Sport & Fitness

I spend so much time in the water I’m almost sprouting fins. I try to swim 30 to 50 lengths three times a week. I’ve swum in rivers (the Thames included), lakes, and around a small Croatian island. I even completed a swim in the London docks last September as part of the London Triathlon.

As an all-round fitness regime, swimming is hard to beat. A swift dip exercises most of your major muscle groups, so it’s an excellent aerobic workout, the impact of cold water is good for blood circulation and consequently for eliminating cellulite – plus you can fit a proper workout into a lunch hour. However, done badly, certain strokes such as the crawl can twist your shoulders and kicking with your legs out of the water (a common mistake) can strain your lower back. With a place in this month’s charity Swimathon looming (that’s 100 lengths or 2.5 km), I was beginning to wonder if I’m actually swimming properly. After a big session I often find my shoulders are tight and my neck aches a bit. Could I being doing myself more harm than good?
Feature continues

‘Swim like an eagle, not like a chicken,’ is the somewhat esoteric advice swimming instructor Steven Shaw gives me on observing a length of what I think is my best front crawl. It’s my first lesson with Shaw, an ex-competitive swimmer known as the ‘horse whisperer’ of the sport. Shaw co-developed the Shaw Method after learning to teach the Alexander Technique (AT) in the late 1980s. Shaw’s philosophy is that swimming is about being harmonious with the water; it isn’t about fighting or thrashing about in it, which could be news to many of the blokes at my local pool. In the Shaw Method, like AT, posture is key. It can be applied to most strokes – even beginners’ breast stroke can benefit. I concentrate on the crawl.

...then she practises 'the glider'

The first session starts with an assessment of my stroke. Shaw watches every move and breath. I’m self-conscious: no one has assessed my technique since swimming lessons at Clapham Baths, aged eight. He tells me I have potential to be a good swimmer, but that my arms and breathing need work. ‘You just swam 25 metres in 23 strokes! You could cut it down to about half that.’ We move on to a very simple exercise called ‘the glider’ (hence the eagle metaphor) where I float down the pool with my arms outstretched in front at a 40-degree downward angle with my eyes trained on the bottom of the pool at about a metre ahead. This floating with minimal effort is a way of acclimatising to the water. So far, so good.