How to Swim in Open Water Simple guide for beginners`

Siding, drafting, adapting the stroke, all of these and many more are a part of open water swimming. And no, it's not the same as pool swimming. If you're new to open water swimming, preparing for your first race, triathlete, or just simply want to mix up swim practices, this video is for you. Today I'll teach you the essentials of open water swimming, how to literally feel like fish in the sea, and most importantly, how to truly enjoy it. Hi, it's Endurance ID and I'm Dasha, a former swimmer with 50 years of professional swimming experience. And this is your how to swim in open water guide. Don't forget to subscribe and let's swim right in. Location. Choose a place that you're familiar with and where you feel safe to swim in. If possible, choose a place with a lifeguard or a public beach where people can see that you're clearly swimming in the water. Try flat waters in the beginning, like lake or a pond. This will make you feel less stressed and more confident while swimming in the water. The waters in the sea or ocean might be quite choppy, which will limit the visibility for you and will create more difficulties to breathe on the side. You also need more open water experience to swim in the sea or ocean. Don't go to abandoned places because you never know what might happen. Make sure that the water that you're swimming in is safe without any sea creatures and the water quality is safe for you to swim in. Never swim alone, especially in the beginning of your swimming journey. Bring a swim body or bring somebody who can be on a kayak or on a paddleboard with you, or simply somebody who you can put on the shore and they will know that you're swimming in the water. This is the most important part at the beginning of your swimming journey. Wetsuit. This one is a matter of preference and choice. In the beginning of the season, I recommend to get a wetsuit because the waters might be cold and uncomfortable to swim in. Wetsuit will serve as a buoy, lifting your body higher to the surface of the water and making you float. If you don't already have a wetsuit, I recommend borrowing one first to see if you even like swimming in it. Of course, you can buy a used one, a new one, or if you have a wetsuit for surfing or diving, that will do it too. Let me know in the comments if you like to swim in a wetsuit or without. I personally like swimming in a swimsuit alone. Safe buoy. Buy a bright safe buoy that floats and that lifeguards, people on the shore, and boats can easily see while you're swimming in the water. There are some safe buoys out there where you can even store snacks and drinks, but most importantly, buy a safe buoy for safety reasons. Get in the water slowly. Don't rush or jump just like you do in a pool. Get used to the temperature, get your face in the water first, emerge, dive, and only when you feel ready, start with your swim. Sighting. Sighting is simply a skill of seeing where you're swimming. Make sure that you're swimming in a straight line towards your choosing landmark destination and that you're not zigzagging in the water. If the water is choppy, I recommend to swimming water polo first, where your head is fully out of the water. In this case, it will give you a lot of visibility. If the water is still, try sighting every six to eight strokes and there are two ways you can sight in open water swimming. Look front to sight without taking your head out, then rotate to breathe on the side and put your head back down or you can do it the other way around. First, breathe on your comfortable side, then move your head front to sight and then bring it back down in the water. Remember, sighting is a very valuable skill to learn in the open water swimming. It'll save you a lot of energy, avoid from zigzagging, and spending extra time towards your choosing destination. Choose a landmark. Pick a steady landmark that you're gonna swim towards and that is not moving. For example, the boat or ship wouldn't be the best idea. Choose something that is large and bright. For example, the building, the tree, or the beach. This will make it much easier for you to sight than the buoy. The buoy is located really low and close to the surface of the water and sometimes it might be really hard for you to sight, especially in the choppy water conditions. Pool stroke versus open water stroke. This probably is the best one to know as open water swimming is nothing like pool swimming. So adapting the pool stroke to the open water stroke, especially in the choppy conditions, is probably the best skill to master. And the way to do so is by increasing the stroke rate while swimming in the open water. Just remember, don't increase the cadence too much, ending up slapping the water and not moving as much. Still focus on the quality stroke while maintaining the high stroke rate. Take breaks. Look, taking breaks while open water swimming is totally fine and that's normal among open water swimmers. You can do the flip turn in the open water. There are no walls to rest at so you can use the buoy instead. You can flip on your back and float or swim a little bit of backstroke or even swim breaststroke for some time. Just remember, all these things don't mean that you're weak and that's totally fine to take breaks while swimming in the open water. Drafting. If you're swimming in a pack on a swim race or triathlon race, drafting can be an amazing skill to master. Same like on a bike, that means that you're gonna be drafting in the feet of somebody who swims faster or same as you do. Simply following the bubbles or you can also draft on somebody else's Just remember, the most important part is to make sure that the person that you're drafting with isn't leading you to the wrong direction because this can be a detrimental mistake during the race day. So I recommend practicing drafting beforehand because drafting can make your swims more dynamic, less stressed and can save you some time and energy. Here you have it, everything you need to know about the open water swimming at the start. Leave a comment below if you like pool swimming or open water swimming more. Please help us grow by subscribing to our channel, stay positive and motivated and we'll see you in the next one!