That is because the muscles that you use to swim are not developed or conditioned. Remember when you learned to ride a bike? Initially, you (and I) thought it is impossible to balance yourself on just two wheels. But when you learn to bike, basically, you are training and developing your muscles involved in biking to coordinate to keep the balance. Once you learned to balance, it is difficult to lose balance (try to fall off a bike and see how difficult it is). Also, you will never forget to ride/balance on a bike. Swimming is similar. Basically, when you learn to swim, you learn to balance in the water and keep yourself buoyant. Humans float in water but below the surface (that is not good as we will choke to death). When you learn to swim, you try to raise that buoyancy by training and developing the muscles required for swimming. Until those muscles develop, you feel that it is the hardest thing to do. Once you learn to swim, you will never forget it. BTW, did you know that humans are the only animal that needs to learn how to swim? The rest of the animals can swim naturally without being taught.
Swimming, one of the hardest sports?
A lot of you reading this might be vehemently disagreeing – or at least skeptical. In the sports world, it’s often a heated debate. Everyone thinks their sport is the hardest. While swimming may not be the hardest, it definitely is one of the hardest sports. While every sport is hard, each with its own challenges, consider these four points and how they make swimming extraordinarily unique from dry land sports.
1. Water Resistance
What is unique to this sport is the aspect of water. Imagine biking or running with a parachute behind you. The resistance of the water makes it more physically demanding on your muscles, adding more strain on your body. Air also has resistance, but it is significantly less than that of water. At sea level, the air is 784times less dense than water. Water is extremely dense in comparison, so the drag is larger. Drag is a type of friction – a force acting opposite to the relative motion of any object moving concerning the surrounding fluid. The faster you swim (or run), the more resistance there is.
2. Breathing
Breathing is something that comes naturally and unconsciously. However, since your face is in the water when you swim, you need to breathe consciously to control your breath to increase oxygen supply and avoid drowning. It would help if you exhaled while your face is in the water. So when you turn to breathe, your lungs are mostly empty and ready to accept a fresh breath of air. You do need to force the rhythm a bit. It would help if you forcefully exhaled through your nose/mouth as soon as you complete the breath. There’s no pausing. It is a constant rhythm.
3. Technique
The technique really matters in swimming. If your technique is poor, you will literally drown. Or at least not get far! Some people struggle to complete 50m – not because they’re not fit, but because of poor technique. Swimming well takes time. Any good swimmer with the beautiful technique will tell you they have done many drills and practice to get where they are.
4. Fear
Fear is a big one. Fearful people panic and drown. It’s generally widely accepted that if a sport is dangerous and you can die – it’s a difficult sport. So, swimming, scuba, snorkeling, sky diving, etc., are all potentially deadly sports. To be well, you need to get to the point where you aren’t fearful. That is if you don’t do them properly or you’re fearful.
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