Learning how to swim underwater for beginners opens up a fun, freeing part of the water — gliding beneath the surface, seeing the pool from below, and moving smoothly through it. It’s simpler than it looks: mostly a breaststroke-style pull and a relaxed glide. But there are real safety rules around breath-holding, so let’s cover the how and the how-to-stay-safe.

The short answer

To swim underwater, take a breath, push off into a streamlined glide just under the surface, then pull with a wide breaststroke-style arm motion (sweep your hands out and back) with a gentle kick to stay down and move forward. Angle slightly downward to counter your natural float. Keep it short and shallow, come up calmly to breathe, and never hyperventilate or push your breath-holding limits. Wearing goggles so you can see makes it far more comfortable.

Before you start: the breath-holding safety rules

This matters, so read it first. Swimming underwater means holding your breath briefly — which is fine in moderation, but dangerous if taken too far:

  • Never hyperventilate (rapid deep breaths) before going under to “hold longer” — it can cause a sudden blackout underwater with no warning.
  • Don’t play breath-holding games or push how long you can stay down.
  • Keep it short and shallow, and never do it alone — a lifeguard must be present.

More on safe breath control in do I need to hold my breath underwater. Respect these and underwater swimming is a safe, fun skill.

Step 1: Get comfortable being under

First, just be okay underwater. Practice going under briefly and coming up, breathing out slowly through your nose so water doesn’t go in. Being able to open your eyes underwater — easiest with goggles — makes everything calmer because you can see where you’re going.

Step 2: The push-off glide

Underwater swimming starts with a good glide:

  • Take a breath, push gently off the wall or bottom, and streamline — arms stretched overhead, body long — angled slightly downward so you stay under. See how to glide in the water.
  • Feel yourself travel underwater on that single glide. That’s the foundation.

Step 3: The underwater pull

To keep moving once the glide slows, use a breaststroke-style pull, but bigger:

  • From the streamline, sweep your hands out, around, and all the way back to your hips in a wide arc (a longer pull than surface breaststroke).
  • Recover your hands back to the streamline in front.
  • Add a gentle kick (flutter or breaststroke kick) to help.
  • Repeat: pull, glide, recover.

Keep it smooth and unhurried — underwater swimming is about long, efficient glides, not thrashing.

Keeping water out of your nose

The thing that puts most beginners off going under isn’t the pull or the glide — it’s water shooting up the nose, which stings and makes you flinch. The fix is simple: breathe out slowly through your nose the whole time you’re under. That steady trickle of bubbles keeps water from going up, and it also stops you feeling the urge to gasp. You don’t need to blow hard — just a gentle, continuous stream. If breathing out through your nose feels tricky at first, a soft nose clip is a completely legitimate aid while you build the habit, and plenty of swimmers keep using one. Practice it standing in the shallows, face down, before you add any movement — once the bubble-breathing is automatic, everything underwater feels calmer.

Coming back up calmly

How you surface matters as much as how you go down. Don’t wait until you’re desperate for air — come up while you still feel comfortable, not when you’re on the edge of gasping. As you rise, tip your head back gently and keep breathing out through your nose so you break the surface ready to take a smooth breath in, rather than a panicked gulp that catches water. Angle your hands and a light kick to guide yourself up rather than clawing frantically. Building the habit of surfacing early and calmly is what keeps underwater swimming relaxed and safe — and it reinforces the number-one rule: never stretch your breath-hold to prove a point.

Staying down (fighting your float)

Your air-filled lungs make you buoyant, so you’ll naturally rise — that’s good for safety, but annoying when you want to stay under. To counter it: angle your head and hands slightly downward, and use the pull to direct yourself. Don’t fight it too hard; just swim underwater in shallow water where drifting up to the surface is completely fine.

Ear pressure

If you go a bit deeper, your ears may feel pressure. Gently equalize by pinching your nose and softly blowing, or by swallowing. Only go as deep as feels comfortable, and never push through ear pain — come up if it hurts.

Stay safe while you practice

  • Practice in shallow water with a lifeguard present — never alone.
  • Keep breath-holds short, come up whenever you want to, and never hyperventilate.
  • Stand up and rest between tries.

The next small step

Next session, just practice one thing: push off into a streamlined glide a few feet underwater, then stand up. Add the breaststroke-style pull once the glide feels natural. Short, calm, shallow — that’s how you learn to move beneath the surface safely.