Breathe Control

To flawlessly swim amongst the Mermaids, the importance of breath control cannot be stressed enough! To achieve good breath control, it is important to learn proper breathing techniques. There’s a vast variety of ways you can practice this, one of it is with a household item, a mixing bowl! (How convenient.) All you have to do is fill up a bowl (that’s big enough for your face) with water. Get your goggles on and submerge your face, leaving your mouth slightly opened. Now, bubble (blow out) from your nose. Feel free to play around with the intensity and notice how different intensities allow you a longer or shorter time underwater! Once this feels comfortable, you can move on to “rhythmic breathing”. Once your face is in the water, breathe out for 5 seconds then lift it up and exhale for one. Repeat.

Ready to take it up a notch? Try this the next time you’re at a pool!

Front Float

Now, before you want to jump into the ocean and transform into a mermaid, you NEED to know how to float! The front float is where the entirety of the front of your body is in the water. You’re basically floating on your stomach and only your back should be out of the water. Follow these steps and you’ll be front floating like a pro!

1. Go to the shallow end of the pool, take a deep breath and hold it in.
2. Bend at your waist and lean into the water. Half of your head should be underwater.
3. Then, lift your feet up one at a time and stretch them out behind you so that you’re flat on the water.
4. RELAX! This step is THE MOST important as tensed muscles will not allow you to stay afloat.
5. To take a breath in, turn your head to the side WITHOUT lifting it completely out of the water. Face down again.
   

Nail this and you’re one step closer to swimming with the mermaids!

Dolphin Kick

The most important technique to swim like a mermaid is to MOVE like a mermaid! Watch a video of how your favourite mermaid/merman swims, you’ll notice that they incorporate the dolphin kick to move about in the water. What’s the dolphin kick? It’s a swimming technique where you kick both your feet at the same time, instead of how you would during the freestyle. It also involves moving your body in a “body roll” motion. The body roll should start with your core/hips and NOT your knees! How so?

It should start with a braced core. Image someone’s about to punch your core. Did it get tense? YES! THAT’S a braced core. Now initiate the “underwater body roll” with your hips and let the roll carry out throughout your body. Ta-da, you just moved like a Mermaid! Oh, in case you’re wondering what to do with your arms, just place it by your sides and let it follow through the same motions as your body!

Sculling

What’s this all about and how does sculling enable you to swim like a mermaid? It’s a fundamental swimming technique, mostly used to feel the water! This is important during mermaid-ing as it allows you to gauge water pressure by focusing on the pitch of the hand in water. This pitch determines how fast you go and in what direction! All you have to do is practice moving your hands in figure-eight motions under water. As simple as it sounds, this takes practice!

Talk to SwimRay Swimming Lessons to find out more about drills to improve your swim techniques!

Swimming with a Monofin

A word of caution before you use this tool, this is NOT meant for newbies! A monofin adds power to each kick and hence takes you further (and deeper) into the water. So if you’re not a seasoned swimmer, this is something you should stay away from, for the time being. If you’re a confident swimmer then go ahead and try out the dolphin kick with your cool, new fins!

Conclusion

Of course, with all that said, there’s still 1 more, final tip needed to achieve your Mermaid/Merman dreams, CONFIDENCE! Put your favourite mermaid suit on and hit the pool with your loved ones. Better still, get your camera ready and film some content so that you can share your mermaid dreams with the rest of the world!

Hello everyone! I'm a gym enthusiast who gets very excited at the sight of dogs. Drinking teh tarik is my form of relaxation. I hope you share my passion for anything fitness-related through my writing!