• TrudeauCastroson [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    7 months ago

    I never got a grasp of how to breathe for front crawl, because it is tiring and I always needed more air than I could get in between arm strokes. Maybe if I had better technique so I was less out of breath, then I wouldn’t need as much air and I’d figure it out, but whatever.

    Swimming is pretty hard and tiring if you aren’t using proper form and trying to streamline yourself. If you can only swim 10m until you get tired then that’s basically the same as not knowing how to swim.

    If I lived near a community pool maybe I’d try and learn/practice during lane swim times, but I don’t and gyms with pools are too expensive monthly.

    • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      7 months ago

      I don’t float either, but if I kick my legs my head stays above water. That’s what I meant by “keep your head above water.”

      never got a grasp of how to breathe for front crawl.

      If you’re at the point of struggling to do a specific style, you’re past the point of not knowing how to swim at all.

      If you can only swim 10m until you get tired then that’s basically the same as not knowing how to swim.

      I guess, but I imagined when people say “I cannot swim” that they meant that they could not swim. That’s at least what I am asking about, hence why I specified “not long distance”. I can easily understand not being in physical shape to swim long distances, but that’s not the same as not at all being able to swim, which is what I am asking about.

      • TrudeauCastroson [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        7 months ago

        If I can only swim a few metres before stopping, then I drown when I stop, then I can’t swim.

        If I’m terrible at running, I can just stop and not have my lungs fill up with water.

        That’s a pretty big difference. If you get chucked into the middle of an Olympic pool and aren’t 100% sure you could get out, then I’d say you can’t swim.

        Usually when you talk about being able to swim it’s about safety in aquatic activities. My grandpa almost died swimming in a small river without much current because he wasn’t that good at swimming. He didn’t die, but because it was that close I’d say he didn’t know how to swim.

        You wouldn’t say you can ride a bike if you fall after a few metres.

        • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          7 months ago

          If I can only swim a few metres before stopping, then I drown when I stop, then I can’t swim.

          If that is what people mean when they say they cannot swim, then it makes sense.

          You wouldn’t say you can ride a bike if you fall after a few metres.

          I mean I guess I would? If you can pedal and give it momentum and keep your balance for a while, then you can ride a bike.

          • TrudeauCastroson [he/him]@hexbear.net
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            7 months ago

            Different activities have different contexts for what “being able to do it” means.

            If I said I can’t drive, that means I have no license and probably think there’s too high of a chance of something going wrong if I drove. That doesn’t mean that idk how to steer, hit the gas, or brake.

            If I said I can’t walk that means I’m paralyzed.

            Swimming is somewhere in between those two on the spectrum of “what does it mean when I say I can’t”.

            I’d say that I am currently a bad/weak swimmer because I had some independent practice recently, but there was definitely a time where I’d say I didn’t know how to swim even though I had taken lessons at that point.

            • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.net
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              7 months ago

              Yeah I understand (but thank you for making sure) and I guess I’m just placing it closer to walk than most others. If you told me you couldn’t climb trees I’d assume you were paralyzed too and swimming is in the same area in my view.