Learning to Swim (better) with Chicago Endurance Sports

Workshop focus: Triathlon Swim Technique: Level 1 – this teaches (or reteaches) the basics of swimming

Location: 828 S. Wolcott. CES uses UIC’s Sport & Fitness Center. There’s a pink line two blocks away and street parking galore.

Workshop cost: $164

Money saving offers:

  • $149 Alumni rate. Once you’ve taken any class with Chicago Endurance Sports, you’re considered an “alum” and your rate goes down forever. (Seriously, forever)

The Fab Fit take:

I haven’t been shy about the fact that my swimming skills aren’t the strongest. This is when my mother usually reminds me that I took swimming lessons and passed with flying colors as a child. However, after being thoroughly traumatized by swimming in middle school gym class, I just pushed everything filed under “swimming” right out of my brain. (For the record: All 13-year-old girls have read YM by the time they enter middle school and they know that Becky M. from Michigan’s swimsuit top fell off in front of EVERY BOY and Brittany B. got you-know-what in the middle of a lap and NO ONE EVER FORGOT. It’s shocking that there’s not a national epidemic of 13-year-old girls hyperventilating in gym-class swimming)

It’s time to get over it. It’s time to learn to swim (better). Thus, I got myself a lap-swimming one-piece, some goggles and suited up to get the lowdown on not drowning with Chicago Endurance Sports.

photo (17)

I’m taking Triathlon Swim Technique: Level 1, which helps provide a “back to basics” look at swimming. The group also provides other classes to get you ship-shape to swim for fitness or in a triathlon. The Level 2 class starts November 5 and goes through December 10, so if you’re beyond doggy paddling or the back-stroke move my swimming instructor at age 7 called “Chicken-bird-soldier,” this might be for you. There’s also a Master Class for those “dedicated to improving their fitness through swimming.” The Master Class fall session started September 24 and the winter session starts January 7.

Our instructor Craig took the first week of the 5-week class to help correct our (my) bad behavior. Because I’m a nerd, when he explained WHY doing certain things and holding your body a certain way makes it easier to swim efficiently, I started getting it. He first evaluated our current swimming style. On a scale of help-me-I’m-drowning to Michael Phelps (who pet my dog one time), I was about a 3, which was better than what I expected.

After re-learning how to hold ourselves in the water with a kickboard (to everyone who joked that I’d be using kickboards and floaties …) we swam 12 pool-lengths. Without floaties. I was totally pooped by the time we got out of the pool. Everything everyone tells you about swimming for fitness is true.

I walked away feeling much much more confident and with some homework to be completed in the pool of my choosing. Now to find a place to swim between lessons …

Endurance MoveTagged , , , , , , , ,

About Jeana Anderson Cohen

Jeana Anderson Cohen is the founder and CEO of asweatlife.com a premiere wellness media destination that creates content and community to help womxn live better lives and achieve their goals. Before founding health-focused companies Jeana earned a degree in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison - and fresh out of college she worked on the '08 Obama campaign in Michigan. From there, she created and executed social media strategies for brands. aSweatLife fuses her experience in building community and her passion for wellness. You can find Jeana leading the team at aSweatLife, trying to join a book club, and walking her dog Maverick.

2 thoughts on “Learning to Swim (better) with Chicago Endurance Sports

Comments are closed.