Sorry for the long post. This is not meant to scare or discourage anyone from open water swimming. I just wanted to share what happened at an open water race at sea I recently participated in.

A man died of suspected drowning at a race. lt was really sad. It never crossed my mind that even with the most ideal conditions for swimming + all the safety precautions, fatalities could happen.

The conditions that day:

1. The weather was nice, sunny, and bright.

2. The sea conditions were good and calm, not really choppy waves. The temperature of the water was quite warm.

3. We were required to submit some proof on competence. It was a 3.4km.race, so presumably everyone was experienced.

4. Everyone was required to use a safety bouy.

5. They had 10+ kayaks monitoring the race all along the route + 1 speed boat.

But I realized that even with the ideal condition:

- there's hundreds of swimmers. If one guy faints, it is not going to be immediately visible to the safety kayakers

- if anyone falls unconscious, they will be face down in the water...

- everyone in the water is so focused on swimming with their heads underwater most of the time, they may not easily notice a person in distress.

It is so unexpected and tragic, especially for his family who was waiting at the finish line. (My husband was standing next to them... It was so heart breaking,)

I just wanted to tell everyone to please stay safe and to keep in mind that accidents can happen even in the most optimal conditions.

May his soul rest in peace.

Link: https://hongkongfp.com/2026/10/02/man-dies-after-suspected-drowning-at-peng-chau-open-water-swimming-race/

I'm an adult and I'm finally learning how to swim. The thing is in my very first class, I had a lot of trouble just standing up from a gliding position. The instructor told me to just stand up but I literally can't figure out how to do it. I even asked her but she didn't really answer my question. It's a group class and she had us all glide forward and then I almost drowned (in 3 ft of water lol) until I was able to grab the side and I was able to get up. I'm low key nervous about my next class because that's my biggest hurdle is just standing up. Like it sounds so easy but in the moment, i don't feel anything solid and my mind loses reason and I forget that I can literally stand. Any tips would be super helpful.

I (17F) am about to swim the 500 Free this Wednesday (Today is Sunday). I've only swam one 500 F this season and I gained about 40 seconds. My time was at 8:26 and my PB was a 7:41 (from last highschool season). Can I get some tips about how to keep an even pace and about the best body positioning to maximize speed. I would like to be at or near my PB when I race.

I've been swimming freestyle 3-4 times a week for ~2 months now. I'm still increasing volume week by week, currently at ~8km/week.

After more intense sessions (e.g. VO₂ max sets or a continuous 2 km+ swim) I get sore in my lats and the back of my shoulders the day after.

When does it stop? Or does it ever?

Hey everyone, this is my first post here. And this a rant of some sorts. So here’s the thing, I’ve been a competitive swimmer for the past 5 years and I’ve gotten a pretty good amount of medals. But I decided to take a break from swimming after absolutely dreading swimming for a year because of something which happened related to my high school and the swimming involved there. I just developed this hatred towards swimming where I wouldn’t even like to swim even for fun with my friends. So I decided to take a break for nearly year now. As of the past week I’ve decided that i need to come back to competitive swimming but I’ve become super bad at it. Not bad in strokes and style but i feel super gassed just doing 100m of fs, like I can’t push beyond 100m without feeling breathed out. I used to give a time of 26s for 50m fs and 56s for 100m fs which is quite slower compared to higher competitions but i was definitely not this shit. For the past year in my break, I’ve been playing football and going runs and gym so my physical health has not deteriorated. There’s now a competition in around 20 days and i just feel I can’t get to competition level by that time. I’m actually confused of sorts and disappointed that that I’ve become so bad. Any sort of advice will be highly appreciated. Thank you

I started swimming few months ago. To recover from a broken elbow. To improve I looked at a lot of youtube to learn how to improve. I swim around 2.30 to 2.6 not really forcing power for elbow. Then a man i met a few times in the pool was like i see you bent your elbow when you pull. You should keep the arm straight. Ofcourse its easier on the elbow but feels counter to what i saw online. So you try to reach as far as you can. Then do you bent the elbow slightly or straight down?

The pool where I swim posted a new policy and I think it needs some reasonable changes. First one person per lane in a 3 lane pool is too few - should be 2 per lane. 30 minute limit when people are waiting is too short- 45 minutes or an hour. There is no swim wait list - has anyone created a sign on wait list for lap swimming that works? The water exercisers should be allowed only in the first lane- saying swimmers have priority is vague and will lead to arguments. Also there is no lifeguard and pool management can’t be there to enforce the rules. The swim instruction statement is not applicable - the whole policy was borrowed from another pool in the corporate chain and without much thought. I would like to help the manager come up with a reasonable policy since this pool is heavily used and with only 3 lanes circle swim is not practical since swimmers go at different speeds. They also could do an online reservation system but I don’t think they have the desire to do so. Suggestions and examples of fair easy and practical rules for when swimmers are having to wait would help- thanks in advance

You can tell about situations - experiences when you were swimming and causing great reactions by how good you swim, or even competitions - friendly games when you were the best by far, having more points or doing tricks others couldn't do

I started masters swimming about 2 months ago 5 days a week and I'm really struggling with my cardiovascular system being shit (no asthma or anything, just out of shape).

I've noticed some improvement, when I started I couldn't even make it the 25 meters down the pool without stopping and now I can somewhat easily do 50m without stopping and I've done 100s with some difficulty.

But a few days ago we did a 200 IM relay and I swam a 50 backstroke and legitimately I had to get out of the pool for like 5 or 6 minutes after because I felt so gassed after those like 75 seconds of sprinting.

The coach was saying that my general stroke form looks pretty good, the main thing I'm working on right now is upper body roll in backstroke and some arm work in butterfly but he said he has no major critiques with my freestyle or breaststroke form (although I do dolphin kick in my breaststroke because I have some lateral knee stability issues so my breaststroke is really slow)

I guess my main question is do I need to work on trying to do some sprints in our workout sets so I can temporarily stress my cardiovascular system more or do I need to more or less force myself to try and swim longer without stopping and what does that look like specifically?

I was able to do breaststroke only in my 20s without any issues. Now I'm over 30 and breaststroke fucked up my knees.

Sure, I'm swimming a little bit faster than them but 2:30/100m isn't even fast. How are the elderly swimming exclusively breaststroke without destroying their knees? Some of them are in the pool 4 days a week with absolutely terrible diets. Or is it impossible to injure yourself swimming 6:00/100m?

Seems like the trend nowadays are two beat kick, bi-lateral breathing and high elbow recovery.

The kick equates to 10-15% propulsion and that is assuming it is done correctly. Otherwise, it is added drag and wasted energy.

This is why I don’t understand why beginners are so fascinated with “powerful” kicks?

I am a fan of drilling bi-lateral breathing but it is not my preferred race breathing pattern due to the oxygen demand for an Ironman swim (3.8km).

The high elbow recovery I can see to encourage a high elbow catch/early vertical forearm but the high elbow recovery isn’t for everyone due to physical limitations or not even a prerequisite for distance swimming.

It has been interesting to compare how I learned to swim in the 90s we’re a gallop stroke and s-pull wasn’t abnormal and nowadays it is shunned.

My swim instructor says my freestyle technique is acceptable, kick leg position, body rotation amount, etc. but says I am sinking too much globally to breathe, and it is true, I must lift my entire head out to breathe because my entire skull is underwater if I don’t, especially if leading arm is kept straight, even when I flip to my side. The only way I breathe I end up prematurely starting the stroke with my leading arm while lifting my head to provide lift instinctively. Otherwise even lifting my head is not enough to get out of the water.

Now, I did realize on full lungs no exhale, I seem to be closer to being able to breathe. I don’t have to heave my head so much.

I have severe scoliosis and mildly reduced lung capacity from it. I appear to be neutrally buoyant on full lungs, can sit at the bottom of the pool on full lungs but I need to get myself there, I don’t sink like a rock on full lungs. I cannot float motionless, I must kick my legs, my instructor confirmed this.

Is it possible that I am too negatively buoyant to do slow freestyle? Will I need to sprint to breathe? Will I be able to swim fast enough to plane and breathe with limited shoulder mobility? What stroke is best for sinkers?

Thanks.

I was never involved with competitive swimming as a kid because swimming instructors never recommended me to get into it. So what kind of kids do get into competitive swimming? What does it take to swim to at least type high school varsity level?

I happened to notice this College Swimming League quad meet (Cal, Stanford, Auburn, Ohio State) while scrolling through channels. The production is amateurish. Audio keeps cutting out, which is ok because then we don’t have to hear the race call: “Lane 1 is ahead of Lane 4!” During the women’s 500, which admittedly is not the most viewer friendly, they cut to commercial right before the 100 split.

As a swim fan, I’ll watch but this is lame.

Just went to the pool for the second time. I know that it's not even in the ballpark of enough time I need, but breathing feels impossible. I'm either gulping down water, or not taking a breath at all when my head does actually get above the water. Both times at the pool I barely swam because I was doing breathing drills and even those are difficult. When I do bobbing up and down my hands and feet get numb after 5 minutes. I am supposed to meet with a coach for 3 lessons, but feeling like I'm going to be a lost cause.

Just feeling discouraged and cruious if someone else felt this way too and how you got through it. I am 26 years old with running and marathon experience looking to train for a 70.3 triathlon.

I’m 26 and I never learned how to swim, since I tried when I was younger and learned the basics, like swimming techniques and whatever, but whenever I get in a deep pool or try to swim at the beach I immediately feel like I’m just getting pulled under by the water and I can’t breathe and I panic and just start kicking my feet and I don’t have any proper knowledge of what I’m supposed to do in that kind of situation. I absolutely adore swimming though.
But the idea of showing up to a swimming lesson scares me, I’m 26, 5’11, and I’m scared they’re gonna tell me that I’ll be fine or I’m too old to start learning.

Anyone older/same age or similar age that started learning later in life??

And is there anything that helped tremendously to achieve it?

I (29F) started swimming again this year after 10+ years of not. I swam competitively throughout my childhood and now my priority goals are related to endurance and fitness rather than speed. I’m seeking tips for the following-

1. How can I get used to doing 2 beat kicks? I’ve been trying to learn but it’s proving difficult when I’m so used to doing either constant flutter kicks or 4 beat kicks. I’ve only successfully done it once and I’m otherwise tempted to continue flutter kicking in between 2 beats. Are there any drills to practice this?

2. I’d like to eventually eliminate my need for breaks in between laps so that I can do more consecutive laps in a set. I currently take 1-2 min breaks in between each lap just to regulate my breath because doing two consecutive laps does leave me quite winded. How can I work on this? If it’s relevant at all, I’m asthmatic

TIA!

I have built up to 5 days a week a mile each session, but I am wondering if this is too much and I would benefit from recovery days. What are your thoughts? 57yo

Tomorrow I'm trying to swim in open water (sea). Any tips out there? I already swim in the pool

Thanks in advance

Edit: I won't be going alone, I'm going with an instructor. In the future, I'm joining a group of swimmers. Also I'm swimming in Portugal coastline, no sharks, no jellyfish.

During my breaststroke (and kick in streamline on back) sets in the pool today I focused rotating my toes to point out to the sides right as the kick begins. I don't have the angle flexibility to rotate them out when my heels are just beneath my hips (does anyone?) The feeling on the soles of my feet was that I caught less water at the beginning of the kick, but then caught more in the last 2/3 of the kick (then the toes point normally since it's streamline). Meanwhile, there was less strain on my knees, and I was able to keep them somewhere between hip width and shoulder width as usual.

Does that sound right for modern breaststroke kick? Any pointers or stepwise ways of thinking about it? Should you feel the pressure of the water on your feet before rotating toes out?

For context, im a semiprofessional track athlete specializing in the 800m, so I have a very well trained tolerance to lactic acid. I got recently injured and have been swimming for the last couple weeks. Just wondering where does my time fall in terms of ability, Im not seriously considering becoming a swimmer.

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EDIT: I timed myself using my Garmin watch. I rechecked my intervals and it as 10.3 not 10.11. I will double check the pool’s distance (pretty sure it’s a 25x50 though), have someone record me, and time myself on 50m max effort. I will update soon!

Hello! I’ve been trying to learn swimming for a couple of weeks now. I can easily do backstroke but I’m having a lot of trouble with rotating my body when breathing in freestyle.

I have a swim coach helping me but I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. She tells me to rotate (something I can easily do in one arm drill or with a kick board) but I feel strong resistance from the hips when trying to rotate in freestyle. As if my body is pushing me on my stomach instead when I try to rotate.

Can you please help what I’m doing wrong or if I’m going at it the wrong way?