What does a trainer teach in mermaid training?

[introverting]

There aren't any mermaiding classes in my location at the moment, so does anyone know some training exercises I can do on my own? Also, what's mermaid training like, and what's taught?

[Echidna]

They teach how to swim with a monofin/tail. Maybe some basic apnea stuff.

Sometimes they include some tips on how to strike a nice pose in a tail, mermaidy make-up, and "fun games" to play in a tail (like diving for rings).

From what I've seen, these kind of courses are aimed at small girls.
Courses aimed at adults are usually some really expensive modelling and photography courses, unless it's one of those "tail workout to lose weight" kind of deals.

[Seatan]

I actually just finished typing this on another thread, LOL, but I will rehash: There is no one thing that is taught in mermaid training. There are too many definitions of "mermaid." Some get in the water, some don't. Some freedive, some only swim at the surface and never hold their breath more than a few seconds. On and on. Some things to practice, however:

1. Swimming with your UPPER body
When you dolphin kick your chest and abs should be doing most of the work. The chest dips down, flexing your abs, and making the feet kick. It should not start in your knees. Watch YouTube videos on efficiently dolphin kicking. Make sure you bend very little at the knees and keep your feet pointed.

2. Minimizing drag
Get used to swimming like a rocket. Keep your hands pointed in front of you, or tight to your sides when you want to swim forward.

3. Neutral buoyancy.
Take some weights and find out how much weight you need to wear to be neutrally buoyant in the water. If your buoyancy is neutral you should be able to "hover" beneath the surface without going to the surface or the bottom. Work on keeping yourself neutral.

4. Apnea
There are lots of apps out there on apnea training. Start working on how long you can hold your breath.

5. Leg and ab strength
Start working out your legs so you can lift your tail out of the water and your abs so you can dolphin kick easily and efficiently.

6. Adjusting your swim path.
Practice swimming through hoops, doing spins and flips underwater, turning at corners, and other things that simply have to be practiced in your tail. It's going to be different in a monofin, so you need to get a "feel" for how you swim and how to adjust your body to swim the path you want. (When I did my Peak Performance Bouyancy class for PADI we had to swim through a small hoop while spinning in the water without touching the hoop with our body or our tank. This was hard because it's tough to remember you have a good eight-twelve inches extra on your back, but obviously this is not a problem for mermaids--it IS a problem, however, if you don't remember you are a couple of feet longer than normal and you bend your knees too soon, knocking the hoop with your tail!)

7. Smiling underwater with your eyes open.
It's not easy to look happy when you are almost blind and your eyes are burning with salt or chlorine. Practice this if you want underwater pictures.

8. Swimming without goggles.
This is the one that gets me. I HATE swimming without goggles. But you have to get used to doing tricks half blind. Also if you wear contacts, like I do, and you CANNOT see AT ALL without them (like me) then you need to practice doing everything underwater with your eyes closed because chlorine will suck them dry. Saltwater you should be okay. I can open my eyes in the ocean with contacts in, but not in the pool.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head--everyone else feel free to add! :)

[Yulia]

I think you'll get more out of it from regular swimtraining, mainly courses in butterfly stroke, i.e learning the dolphin kick.

[Nyx]

Also please keep in mind to ALWAYS swim with a buddy. Safety first, even pros need a companion just in case.
Seavanna hit pretty much every point of what you need to know, I'd also keep in mind learning how to dodge people and keeping an eye for who is running around and jumping into the water. This past weekend my friend and I had some close calls and almost collided with people who were being careless and not looking where they were going.
You don't need any special mermaid classes to learn how to swim properly as a mermaid, it's all practice! Yulia is right, if you are set on getting formal training, it is best to do swimtraining.

[Merman Andrew]

Hey there just an FYI I have just started some new threads on Mermaid classes and Mermaid Private lessons. You might find that one is opening in your area soon. See
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?12417-Mermaid-classes
http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?12418-Mermaids-offering-private-swimming-lessons