Level 9 | Mazinaw Lake Swim Pr

Welcome to the Mazinaw Lake Swim Program's Level 9 virtual lesson page!

Follow this link to get to today's lesson!

Challenge of the week: Do 10 Sitting, 10 Kneeling, 10 Standing, 10 Shallow, and 10 Headfirst Surface Dives. You should have learned all but the surface dive in previous levels. You will learn how to do a surface dive on July 13th.

July 12th

Today we do a distance swim, which is 200m of any stroke. As well, do 50m of front crawl, 50m back crawl, and 25m breast stroke.

July 13th

Today we will learn the Headfirst Surface Dive

1. Starting facedown in the water, breathe quickly and then bend at the waist and dive down 2m

2. Once down there, do 3 whip kicks horizontally and surface with one hand raised above your head.

3. You should be travelling about 3-4m with your whip kicks, so try to see what you can find at the bottom of your lake!

July 14th

Today, I would like you to try 100m front crawl 100m back crawl. As well, do 50m of any kick, and 20m of flutter, whip, and dolphin kick.

July 15th

Today, we will do a Distance Swim of 300m. As well, do 20 Shallow and 20 surface dives.

July 16th

Today we work on our kick! Do 100m of your best kick and 50m of whip kick, flutter kick, and dolphin kick.

Challenge of the week: Full 400m distance swim with any stroke.

July 19th

It's Drowning Prevention Week!

Watch this video on how to identify someone who is drowning. ---------->

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKq_4KdlsKE

As well, do 150m of front crawl and 100m of back crawl.

July 20th

Today, try to do 300m any stroke and 100m any kick. As well, try 40 surface dives and 20 standing dives.

July 21st

Today we work on our Eggbeater. Eggbeater is used to keep the head and neck above water for prolonged periods of time.

Hopefully you were taught how to do eggbeater in Level 8, but here's a refresher.

1. Start vertically in the water with your arms spread out on the surface of the water and your knees bent.

2. With your right foot, trace a large circle, swinging wide from your body and coming back towards your other leg.

3. Repeat this process with your left leg, and time your legs so that your right foot swings into your body immediately followed by your left foot.

Do 1 minute to start of this kick, then take 30 seconds of rest and do another minute of eggbeater. Do this 5 times and try to keep your head and neck above the water.

July 22nd

As part of Drowning Prevention Week we will look at when it is safe to go swimming. Think about these factors and determine using your judgement whether the conditions are good to go swimming.

Swimming Alone
Impaired by drugs or alcohol
Diving headfirst into unknown waters
Any combination of the three above

Let’s think about each of these situations for a second. Swimming alone is never a good idea because something may happen to you and no one is there to help you. Being impaired is also a huge danger when swimming, as alcohol lowers the body’s perception of cold, so hypothermia (which can be fatal) is more likely to develop unnoticed. As well, diving headfirst into unknown water isn’t a good idea, as you could hit your head off the bottom of the lake or pool and sustain a serious injury. Finally, any combination of the previous three is only going to add more potential for serious injury or death.

July 23rd

Today is a review day of everything we have learned this week! As well, specifically practice eggbeater by doing 1 minute and 30 seconds of eggbeater and 30 seconds of rest. Try to identify more factors that could result in a drowning, such as wavy conditions or strong undercurrent. As well, as a challenge, I would like you to try a 500m distance swim, of any stroke, and take as long as you need. Have a great weekend!

Challenge of the week: 1000m of any combination of every stroke you know. For example, 100m of breast stroke, 400m of back stroke and 500m of front crawl. Take as long as you need and don't feel the need to do this all at once, although if you do I will be quite impressed.

July 26th

Today I would like you to work on your arm and leg endurance for front crawl. To get stronger arms, you need to overwork them. I would like you to place a floating object such as a flutterboard, noodle, or even something like a beach ball or football between your calves (lower part of your legs). The goal is to do the arm movements of front crawl without using your legs, which will cause them to work harder. Do this for 200m. For your legs, grab any floating object such as a flutterboard, noodle, etc, and do flutter kick for 200m. Do this 3 times, and I promise you will feel sore, but that means you did it right.

July 27th

Today I would like you to work on your breast stroke. We will focus on the kick and the arm movements separately. First off, when doing your whip kick, make sure to:

1. Bend your knees so that your feet are almost touching your butt.

2. As you begin the whipping motion, turn your feet slightly outwards to push the most amount of water.

3. Whip hard and fast, and keep your knees between shoulder distance apart.

4. Finish with your legs straight and glide before starting another kick.

For your arm motions:

1. Start with your arms about shoulder width apart and extended above your head like a wide rocket ship.

2. When pulling, pull down until your arms make a right angle at the elbow.

3. Pull your arms in towards your chest, and then extend them back to the starting position.

Do 200m of breast stroke as 4x50m (four swims of 50m).

July 28th

Today we will work on our eggbeater. Last week we managed to do the eggbeater for a minute and a half at a time. This week, I would like you to try for 2 minutes of eggbeater kick, with 45 seconds of rest. Try this 8 times and your legs should feel pretty beat up.

July 29th

Today I would like you to work on your distance! Do 200m of front crawl, 150m of back crawl, and 400m of any combination of the strokes you have learned. As well, do 50m of flutter kick, 50m of whip kick, 25m of dolphin kick, and 25m of scissor kick.

July 30th

Today I would like you to continue to work on your front crawl, back crawl, and breast stroke using the pointers that I gave you earlier in the week. Do 200m of front crawl, 200m of back crawl, and 100m of breast stroke. As well, don't forget to practice your dives, by doing 50 standing and 30 headfirst surface dives. Have a good weekend!

Final Challenge of the Week! I would like you to do a full 400m distance swim, 100m of front crawl, 100m of back crawl, 50m of breast stroke, 25m of scissor kick, 20 headfirst surface dives, 20 standing dives, 2 minutes of eggbeater, and a special challenge, 50m of dolphin kick.

August 2nd

Today we will attempt the most amount of dives in one day! I want you to do 100 total dives, with a minimum of 20 standing, 30 headfirst surface dives, and 10 kneeling dives. The other 40 can be whatever dives you want! Enjoy! As well, do 50m of front crawl, and 50m of back crawl. Try to complete those swims as fast as you can.

August 3rd

Today I would like you to work on your dolphin kick, as part of the final challenge of the week. We learned dolphin kick in previous levels, but we will refine it. When you do dolphin kick, you want your upper body (rib cage and above) to be completely motionless. To do this, you will want to start the dolphin motion at your core, by first undulating your waist, and continuing that motion down through your legs and finishing with a sharp kick. You will want to flex your abs to keep your upper body still. You can do dolphin kick either on your back, with your arms in a streamlined (rocket ship) position, or you can grab a floating object such as a flutterboard and kick on your front. I would like you to do this for 25m today, and it is up to you to finish the other 25 as a part of the challenge.

August 4th

Today I would like you to work on your kick. Grab a flutterboard, noodle, or any other floating object, and do 50m of flutter kick, 50m of whip kick, and 25m of scissor kick. Remember when you do your whip kick, to whip your legs as fast as you can to get the most out of every kick.

August 5th

Today I would like you to work on your distance! Do 100m of front crawl, 100m of back crawl, and 100m of breast stroke. As well, I would like you to do 20 standing dives and 20 headfirst surface dives. Enjoy!

August 6th

Today is the last day of lessons, so I thought it would be appropriate to have a celebration of sorts. Today you will first finish up the challenge of the week, then we will have some fun. To celebrate, I would like you to do 20 standing dives, and challenge another family member or a friend to do the same. Your goal is to have the smallest splash possible, and whoever has the smallest splash wins! As well, do a short 25m race again with family or friends, and see if you can beat them. I also invite you to try to beat my personal record, which is 12.39 seconds for a 25m sprint, however if you're nowhere close to that don't worry, after all I am a competitive swimmer. Have a great summer and thank-you for participating in this year's virtual lessons!