1940s stock footage - learn to swim

method which this film will reveal to you takes care of the first two elements there are several phases in the instruction that will be taken up in order you must get used to the water learn that it will support to move through it when a group is practicing for safety's sake they pair off and the Buddies Keep Together helping and protecting each other as a first step in learning jump in the water and play around submerge to the chin rub water in your face dunk like a donut get the feel of the water the lower temperature the wetness to feel the pressure of the water and the buoyancy walk out until you are chest deep it'll be harder to breathe because of the pressure but you can overcome that and as you walk deeper you'll feel the lift of the water a tendency to float now in shallow water sit down and put your hands on the bottom let your legs and hips float off and the water supports you back in floating position and roll over study yourself on your fingertips and start kicking feel how the kick pushes you forward each trash of your legs moves you a few inches proper breathing in swimming is so important that you must begin practicing early the fa is in the water a good part of the time for you must learn to get a breath quickly when the face is above water and to hold the breath or exhale when the face is submerged first we practice breath holding take a deep breath put your face in the water now hold while you count five repeat this several times now go straight down until the head is covered holding the breath now open your eyes doesn't hurt a bit next to learn how to breathe take a breath put the face under and exhale through the mouth roll the face up until you can breath then under and exhale through the mouth keep it up until you're good at it 10 20 50 times without stopping this is rhythmic breathing one of the found tones of good swimming Master it now so that later when you have learned how to swim you won't have to think about it now for bobbing Practice still rhythmic breathing but more like the way it'll be when you're swimming out through the mouth up out through the mouth up while we're still in shallow water let's practice the kick Drive the legs up up and down one at a time kicking from the hips loose flexible a good thrust on each down beat the next thing is to learn how to float there's no better place to learn than in shallow water with with the help of a partner learn to let the water support your weight so that when you start swimming your buoyancy will keep you on top your Strokes will be used to drive you forward most people float like this in a balanced position a few lucky individuals float like this with their toes out of the water some are so heavy in the legs that they float vertically and the few unfortunates who are too heavy to float support themselves for rest with a few gentle kicks now to learn how to float to prove to yourself that you're buoyant try this trick Benjamin Franklin wrote to his nephew take an egg or white stone toss it into shallow water and try to get it you'll be surprised to find that it takes real effort to reach the bottom you may have to try several times if you want more definite proof try the jellyfish float Slide the hands down the legs and your feet will float off the bottom your whole weight is supported by the water from the jellyfish raise the arms and the legs until you are stretched up then pull your feet back under you and stand up let's try the back float when your body is supported by the water take your hands off the bottom and you are floating even though your he are touching in deeper water your your partner supports you until you are in floating position then eases his hands away and leaves you AF flat if you have difficulty getting back on your feet pull yourself up by your nose it works believe it or not you have learned that the water will support you and you're not afraid to put your face under now let's learn how to move through the water and we do it in the same simple manner from waist deep water take a full breath shove off face down let your feet come up and slide in toward Shore now do the same thing and add a kick to keep going try kicking practice on the back just for a change here you don't even have to hold the breath push against the water with your feet this is an excellent stroke to use when you get tired in learning to swim the arms are first used in a dog paddle stroke watch how the hand reaches out pull down under the body and get back to position notice also how one arm is always extended forward while the other is pulling now take a Glide and just use the arm let the feet Trail while you concentrate entirely on learning the arm stroke facing Shore in shallow water we now try in combination the arm and leg Strokes we've been practicing separately to balance the stroke try to time it so the right leg kicks as the left arm pulls and the left leg kicks as the right arm pulls try this again and again so that before you leave shallow water with this stroke you can swim twice the distance along Shore that you will swim away from Shore when The Beginner's stroke is mastered one simple change will convert it into a beginner's crawl you simply bring the arms back above water instead of underneath like this now you're a float and navigating under your own own power but you're not ready for deep water until you have practiced all these fundamentals and I've learned a few more simple things for safety for example Finning a simple little hand stroke that pushes you along in the back floating position but this is only half a stroke if you use the double push in a figure eight you are skulling one of the most useful Strokes in swimming while you're still in shallow water practice the turn simply stick an arm out and pull yourself around you've got to learn this before you get in deep water so you can get back to turn on your back and wrist just stick one arm out and roll over kick your way along or float see how simple it is to turn back again step over your own leg watch it again if you should accidentally step in a hole or find yourself in water too deep and you can't touch there's nothing to get excited about just climb back to the surface keep on swimming it's your first test jump into deep water level up off and swim out this test should be taken only under expert supervision turn around turn over and swim on your back turn again and swim ashore what you do from now on is up to you