Photo: Thinkstock

Flash back to Labor Day twenty years ago: do you remember what it felt like to glide through the water at your local pool, or the pond at the campground, or the waves at the beach? Oh, the fun and freedom of being able to swim with the fishes (or the other kids in floaties)! To plunge, surge, reemerge, glide, flip and float! When your parents called you to come in for Bologna sandwiches, you'd do underwater somersaults and pretend you couldn't hear them. At the end of the day, as you reluctantly clambered onto dry land, you'd admire your prune-y, wrinkled fingers.

Over the years, our summers filled up with internships and odd jobs, and our beach holidays involved more sunbathing than swimming. Without regular access to a pool or pond, some of us are now tentative in the water. But with everyone from our physical therapists to our ob/gyns to our fitness trainers reminding us of the high-intensity, low-impact benefits of swimming, we're thinking more about it. That's why we decided to ask two swim coaches for their advice on getting back in the water. One more reason to dive in this weekend: average ocean water temps are still near their highest.

Ready to dip your toes in?