The Life-Changing Magic of Swimming for Health and Focus

I'm Dana Jones, your host and late-bloomer in the swimming world, here to share a laugh about the universal struggle with resolutions and then take a deep plunge into how I went from splashing around to mastering the art of total immersion swimming. On the Pain Free Athlete Podcast, we talk about not just overcoming the challenges of picking up swimming later in life, but how the discipline can transform your physical and mental health. From soothing sore joints to quieting a busy mind, listen in as I recount the transformative effects of swimming.  

In this episode, we wade into the lesser-known benefits of swimming that go beyond building endurance and strength. Discover how the sensory deprivation of being submerged can center your mind and body, as I discuss the therapeutic nature of rhythmic strokes and controlled breathing. Whether you're a triathlete looking to improve your times or someone searching for a pain-free workout, I'll guide you through how swimming can be your movement medicine, help you achieve a state of flow, and elevate your overall well-being. So grab your goggles, and let's make a splash as we explore the full spectrum of what swimming has to offer.


Total Immersion swimming: https://www.totalimmersion.net/

The Black Line Film: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5765162/

Undercurrents of Power: Aquatic Culture in the African Diaspora by Kevin Dawson

https://www.amazon.com/Undercurrents-Power-Aquatic-Diaspora-Americas/dp/0812224930


Podcast Disclaimer:

The Pain-Free Podcast is presented solely for general information, education, and entertainment purposes. Any information presented in this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional diagnosis. The use of information on this podcast or materials linked from this podcast or website is at the user’s own risk. As always, users should not disregard or delay obtaining medical advice for any medical or mental health condition that they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Transcript

Dana: 0:05

Welcome to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones. I am a certified personal trainer and I'm here to help you achieve your fitness goals without pain. In each episode, I'll share tips and strategies that will help you stay safe and pain free while you're working out. I'll also interview experts in the field of fitness and pain management. So if you're ready to learn how to stay active and pain free, then subscribe to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast today. Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Pain Free Athlete Podcast. I'm your host, dana Jones.

Dana: 0:40

Welcome to February and Black History Month and all that kind of good stuff. So how are your New Year's resolutions going? Anyone still doing them? I was reading an article and I saw that apparently, I guess quitting in January has become a thing, according to Forbes, which was pretty funny. I guess there's a bunch of official holidays now or dates that people celebrate their New Year's resolution breaking. So I guess what is it called? Ditch New Year's resolution day is January 17th, and then also the second Friday in January is known as Quitter's Day Not very optimistic, to say the least.

Dana: 1:29

They say that the average resolution lasts about 3.74 months and only 8% of the people actually stick with their goal for more than a month or, I'm sorry, for one month 22% last two months and 22% last three months and 13% last four months, and there's no other statistics beyond that, which is frightening. I don't want to bring us down and talk about that, but I was just wondering because somebody else was asking and somebody's like oh yeah, I didn't make it through dry January. I mean, we do all these things to torture ourselves and you often wonder why, like I get that we want to do stuff, but this all or nothing kind of mentality seems to be scary to me. But you know, whatever, what I really wanted to talk about was swimming and you know, part of the reason why I wanted to do that was because I had received an email because it's about time to start Special Olympics swimming and I was like, oh, do I want to do it? Because we're going to start and it's going to be in the cold. And I thought about it and I was like you know, I do want to do it and the thing is that I really enjoy swimming and I love watching other people learn how to swim, I love helping people, so it's totally an alignment with me. I was just being a weenie, because I don't like being cold, and I pretty much solved that last year by wearing a wetsuit in the public pool, which is pretty funny, but it allowed me to kind of hang out while the athletes were trying to do what they were trying to do. So I mean, I have to kind of go into the story of me so that you understand, like, why I am the way that I am about swimming. Anyway, so I am what you call a late onset swimmer.

Dana: 3:21

I was coaxed into swimming by my friend, anna, who wanted me to do a triathlon and she's like, oh, because it's totally easy. You know she's very convincing and still is to this day, which is kind of funny. But anyway she asked me hey, can you swim? And I was like, of course I could swim, right, because I didn't. I wasn't thinking about triathlon swimming. I was just like, yeah, I've been in the pool, I could totally swim.

Dana: 3:48

And what I realized was that was total bullshit and that essentially I was really good at prolonging drowning and in terms of swimming distances or reaching the other side of the pool or whatever, I only had to do it four times. But you'd think that she was asking me to swim like 10 miles. So I make this push. I'm going to do this because I'm not a quitter and I'm going to give this the you know, the old college tri. And so I'm trying to swim and what I realized is that one aside from you know, painfully failing at prolonged drowning, I realized like I'm going to die. I can't breathe, I'm absolutely gassed. And I look at my watch and my heart rate was one to 88. And I was like, look, there's verification that I am dying while I'm trying to do that. That's right. So as time goes on, I realized I can't continue at this rate. This isn't something that's going to work for me.

Dana: 4:47

And so I was at the pool and of course this old dude is there, because the old dudes are always there and he was swimming back and forth and he was absolutely gorgeous in the water, like he didn't splash, he didn't do anything and he swam for I don't know 45 minutes straight, got out of the pool and was like, hey, have a nice day. And I'm like crap, I did not swim as much as he did. I couldn't catch up to him, the whole deal, right. So finally I got up to nerve in one day and I said hey, what are you doing that I need to do because you look like you're enjoying this way more than me. And he told me to go ahead and go home and watch total immersion swimming.

Dana: 5:24

And that's how I got introduced to Terry Laughlin and his technique. Terry was the kind of guy that worked really, really hard at swimming and was on the swim team but always came in last, even if they're, you know, like he was last of last, and a lot of times he got awards for trying really hard and not for necessarily winning anything. And he realized that you know, people swim differently and we need to accommodate our swimming and kind of swim more like dolphins right and undulate our body, use our hips, all that fantastic stuff. So I started teaching it to myself. My partner in crime was my friend Julianne, and we were kind of critiquing each other and helping each other and having discussions around it and eventually I put my own spin on it and swimming has become ridiculously wonderful for me and in that I can get across the pool and not die.

Dana: 6:25

Even if I haven't been in the pool for six months, my heart rate doesn't get crazy. It really just settles down actually as I'm swimming and I have gotten so good at teaching people this method my own method you know, terry has his thing, I got mine that I'm actually coaching people on how to swim and not freak out, which is always a good thing, because we know that. You know people freaking out in pools is always not very good. So I continue on with my swimming practice and I'm, you know, getting closer and Anna has this very interesting cousin his name is Tim and he told me that I needed to get comfortable with drowning and that sounds absolutely insane. And one of the things is that he's saying like if you're constantly swimming and you're looking around and you're fearful of people bumping into you because triathlon swimming is insane, that one you're never going to get anywhere and there's always going to be forgive me for saying this there's always going to be the asshole that's going to swim over you.

Dana: 7:37

And it's happened in races. And what ends up happening a lot of times is that you panic because it may be in the middle of an exhale or you didn't get a breath or whatever. And a lot of times there are people that are just wanting to get from A to B and don't like that. You're swimming slow or not as fast as them or whatever, and they swim over the top of you and literally hold you underwater, like I had one gentleman who came over the top, pushed my back and then kind of stepped on me or whatever and then shoved my head underwater as he was coming over me. He was like a submarine that could not be stopped and I was so offended and I realized he didn't care or notice or both or whatever the case was. But Tim was telling me you just need to kind of be OK and that when somebody does that you just let them do it, because they're going to do it anyway and you can get all twisted in it or you could just let it happen and let your body be comfortable with it. And so I got comfortable with holding my breath for longer periods of time and not really freaking out in the water and just enjoying myself. So that's kind of how I got through the swimming.

Dana: 8:54

Now I know there's so many benefits to swimming. The traditional benefits of swimming is that it's a low impact exercise. There's no concussive force that's happening, you're not banging your joints, you're not doing anything crazy, it's just something that's nice that you can move through the water and it's a full body workout there are. I don't know if there's anything that doesn't get worked out when you're swimming, unless well, no, I mean it's a good cardiovascular exercise. You're kicking, you're moving your arms, you're doing all that kind of stuff. It helps you improve your range of motion. Your flexibility starts to move. If you have tight ankles, eventually they start to kind of flatten out because it helps you get a better kick. It's insanely calorie burning and for all the swimmers out there, you're like hell yeah, like when I get out of the pool I want to eat all the things, because it's just amazing how much energy you're burning and not really noticing it because you're in the water. And then, of course, you have the injury piece.

Dana: 10:02

Depending on what you're trying to do, you can use swimming if you can't run at times or if whatever aspect. If you're not cycling, it's another substitute exercise that helps your body in a way that you just didn't think. You thought you're like splashing around the pool, but the reality is that you're moving and your body needs movement. Movement is medicine. So you can go nuts and do a variety of strokes. I took a class once and learned all the strokes and then decided that I was going to stick with freestyle Because, holy moly, those butterfly people are stud muffins, right? They're the reason why, when you look at them and their shoulders are out to wherever and all that kind of good stuff, there are definitely some very strong people and it does take, I would say, a huge amount of strength to be able to swim that stroke. But there's other strokes that you can do, and that's a good thing too is that, even in triathlon, if you're doing something and say you're doing freestyle but you're freaking out or you're tired or whatever, you can flip onto your back and do a backstroke. You can do a brushstroke and the brushstroke allows you to move forward but also see where you're going. So there's things that you can shift to get the benefit of actually moving your body, and I think that's good.

Dana: 11:30

For me, I found that swimming was more than that. It required me to be in contact with my body at a level that I don't think I really understood at the beginning. I thought I was going to flop my ass in the pool, I was going to swim back and forth and I was going to be done with it, right, which is, if you talk to half the triathletes, they will tell you they just want to get over the swim, right, get through the swim and then get to the real stuff. A lot of people don't like it. That's my favorite part, right. That's my most enjoyable part of the race is because the sun may be shining. I get to socialize with everybody, I get to hang out, I'm floating through the water. It feels fantastic, and then all the other things happen after that, where it's hot, and you'll never have that kind of quiet piece as much as you do when you're in the water. So you know, there's a couple of different things that happen for me.

Dana: 12:22

One is you need to dial in your breath. If you're swimming, you have to decide how you're going to breathe. Is it going to be every two strokes? Is it going to be every three strokes? Are you going to alternate sides? A lot of people this is a huge barrier to swimming or to at least being comfortable, because they don't know and if you're not in touch with your body, this is going to be a block for you. Once you get in touch with your body, you start to figure it out and you create a rhythm and then you get into the breath and you work through it and you know, just like breathing on you know land, right, there's a meditative kind of you know rhythmic thing that happens when you're breathing like this, right, you're blowing out and you're counting strokes or you're doing whatever you need to do. It's just something that I like. For me, it changed my heart rate right, my resting heart rate, because of the fact that I was doing a lot of deep breathing right, and it was just wonderful to be able to do that.

Dana: 13:31

It is your own sensory deprivation chamber, right, when you think about it. Right, you have the cap on, you got the goggles on, and when you're in the water you really can't hear a whole lot. Everything gets muffled, and so it really does limit that outside stimuli. It really makes you focus on you, right. So, and one of the things that I what I teach is that when you're putting your hand in the water, don't splash right, place your hand in the water and try to make your swim as quiet as possible, and then that also cuts down on the muscle tension that can lead to injuries and, you know, whatever that may accompany.

Dana: 14:16

But that sensory deprivation piece is just kind of fantastic, plus, you're, you know, depending on the pool, there's a little weightlessness to it, right, our pool has some salt in it, so it feels a little bit different and that feels good, right. And sometimes if you notice, like if you don't know if you have salt in the water when you get out, you know right, because everything becomes heavy and you know that kind of sucks as you're trying to climb out, especially if you're in there for a long time. But it really just allows you that joy of kind of sliding through the water and feeling it. Plus, you're doing something repetitive, right. So again it goes back to that rhythmic piece. So you know you're kicking or you're moving your arms and you know you find this beautiful rhythm and then you just keep going and hopefully it allows you to kind of clear your mind, or you can use it at that. I like to use it like that you become again really in touch with your body and you really start to see it.

Dana: 15:21

And sometimes people can't, so, like, a lot of times I will actually videotape people swimming, just so that they can see, because I will try to make a correction or talk about a correction, and if you can't feel it, then it's kind of loses its effect, right. So I have to have this conversation with you. Then I show you and then you go, oh, that's what it is. And then you try to correct it, correct it, and then there's one moment in time where everything just kind of snaps and you're like I feel it now, like I feel my hips gliding from side to side and I like before I felt like I was kind of like a ship listing to one side. Right I can only feel my left hip, but not both my hips moving. And when that happens you get kind of thrown into this flow state, and it's a flow state of your body, right, because you are suspended kind of in animation as you're moving through. And then there's that flow state of your brain where time is meaningless, right, if you're doing it for this, right, you're, you're swimming and you have no idea what time it is. And then you get out and you're like holy crap it's. You know, I've been swimming for 45 minutes and I didn't get that. So you know there's definitely that property that I like about it. And then, of course, water is healing and that's ultimately right. When we look right as a you know embryo, you're suspended in fluids and so we are naturally kind of built for water.

Dana: 16:57

Now there's a lot of people that say that they're not, you know, and there are, there's some challenges, right, the sinking legs and all those kinds of things. But for me, I didn't think that I was going to receive the benefit from swimming that I got. I thought I was just going to finish a race. I didn't think that I was actually going to fall in love with swimming and really enjoy just being in water and almost feeling childlike. And I think that's what Really makes me happy is that you know, you can, you know, step into the pool and be serious or whatever. Or you can cannonball into the pool, or you can, you know, dive and flip and belly flop or do those things. Right, there's always that that childlike piece of entering a pool, you know, getting out, we all just, you know, we kind of flop on the deck or do whatever the hell you do.

Dana: 17:50

But there's just, you know, there's something about getting into the water that just feels kind of childlike to me. You know, and I just, if I have an issue and I get into the water and I swim, it really gives me that time to kind of work through things and find some clarity. And I know, you know, my therapist is always like, hey, you know, you need to meditate, and I'm like, and I just can't sit there and just do you know, just not do anything and just sit there, because eventually I fall asleep. But I find that with swimming, that's my meditation Is that there's a lot of value for me and just moving through the water and and doing the things that I need to do. Of course, one of the positive side effects is that, like, my dental hygienist loves that I'm a swimmer, because when she's cleaning my teeth and you know there's water shooting everywhere and it gets in your mouth and and whatever you know, I don't panic, and I guess a lot of people do, and she's like I just love this and she'll just go through, and she was. I love that you're a swimmer and that's great, you know. So, yes, you, you can also get your teeth cleaned and get compliments from your dental clinic, and I mean then get compliments from your dental hygienist about not, you know, gagging and and grabbing their hand and doing whatever you need to do.

Dana: 19:09

But seriously, though, swimming gave me a new perspective on athleticism and fitness that I just couldn't imagine, and I've seen the benefits right. You see how other people navigate the world, but to actually be able to experience it for yourself is pretty interesting. So I appreciate Anna for introducing me to it, you know, and it just there's something to be said about that One piece that, of course, is always a sticking piece. And it was kind of funny because I remember talking to my dad, who is African-American, about swimming and I said, you know, I love swimming and he's like no, like I'm not doing it, I don't want anything to do with it, you know, and that it just kind of freaked him out.

Dana: 19:58

And you know, for people of color there are some issues around the sport of swimming, or even being in water, or access to facilities, pools, whatever it may be. And you know I do because it's Black History Month. I kind of want to make sure I cover that, just so that you are aware, because you may just go hey, we always had a pool and that kind of thing. And for a lot of people in this country they don't have access to pools, or they're in landlocked states and they don't even have lakes, so or big lakes where everybody goes to swim for a variety of reasons, so not everybody has equal access to water to be able to do the things that they want to do.

Dana: 20:42

But in the Black community it's been a thing, right, black people don't swim, and it's really just bullshit, because when you go back historically into the 1500s, 1600s, black people did everything in the water, right, they had their babies in the water, they would swim for all kinds of different things. Eventually, when they were brought to this country, they used to use swimming to escape their slave owners. Women did all the time because they wanted to bathe in privacy and people were people or not very good people, let's put it that way and so it became a thing. And then somewhere, you know 50s and the 60s, there was this whole weird, you know, black people in the pool couldn't be with white kids and that was not okay and it really did create this barrier. And I think that's where we are with this hopefully a switch. I'm seeing a change. But there was when I was a kid, there was definitely like no access to swimming and when you went to the pool it was 99% white, no Blacks or Latinos or any person of color, and that became an issue. And you know, part of my thing is like I want to see little brown children hop in the water and play, right, I want them to do it because, guess what?

Dana: 22:07

We drown at a higher rate than white swimmers, and that has to do with lack of access and education, and so I think that's part of our goal. You know, as human beings, as we need to get out there, people need to learn, everyone needs to learn swim skills, everybody needs to learn about water safety, everybody needs to do, you know, drowning prevention, right, they have those programs for the babies where you see them, and then you know, like I don't even know how old they are, and they flip over in the pool and it's like holy crap. You know, that's cool, but there needs to be an importance, especially on safety, because we don't need to take ourselves out, right? You know, eventually age is going to catch up with you and you're going to go on your way, but you know we really need to be mindful of the fact that people do drown in pools, and water safety is the utmost importance.

Dana: 23:07

Now, there are books that you can read about swimming and history If you're interested in. You know Making Waves by Kevin Dawson is about the history of black people swimming. You know, with the cultural, social and historical factors that kind of blocked people from having access. There's some movies. The Black Line is another good one. You know there was a movie made about Cullen Jones, who is on our Olympic team and he's gold medalist and just basically kind of following him along and seeing his experiences and the things that he was actually able to achieve. And now he's going back and giving back to the community and he's talking to young swimmers and that's fantastic and I think the more information we can get out for people allows again the prevention of unnecessary death. So you know there's.

Dana: 24:07

I can probably talk forever about swimming and I'm not going to do that. I know that I'm excited for Special Olympics swimming. I'm excited to get back in the water. I'm excited for my triathlon because it's a pool triathlon and that makes people feel more secure because of the fact that they can, you know, push comes a shove, they can just stand up or they can grab a wall and for a lot of people that makes them feel safe. So you know, there's ways to get out there to explore it and do the things that you need to do. But it's definitely a wonderful, shall we say pain free exercise that you can go out to do and, you never know, you may like it. So that's all I got for now. Thank you so much for joining me and I will talk to you soon. Don't forget to rate and review the podcast so that I can reach more people out in the world and keep doing the good that we're doing. Thank you.