Our trip around the sun has brought us to another winter! That doesn’t mean that we have to stop getting ready for the next summer’s splash! It can be easy to think of swimming as a summertime thing. The cold and snow, at first glance, can also act as deterrents to starting to learn how to swim, or for trying to improve our strokes in the frozen parts of the year. You think swimming, you think at the cottage, at the beach, in backyard pools, outdoors! Definitely! IN THE SUMMER!!!

That doesn’t mean we have to limit our swimming learning & experience to ONLY outdoor sun-filled sessions! The Aqua Life Swim Academy has locations all across Ontario for year-round swimming lessons for kids and adults. So, if you’re saving swimming lessons only for the summertime, you’re missing out on months of progress that could be made in the water. With that in mind, let’s consider some of the benefits of taking swimming lessons “out of season”.

Learning how to swim takes time

Learning new swim skills can be challenging. Swimming is a skill that takes continuous repetition to perform at your best abilities. While it is kind of like riding a bike, in that you never lose the ability once you’ve learned it, learning how to swim does have a time barrier, as it requires more time for solidifying its foundation! There are more active gears and cogs going on when it comes to swimming than in riding a bike. Breath control. Relaxed state. Body position. Continuous kick. Arm coordination. Building speed. Building endurance. Surface support. By starting lessons in the winter, swimmers can be prepared for summer fun just in time!

Imprinting & Solidifying Swim Foundations

Maintaining those skills during the winter months is important. If you started your lessons in the Summer, then nothing will prepare you for the next summer like keeping up with your swim lessons and practice. Among other things, the dangers in the water while learning to swim are very real. And while riding a bike has its own hazards, it takes place in the more familiar environment of being on the land. Keeping swimming as a part of your regular routine can make a world of difference in your or your little one’s swimming journey.

Learning to swim is more like learning to walk. It is an entirely new environment, with different rules for how to maneuver in the water. Having to relearn how to walk is going to take more time than having to learn an additional skill. Making sure those first steps are done well, and continuously practiced, establishes muscle memory, and subconsciously allows walking to happen without thinking. Skills like breathing, floating, and kicking, all have to become a part of the intuitive mode of operation.

Stopping the learning process for any duration of time is going to allow for some regression to be noticeably present. The longer the duration, the more likely it will take longer to get back to where a student left off in their learning. It is definitely a good idea to take a break to reset the mind. However, be wary of taking a too long one so as not to lose your progress. Swimming is something that should be practiced all year round to give kids the confidence and ability to handle themselves in the water and reduce the risk of drowning. If you’re saving swimming lessons only for the summertime, you’re missing out on months of progress that could be made in the water.

Extra Extracurricular Activities

Who says winter means you have to hibernate? Hedgehogs? Bears? (They don’t technically hibernate but do sleep away the Winter). Yes, go skiing, snowshoeing, tobogganing, snowman building, sugar bushing, skating! Enjoy the winter outdoors! AND you can also enjoy the winter indoors! The water is going to feel cold going in and at first, (as mentioned in our last post), and will feel cold on the way out of the water. This in spite of the fact that the water is actually no colder than the summer! We just have to work harder in the water to get our bodies acclimated! You can think of it like a Nordic spa situation, where you’re coming from the coolness of winter outdoors, to the warmth of an indoor swimming facility! Being in the water in the winter is going to give your body some environmental “cross training” that provides useful variety that can boost mood, circulation, inflammation, stress, & immune system, just to name a few benefits! Not to say that the pools in winter are colder than usual, they just feel like they are!

Adding in an extra activity in the winter does nothing but good for the mind & body for fitness, health, and well-being! Not to mention that sometimes it’s not as feasible to travel & get to the ski-hill every weekend. Instead, you have an Aqua Life Swim Academy pool nearby that will accept you with open arms to jump in for a splash! No long lines at the ski-lift! No winter traffic leaving the winter festival! Just you, the pool, instruction & learning! After those lessons, it’s definitely a good time for the hot-cocoa and beavertails!

Thinking Ahead

This new year, you won’t be missing out on the next beachfront bonfire, National Park portaging trip or lakefront May 24th fireworks display! You chose to take swimming lessons with The Aqua Life Swim Academy before the warm weather came! You are ready for Summer! You and your family can make memories by the water that will last a lifetime!