I haven't seen a dedicated thread to swimming, so I thought I'd start one. I'm a late bloomer, so I'm still learning and trying to improve, and thought this would be a good place to share techniques, workouts, gear, etc - anything swimming related.
A bit of my story. I grew up taking swimming lessons, and learned all the basic strokes. But I always found it odd that I couldn't do a length or two of front crawl without being totally winded. I wasn't in bad shape, but when I heard people swimming 40 lengths or more, it blew my mind.
About 7 or 8 years ago, I stumbled on a blog where a guy described the exact same thing. He went from 2 to 40 lengths in 10 days by using a system called "total immersion". I just checked, and the original blog post is still available here, though it looks like he's becoming a bit of an internet personality.
I took just a few of the techniques, and the next time I went to a pool, I was able to swim 15 lengths right off the bat. What was more amazing was that I was tired, but not completely winded at the end. Also, when I stopped, I found I was actually sweating, like a real workout. I don't think I ever broke a sweat after going swimming before.
Briefly, the things I started trying to do were:
I'm out of breath after doing 1 or 2 lengths because I wasn't taking in enough oxygen when I breath, and because I used my legs too much. Legs use up a lot of oxygen because they have so many large muscles. To counter act this, I now just do a quick flutter kick on each stroke instead of kicking continuously. I also focus on breathing out all my air when my head is in the water, so I can get a good breath when I breathe.
Focus on aerodynamics. Keep the body as long as possible in the water to be more aerodynamic. This involves stretching your arm forward and actually twisting your body a bit to achieve a long body. The idea was if you stand facing a wall and stretch an arm up, you can actually reach a little higher if you twist your body slightly. This is the form I try to hold.
Focus on gliding. You don't have to churn your arms/legs to swim. Hold your aerodynamic shape on each stroke to glide. This saves energy, and maximizes the thrust of each stroke.
Get speedos. It was tough to wear the first few times, but they really do improve your ability to glide through the water. Goggles are also a must, though I was able to forego the swim cap since my head is shaved.
By doing these things, I started doing 40 lengths in about 23-24 minutes within a month, going twice a week. As my fitness improved, I got down to around 22 minutes.
I wasn't very regular - we swam on and off for a few years, but then realized I hadn't really swum for over a year. My wife and I just started again this past fall, and we have been fairly regular, going a couple mornings a week. I got inspired by watching this video on arm angle.
Spoiler!
I tried implementing this, focusing on my arm angle during the pull. I noticed a couple things. First, I can feel my lats working, so I know I'm engaging those larger muscles. Second, my time dropped almost 2 minutes over 40 lengths, to around 20:20. My goal is to hopefully break 20 minutes in the next 1-2 months.
A couple questions I have. First, is it worth it to learn to breath on both sides, so that you are doing 3 strokes between breaths? Breathing on my left side still feels very foreign, and I feel like my body is in the wrong position during and after I breathe. I can see you would be faster breathing every three strokes since you are in a good gliding position longer, but is that sustainable over longer distances?
Second, any tips on doing a proper flip turn? I still just touch the end, then push off, but I figure being able to flip turn would save time on each length. I've tried practicing a few times, but it's pretty hard for me. Very easy to get disoriented and I often end up really low in the water.
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In for the info. I'm a really late bloomer too. Never took lessons as a kid, but "knew" how to swim and could comfortably do a length, or swim around in the ocean for ages. Just had no proper technique. Now am 40 years old trying to stay healthy and figured swimming is a good low impact thing I can do for the rest of my life. Also find it quite peaceful and a good way to forget the day, focusing on getting through the water and improving.
Signed up recently for swimming lessons (stroke refinement classes, not "how to swim") and am now at the point where I can get in 40 lengths now in an hour long class - not crazy, but still 1km. Would like to double that (2km in an hour eventually.
Am starting to get chafing on the legs from the board shorts, not to mention how much they hinder certain kicks (e.g. breaststroke) and am realizing I may need to swallow my pride and put on something a little more form fitting.
Will definitely check out that total immersion you mentioned. I've heard of it before, but never looked into it myself.
Excellent timing for this thread! Just bought a membership for the pool at Canyon Meadows. I was no stranger to pools when I was younger. Started swimming at a young age and was a lifeguard/swim instructor through high school and college. Stopped for some time during my 20's and most of my 30's.
Now that I'm back in it, I too was blown away by how quickly I'd get winded swimming few laps. Those vids in that blog you posted will go a long ways to getting back in form.
Lots of people really only focus on the front crawl only though. Never a bad idea to get some others under your belt. I always found the Elementary back stroke to be by far my fastest.
Last edited by GoinAllTheWay; 11-28-2017 at 11:28 AM.
Yeah, swimming is almost the perfect exercise when you get older. I have lower back issues, but even when it's bothering me, I can still go for a swim and feel great afterwards.
Regarding board shorts vs speedos. It helps to swim when the entire pool is reserved for lane swims since pretty much every man (all ages, all sizes) is wearing speedos. I couldn't do the briefs, but I wear the speedos that go down to your knees.
Couldn't agree more with swimming being relaxing and peaceful. It's generally quiet, and when you are gliding, it feels like flying.
That said, the two scenarios I've found where swimming was stressful was 1) the pool is really crowded and it's hard to get in a rhythm, and 2) open water swimming in a lake or ocean. You're swimming along and suddenly you enter a really weedy area or worse, you go past an underwater shelf and the water suddenly gets really deep. Ugh.
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Ya, I could never do speedos. I just figure the extra resistance from wearing a normal swimsuit would be good for me. First time I'll be swimming with a full beard so not likely gonna do well in time trials
Love swimming but it's a bit hard to get motivated at times to chuck yourself into somewhat chilly water when it's -30 outside. At least there is usually a hot tub to look forward to after. Also waiting until 8 for public swim lanes to open can suck too.
Lots of people really only focus on the front crawl only though. Never a bad idea to get some others under your belt. I always found the Elementary back stroke to be by far my fastest.
Yeah, a friend on Facebook just posted her 13 year old daughter's winning time in the 50m backstroke - it was under 35 seconds. What?! I don't think I could hit that time if I went flat out on my front crawl!
My mom put me in a swim club when I was about 13 years old. I was a terrible swimmer, and could not open my eyes in the water, and never learned to breathe properly.
Somehow, I got entered in a swim meet in the Butterfly stroke. I was way behind the other swimmers - maybe a length or two, and when I started the last length I could hear the whole stadium cheering loudly - for the "special" boy who tried his best against normal children.
If you want a low pressure means of improving your swimming ability, if the pool is relatively empty, just ask the lifeguard to watch you swim and if they have any suggestions.
They will be able to give you good feedback and likely have the ability to communicate it to you because of their experience with lessons.
It's a low pressure way to get minor adjustments that can make a huge difference in your enjoyment and progress.
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Swimming is all about technique. Do the work, do the drills. Work on that, and the speed will come. Suck it up and wear the 3/4 length speedo jammers. Managed 2.3K last week in an hour, good to be back in the pool.
I did Yellow, Orange and Red for sure. I'm not sure if I did Maroon or not. Not sure why I dropped out, but after I completed Red or Maroon I told my mom that I was never doing swimming lessons again. I wish she pushed back on that, but she just let it be.
Here's the thing... I love swimming! I always loved swimming. I love taking my kids swimming. They are all good swimmers and take lessons every year.
I wish I was a better swimmer. I don't care about being the guy who can swim dozens of lengths. I just want to do one length without being gassed. I have good muscular and cardiovascular endurance... except for when I swim. I'm going to try some of these tips pointed out here. I'd like to take some sort of adult lessons, but being a family man with 3 kids, it is hard to make time.
I do love swimming though. One question I have is, is it worth it to get prescription goggles? I’m blind as a bat and I don’t wear contacts. The biggest thing I dislike about swimming is that I can’t really see anything. Which isn’t such a big deal once you get in the water and get going. But it’s not ideal to not really be able to see anything except blobs heading out to the pool and trying to read signs, watch the clock, etc.
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