In this Daily: The Beginner’s Guide to Starting Swimming Training
For a beginner looking to get into swimming as a fitness activity and also as a sport, there are a few ways to take the first steps, starting with the basics and adding aquatic activities to get stronger, faster, and more confident in the water. Las Catalinas is a particularly good place to dive into this new form of athletic recreation, thanks to lessons from ConnectOcean Aquatic Academy and Dive Center and the many diverse water activities to pursue just steps away from your front door.
Beginning as a Swimmer
The baseline for improving as a swimmer is swim lessons, with a coach or instructor who can help point out the basics and help the steady process of refining technique. No matter the skill level, lessons and coaching can help a swimmer become faster, stronger, and more efficient through the water.
For a beginner looking to learn to swim or begin improving their technique, a good start for lessons are once or twice a week. While building confidence and skill, swimming should be a treat and a fun part of the week to look forward to, which helps form good habits (both within strokes and of attending lessons in general).
For beginners, starting with a few lessons per week helps keep the sport as something to look forward to
Another helpful step for a beginner is to find an interesting water-based activity outside of swimming lessons. Snorkeling, various forms of surfing, water polo, open water swim, freediving, and many more aquatic activities provide both an interesting diversion and a way to see progress made in the pool. For example, the extra strength, speed, and stroke technique of swimming lessons make a difference in terms of catching waves on a surfboard, while better breath control and endurance help with exploring reefs in deeper water.
A stronger stroke and good body control are key to body surfing the perfectly formed waves on Playa Danta
Based on the specific needs of each of these activities, it’s then possible to determine any next steps. The baseline of lessons once or twice a week is a great way to stay fit thanks to the low-impact and full-body nature of the sport, and there are several ways to make rapid improvements. Stepping lessons to more times per week adds even more to technique and fitness, while changing the focus of these lessons can help emphasize distance, speed, treading strength, heart rate, and breathing during more specialized swimming workouts.
Discovering Swimming in Las Catalinas
There are a few reasons that Las Catalinas is particularly well suited to getting into the craft of swimming. The ocean is warm and calm year-round, with easy access to the water just steps away from all of the homes and flats in Town. Guanacaste’s underwater habitats, which range from volcanic rock reefs to recovering coral gardens and sand flats, also provide a vibrant habitat to explore.
Based in Las Catalinas, ConnectOcean Aquatic Academy and Dive Center has lessons at the Las Catalinas Beach Club five days a week at 6:15 and 7:15 am to get started with a base level of swimming lessons, as well as several different activities to take time in the water to the next level continue improving as a swimmer. On Saturdays, ConnectOcean has an open water swim class in the waters around Las Catalinas, they also set out for snorkeling, diving, and occasional freediving courses and certifications throughout the year, and for more experienced swimmers the group hosts sports like surf lifesaving as well as long-distance open water swims like the Pitahayas Challenge.
With this group of instructors available to help with the basics of swimming and some of the many different activities that swimming is a fun basis for, Las Catalinas can be a home base to begin taking the next step as a swimmer.
There's something for swimmers of all levels in the area, from exploration to competition, and the activity is both low-impact and a full-body workout
Get Started Swimming at Las Catalinas
Easy access to the warm and calm waters of Guanacaste, readily available lessons from ConnectOcean five days a week, and a number of different aquatic activities to pursue make Las Catalinas an excellent place to get started as a swimmer. It can be the first step of a lifelong hobby and sport, ranging from casual swimming to events like the Las Catalinas TRI and Aguas Abiertas.
To learn more about getting started swimming in Las Catalinas, and try out a lesson, reach out to the town concierge.
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