I find it extremely boring. I prefer to walk in the open and explore different routes once in a while.

However, monsoons make it difficult to walk outdoors. The lesser said about Mumbai roads and Mumbai footpaths, wherever they exist and are not encroached upon, the better. My routine went for a toss during the rains and again I started to gain weight slowly.

Suddenly it struck - that one sport I could partake in, even during the rains - SWIMMING! The next day I took a Swimming-only membership at the Sindhi Society Gymkhana in Chembur. That was the place I had learnt Swimming while I was in school and thankfully it is still better maintained than even the newer places that have come up around it.

Slowly, got back to a routine of fitness - it was my 2023 resolution to give my fitness atleast 1 hour everyday - and thankfully with Swimming I got back to it in no time.

Even post monsoon, I have continued a mix of Swimming and Walking. I feel Walking helps you lose weight and burn calories faster, but Swimming helps you tone and exercise the whole body. I simply enjoy being in the pool, relaxing and floating after the initial frenzy of laps. Trying hard to imbibe this habit into my 6 yr old - thankfully she has learnt swimming but not practiced enough yet.

At some levels, I feel this is a sport that is exhilarating as well as therapeutic. Finding a good, clean well-maintained pool can be a challenge, but if you have one near you, I would recommend going at least 2 days in a week to tone your body.

As a fun way to introduce your kids to water, you can also consider a pool and brunch activity offered at most of the 5 star hotels in Mumbai. I know Sea Princess, Sun-n-Sand at Juhu offer this package - spend good time in the pool with your family and then indulge in their buffet.

[am1m]

Was in Mangalore for a bit, so went to the St.Aloysius College/University pool for a swim. Amazing pool! Very clean and well maintained. 100 bucks for session. Olympic-sized and not too crowded, even though I went on a Sunday and during summer vacations for kids.