No Stupid Questions

The same way people can learn to dance while reading a book.

I firmly believe I was way more prepared to ride a motorcycle because I spent countless hours reading about techniques before I got on one.

So.. Maybe.

Maybe. But you won’t know until you actually try.

When I was a dancer - if one of us was injured, they made us come & watch the practice because apparently your body does gain knowledge just by watching.

But that was with a baseline knowledge already.

I think it would help, learning about swimming before doing it. More so if you are already physically active in some other way though.

Just like many physical things, not really.

A huge part of your brain is dedicated to motor skills and hand eye coordination. You aren't going to improve or learn these things until you actually do them. It's neurological, you can't move a muscle you don't have neurological connections for, it's a learned skill. And you cannot learn it without actually doing it and making those connections.

Imagine never letting a baby crawl, and you just teach them about crawling, walking, running....etc once they're old enough to understand. But they have never moved yet in their life.

They would essentially be disabled, none of the neural pathways necessary for the movement they need to do have been developed. These would need to develop from scratch, by struggling and failing.

Everyone here that says yes and then mentions practice is not getting your question.

The spirit of your question would be reading about it and understanding the theory and then dropping yourself in the middle of a lake. And either you learned and you swim to shore or you drown.

I'm sure most of the people here that are mentioning practice would understand that you would just drown and that you would not actually have learned how to swim.

I do a lot of research on random things. ADHD urges me to go into deep dives on very niche subjects that I don't really have any experience with. On the rare occasions that that research becomes applicable to my actual life, I do feel that I am more skilled than a complete novice would be. I still need to get the practical practice in but if I understand the core theory of something first, its way easier for me to pick it up first try.

All these "absolutely not" responses are silly, IMO. I speak as someone who's quite a good swimmer. Practical experience is important to get good, certainly. But if your main objective is simply to not sink and to have a basic ability to propel yourself, I think that's stuff you can manage quite easily starting from pure book learning. The "not sink" part is key, because that will give you the time to actually experience what it's like moving around in the water and clarify what that book learning told you.

You probably don't need 6 months of study, at that point your time would be better spent finding an actual pool. The sorts of basics I'm talking about here that would be useful is stuff like how to float with your face in the air so you can breathe, and once you've got that part down how to efficiently kick your legs to propel you rather than just flailing around uselessly. Learn those key tidbits, drill on just that, and then if you find yourself unexpectedly tossed in water you'll know what to do to not die and get yourself back to the edge.

Based on some real-world knowledge, no.

For example, there's this class that military helicopter pilots take as part of training for surviving water landings. They have the body of a helicopter which can be dropped into a big swimming pool. The pilots strap in, they're dropped into the pool, and they have to unbuckled and exit the helicopter.

So many people fail this, repeatedly. Scuba divers are in the pool just to extract the people who can't make it out. The issue is that when you panic, you tend to stop thinking rationally; it's why swimmer lifesaving is so dangerous - a panicking swimmer will do anything to save themselves, including grabbing the lifesaver and trying to climb on top of them, which can result in both people drowning. In the pilot case, people panic and can't unbuckle themselves, straining against the restraints to get out, until they have to be rescued. Even if they start well, trying to unbuckle, if they fumble at the restraints, they can panic and then they stop trying to unbuckle. Even though the helicopter is only a cockpit and a bay with big van-style doors, people panic and get lost trying to get out; they just can't find the bay doors, and have to be rescued. For these night tests, you can't see which was is up, and people panic and forget to take time to orient, and swim toward the bottom of the pool, and have to be rescued.

All of the theory in the world can't protect you from panic; the only thing that helps is experience. You do it enough that you get used to it and have confidence that keeps the panic at bay.

Studying isn't enough, because the first thing that goes when you panic is your ability to think rationally, and the only way to prevent panic is confidence, and that's developed through experience. It's why teaching always includes homework: you have to exercise the knowledge for it to become second nature.

I'm going to disagree with everyone here. Loads of people throughout history have learned to swim by literally being thrown in. It's not a good way to learn, but people do it. Even babies can do it.

Given a little bit of reading first, you'd do just fine. Yeah, the motions might be a little off cause it's hard to learn a complex movement from a book, but it would be good enough.

You don't learn muscle memory from books. Just go to watrr and try to float.

Into a pool? Yeah, it really isn't that hard. Plenty of people manage to get in their first time after verbal instructions and make it short distances.

You won't have great form, and you'll probably wear yourself out fast because of it, but as long s you know ahead of time that there's some basics that even a dummy can do to stay afloat while you rest, you'd be fine.

Wouldn't even take six months. If there was a book written with basic techniques, described well, you could absorb that in however long it takes you to read.

Panic would be the barrier, not knowledge. But knowledge can sometimes prevent panic, so it's totally doable.

I mean, fuck, I know people that have started out with way more complex movements with nothing but reading up and done well for a first timer. If there's illustrations, it's even easier.

I very much doubt it would but it would likely help to some degree. I can say I did not learn till late in life and am a horrible swimmer but do a decent backstroke and side stroke which are, to me, the more useful basic swim strokes. Learning to float on ones back is most of whats needed for a backstroke. The stroke itself can be fast or slow. Most people can be in neck heigh water and just relax to allow their feet to stop supporting them and keep their face and mouth above water. If they fill their lungs with oxygen the chest should naturally go up to the surface as well. Thats like with the worst body shape.

There was a German mathematician who allegedly managed to do it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Kaluza

Strange stories were told of his private life, for example, that he taught himself to swim during his thirties by reading a book about it and succeeded at his first attempt in the water.

I am skinny - if I am not actively swimming in fresh water I am sinking (sea is different but sea comes with waves which is an added complication). If I am tired or nervous then I have to fight with my subconscious to be calm and stay safe. So I would add mental strength to the list for a first time swimmer. And even then I’d say don’t go out of your depth.

Probably. Take it to the shallow part of a pool (where you can stand up if you need to) and practice until you are comfortable trying more.

Also, watch some videos. I think it’s easier to learn something like swimming by watching others than by reading about it.

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle, and depends on your definition of "swimming"

Can a grown adult who can stay calm in stressful situations learn swimming well enough from a book so that he doesn't drown the first time he jumps in a pool. Yes

Can everyone do that, definitely not.

It also depends on the activity, you can probably learn bowling from a book good enough to hit the pins and then get better from there.

You could definitely not learn to fly a helicopter from a book.

Most people don't immediately drown during swimming lessons, so yeah knowing the motions to make means they should be able to handle calm water as long as they don't panic. Heck, knowing how to do the dead man's float is enough for the vast, vast majority of people to stay bought for a long period of time.

Toss them in a heavy current and odds of survival are minimal without prior practice.

I would imagine that they’d forget most of what they learned the second they realized they were drowning. Panic would shut their brain down.

Maybe, if they recover somewhat and manage to doggie-paddle or something, they’ll remember a useful sentence or two.

Possibly. But there is a good reason that is not the way swimming is taught and I'd not jump in the deep end based on book knowledge.

That being said read, then practice, then read, then practice loop is a very quick way for me to learn.

I think: no.

With no experience, one will get stressed out and make uncontrolled movements. A save environment is needed for your brain to say "that ain’t half bad"

You couldn’t ride a bicycle by reading due to a lack of motor-skills, I think that swimming is the same, but due to a lack of mental-skills

No. You have to go into the water first to learn how to relax and float. Then you can learn a good technique.

No.

No.

There is only so much you can learn that is applicable to real life situation about body movement. I guess you can read that if you hold your breath and relax, or keep a certain upright posture with your arms extended, then you will remain afloat. But that's about it. You need to go and try it. No matter for how many years you read, you need to first go and try the basics.

You can say the same about riding a bicycle I guess or rollerblades or a skateboard

You can improve a skill by visualizing your performance of the skill.

But you need to have the experience beforehand to be able to understand what you’re visualizing.

So - absolutely not.

There’s enough people locally who die that it seems reasonable for me to project that thousands die globally each year because they have no clue how to swim, but other people are there having fun in the water and how hard could it be?

No, just like you don’t learn to drive, program, play an instrument, speak a foreign language, self-defend, etc. that way. The practise phase isn’t optional.

No.

Book-learning is realllllly overrated in our world, especially in a forum like this.

Less than 1% of knowledge is expressible in words.