LifeCycle Swimming Frequently Asked Questions

Where are your locations?

In the Summer we rent private residential heated backyard pools in or very close to Montclair, New Jersey. Every summer we typically have 3-4 pool locations with 3-4 teachers. These pools are on well-maintained properties with a bathroom and emergency shelter available. Learn more here.

In the cold weather months we teach out of the Clifton Sports and Fitness Club in Clifton, NJ at 199 Scoles Ave., Clifton, NJ. Learn more here.

How much are lessons?

We have several types of lessons with different costs, clearly published on our website.

Reserved Time Blocks/Indoor
Clients can reserve a time block of 30 or 60-minutes, and fill it with 1-3 students. Lessons are sold in packages of 4, 6 or 8.
Click here for the price chart.
​
Reserved Time Blocks/Outdoor
Clients can reserve a time block of 30, 45 or 60-minutes and fill it with 1-4 students. Lessons are sold in packages of 3, 4 or 6.
Click here for the price chart.

​SwimSurge™
These programs are sold as consecutive-day sessions.
4-day-in-a-row sessions: click here for June program pricing.
We also offer various SwimSurge™ options throughout the year during school breaks. Prices will vary depending on number of days-in-a-row.

Youth Group Classes
Our sessions typically run as a month-long, 4-class session. Click here for prices.

Do you make house calls to a private pool?

Yes! We love making house calls to our clients' home, condo or apartment pool during warm-weather months. Read this to learn more about why home pool lessons are so great.

​Here are the home pool house call prices.

We serve the following towns: Montclair, Glen Ridge, Bloomfield, Verona, Clifton, Cedar Grove.
For locations more than a 20-minute drive from central Montclair, there will be a travel surcharge.

​Here's how the process works:

Step 1: Fill out this request form for new clients, and this form for existing clients.
These forms tell us about your location, students and the days and times that work best for you.
Step 2: We match you with a teacher and send you a proposed schedule.
Step 3: We schedule and deliver the Home Pool Safety Assessment (required $99 purchase)
Click here to learn how the Home Pool Safety Assessment helps us keep your family safe, and teaches you how to keep your family safe around your pool.
Step 4: Lessons start!

What days are you open? What are your hours?

Indoor Pool Cold-Weather Schedule mid-September-May:
Clients can reserve indoor time blocks at our Clifton location as follows:
Mondays 3:00p-6:00p
Saturdays 11:00a-2:00p
Sundays 11:00a-3:00p

​We also offer some group classes during these times; and guardian-assisted group classes on some weekday mornings.

Outdoor Pools June-mid-September Schedule:
The outdoor multi-pool and multi-teacher schedule for reserved time blocks is typically published and available for booking by mid-February.
​You can expect much more availability including weekdays morning through afternoon, some weekday evenings until 6:00p and weekends.

House Calls
We can arrange for a teacher to come to your home or condo/apartment pool.  Fill out this form for repeat customers and this form for new customers, and we will get back to you with a proposed schedule.

What age should swim lessons start?

At LIfeCycle Swim School in Montclair, New Jersey, we follow the Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to begin swim lessons at one year old. For children ages 12-36 months, early, positive water experiences help build comfort, competence and confidence in sync with skill development.  We offer parent-and-child water acclimation classes, beginner water survival classes and toddler swim lessons designed specifically for this age group. Our lessons focus on water acclimation, building self-rescue skills for toddlers, and water safety education for parents. Generally speaking, children who participate in toddler swim classes will typically have an easier time learning to swim once their coordination matures past age three.

Parents play a key role in understanding what to expect at each stage of a child's learn-to-swim journey. Read below for a summary of what to expect for ages 12-26 month swim classes...and click here to find out more about our full children's progressive curriculum.  

12-36 Month Swim Class Expectations
Our guardian-assisted swim classes focus on water acclimation, beginner survival skills and parent education, and are designed for child and caregiver to take together. Participants will learn:

• Protocols for keeping young children safe in and around water.
• Facts about swim floatation devices such as swim vests, floaties, life vests, Puddle Jumpers®, noodles, rafts and inflatables.
• How to hold and support young children in the water.

• How to safely enter and exit a pool.
• Safety drills for accidental water entry.
• Comfortability, blowing bubbles, and opening the eyes in water.
• Rudimentary arm and leg movements; assisted floating.
• How and why to facilitate belly and back water time, and basic hydrodynamics.

*Any child not potty trained must wear three layers of protection: a disposable swim diaper against the skin a re-usable swim diaper on top of that, and then a bathing suit. Guardian should follow protocols for checking diapers while near and in water to help prevent water contamination and RWI's (recreational water illness).  You can find recommendations for swim diapers on our blog.

Starting around ages 3 to 4, most children develop the coordination and motor skills to begin learning to float and paddle independently. From there, progress grows naturally with each child’s comfort level and the frequency of lessons. Read our Youth Curriculum to find out what to expect at each age.

All this being said..IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO START SWIM LESSONS.  Some children start after age one, and that's okay! At LifeCycle Swim School we'll meet you where you are, regardless of age.

Use these links to find out about our other classes:
Curriculum for ages 3-15, lessons for teenagers, lessons for special needs students, lessons for adults, or for people who experience anxiety around water.

Does LifeCycle Swim School have adult classes? Or classes for teenagers?

Yes!

The majority of the classes for adults and teenagers are conducted as private time blocks. This means you can reserve a 30, 45 or 60-minute time block to have a lesson. The lesson can be private, or with up to four people of the same level. LifeCycle Swim School does not provide the other students, the person reserving the time block makes the group and provides the students. People arrange to take the group lessons with spouses, friends or relatives.

We sometimes add public group classes or workshops for teens and adults. Please watch our public class schedule or call us to find out about any upcoming group classes where you can join a group.

Learning Style for Teens and Adults
Learning to swim is a progressive skill-building process. Regardless of age, everyone needs to learn the same skills in roughly the same order. The difference is how we talk to, demonstrate and teach older students. Our teaching techniques are always age-appropriate. Our teachers are trained to take advantage of the skills that older learners have, such as self-awareness, motivation, advanced cognition and life experience.

Is any special equipment needed?

Swim caps: We require swim caps for lessons in any LifeCycle pool.  Swim caps help keep the water clean for all swimmers by minimizing hair in the pool. Additionally, hair getting in face and eyes is a distraction to lessons, and interrupts arm movements that are trying to focus on swimming .  Finally, many public pools require swim caps, and this policy helps everyone get accustomed to wearing swimming caps as a life skill. If a person has sensory issues that may make cap wearing challenging, we do our best to at least begin introducing caps to students.
If lessons are in a private pool, swim caps are still recommended, especially for those who have medium to long hair to reduce distraction.

Goggles: recommended, but not required, for ages 5 and older. Having goggles allows clear visibility of underwater demonstrations, and helps protect the eyes from prolonged exposure to the water. Still, all students will learn to open their eyes under water as a safety skill.
For children ages 1-4 goggles can be more of a distraction than a help.
Ages 1-3: No goggles
Ages 3-5: Goggles optional. Instructor will determine for each student if goggles are appropriate.
Ages 6+: Recommended

Rash Guards: recommend for children with sun or temperature sensitivity.
Sunscreen: highly recommended during outdoor lessons.

Check out our curated selection of these products and more from Swim Outlet.com.

How often should lessons be taken?

The trend in swim lessons is to teach in a more concentrated time frame — two or three times per week — at least until students have achieved Basic Water Competency.  A concentrated schedule (rather than 1x per week) typically achieves results in a shorter amount of time, and most importantly, makes students safer earlier.  It also capitalizes more easily on the momentum from the previous lesson, and helps build confidence.  In parts of the world where warm weather is limited, this is especially helpful as students will be able to enjoy their skills more during the summer they learn them.
​However, it's not always realistic to manage an intensive swim schedule due to other commitments or financial concerns.  The classic one lesson per week is fine — it just takes longer to reach goals.
​How often lessons are taken also depends on goals.  Our instructors will help set realistic, yet challenging goals based on how many lessons are taken, the frequency of lessons and the assessment of the student.
Finally, skills learned during swim lessons can regress if students aren't exposed to water at least a few times during the year.  Find a venue for open swim or a few "tune-up" lessons during the year to be sure students don't forget their hard-earned skills.
Generally, it's best to have the long view with swim lessons.  Learning to swim all four racing strokes well in one summer isn't realistic.

How long will it take to learn to swim?

First, let's define the word "swim."  For many this question really means, "How long will it take for me to feel more comfortable that I or my child won't drown?"  By learning Basic Water Competency (BWC), the chance of drowning is reduced 88%!  To have BWC does not mean a person needs to execute a flawless freestyle.  Basic Water Competency means that if a person falls into deep water, they have the skills necessary to re-surface and safely and confidently swim 25 yards to the side of the pool and exit the pool.  If this is what you mean by "swim" then this can typically be taught in 4-12 hours of private swim lessons, depending on age - assuming there is no issue with fear of water.  On the other hand, if you mean, "How long until I or my child can swim a great looking freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke?" then the answer is: this will take much longer.  Practice, feedback and more practice are necessary for everyone to learn and refine strokes.  Most people fall in between these two goals.  They want to learn basic freestyle and one other stroke.  For this, to "swim" means swimming with the face in the water in a prone position, confidently and comfortably enough that a person can get meaningful exercise from swimming. For this, an additional 6-12 hours with feedback and practice may do the trick, knowing that endurance must also be built up and is separate from learning and refining stroke form.  Finally, even after someone has achieved Basic Water Competency, he or she should never swim alone; and children should always be watched, even when a lifeguard is on duty.

Are the LifeCycle pools heated?

Yes.
At our indoor Clifton location within the Clifton Sports and Fitness Club, the large pool is heated to 85°F, and the baby pool is heated to 90°F.
All of our outdoor pools are heated and kept to a target temperature of 82°-87°.

If a student is sensitive to water temperature:

• Plan on having students swim in a rash-guard or thermal suit. We have recommendations for these items on our SwimOutlet.com store:  https://www.swimoutlet.com/lcsstore
• It's worth mentioning that the Lifecycle teaching experience is probably more active than other swim classes you may have seen.  At some swim schools teachers leave students waiting too long at the side of the pool.  Due to this inaction, students can get cold. We keep students busy, engaged and having fun while learning so that their bodies are active.
• If a child expresses concern about water temperature before class, we advise caregivers to tell them the pool is heated and to gently shift the topic to fun aspects of swimming.
• If we start to see shivering or blue lips, we take the students out, wrap them in a towel, and teach through demonstration and dry deck drills from the side of pool.  If this happens for more than half the lesson we will consider a re-scheduled lesson at no extra charge.
• Something to remember:  A pool on a hot summer day feels refreshing to many people.

How do I pay?

Payment for pre-season bookings are due 7 days after reservation is confirmed; in-season bookings are due 5 days before first class.
Payment is accepted by PayPal, Zelle or personal check.

PayPal two ways:
1. Directly on the Lifecycle Swimming scheduling page as you book your appointments.
2. PayPal:  [email protected]. * Please pay with "FRIENDS AND FAMILY OPTION."

By Credit Card: Pay directly on the website with your MasterCard, Visa or American Express. We can also send you a credit card invoice.

By Zelle:
Use email address:  [email protected]

By Check:
Make check out to: Lifecycle Aquatics, LLC
Mail to: 18 Stephen St. Montclair, NJ 07042

What happens if it rains during my outdoor swim lesson?

Lessons in any outdoor pool are subject to inclement weather cancellations.  Families do not get charged for any weather-canceled lesson.  The Central Montclair pool has an Emergency Action Plan (EAP) in place for lightning or other weather related concerns.  Dark clouds, or the sound of any lightening, even coming from a distance, will require immediate exit from the pool and into the shelter space provided, and then exit from the property when safe. Generally speaking, class proceeds at instructor's discretion, with safety being the primary concern. Class won't be canceled for light rain. Class will be canceled for medium to heavy rain, thunder/lightening, or air temperature below 65°F.  On a day with a forecast of potential inclement weather, the instructor will text to confirm or cancel/reschedule the lesson. If you do not receive a text, assume that the lesson is proceeding.
Options for weather-related cancellations:
- Add time to a subsequent lesson; or attempt to re-schedule.
- Refund issued, pro-rated to the missed time or lesson.
- If medium rain (no lightning) starts during class, instructor may continue safety skills and muscle work in covered area.

Do I have to get in the pool with my child?

For group classes with children under 36 months, a guardian must accompany the child in the water.  For private and semi-private classes guardians and the teacher may choose whether a guardian is needed in the water.

Over 3 years old we recommend students take class without a guardian in the water.  It's possible a child may need a few classes to adjust to taking a class without a parent. That said, At the same time, note that a guardian must be on deck with a clear view of the lesson at all times.

Any child not potty trained must be wearing a reliable swimmer diaper, and guardian's should follow protocols for checking diapers while near and in water to help prevent water contamination and RWI's (recreational water illness).  You can find recommendations for swim diapers on my SwimOutlet.com curated store:  http://www.swimoutlet.com/lcsstore
If you cannot find a guardian to accompany a baby in the water, please email me and we'll try to work something out.

Do you offer gift certificates?

YES!  What a great idea to give a gift the gift of survival that lasts a lifetime and provides endless opportunities for relaxation, fitness and social connection!
​Click here for more information.

How are LifeCycle Swim School teachers trained?

Our teachers are all certified lifeguards, and typically have college racing experience, previous teaching experience, and then go through our own internal teacher certification process. Our certification process includes 12 hours of online training, plus 12 hours of shadow-assistant teaching before they can teach on their own. All teachers are highly trained in our SaferSooner™ method, and all of the unique learning activities and games that make our lessons so fun for kids.

Additionally, our teachers receive special training for working with adults, people with anxiety around water and students with special needs who learn or move differently.