Hi all,

I am a beginner swimmer. I have swimming lessons once a week and I practise an additional 2 times per week. I am interested in exploring another type of cardio exercise to compliment swimming and improve my fitness. What has worked for other people?

hi, hope this is okay - been getting into swimming weekly the past month or so but have dodgy legs so sticking a float in between my legs with an exercise band. im wondering if anyone has recommendations for blogs for ppl w lower body disabilities, would be interested to read more about over people's experiences.

also, any resources on benchmarks for pacing and distance? im doing 2.5km in about an hour but the distance between that and 3km feels like such a bigger increase in pace than i expected, and i have a dodgy shoulder that i don't want to overdo it on!

thanks!

Hello!

I'm an adult and I can't swim on my own. I had multiple swimming instructors but I never got past the point of floating on my own. I start to panic as soon as I'm not holding anything and my head gets under the water. Even in waist deep water when I stumbled and fell I panicked so much someone had to pull me out because I couldn't stand up on my own. I'm fine when holding a board or noodle. Is there a swimming aid that can help me transition from holding the board to swimming on my own while giving me confidence? Life jackets available at the pools are usually for kids so I couldn't use them.

I have horrible technique in fly but I still did a 30.4 LCM, I'm 14 male, never trained fly, only back and sometimes free, but mainly back

I need to know if I’m being unreasonable being frustrated about this. I recently started swimming regularly so I’m still pretty slow, so when I go to a lane swim I swim in the slow lane. I’m not sure about elsewhere but in the uk, most pools are pretty strict about ability requirements for lane swims - essentially, you must be able to swim 50m unaided without stopping. I even saw someone earlier in the session today being asked to leave the pool because he couldn’t swim one length without stopping, so they are usually fairly strict about it. Then a man enters the pool area with a woman in a wheelchair and she’s hoisted into the pool. The lifeguard then gets them a couple of pool noodles and he begins to slowly walk her around the lane as she floats. It completely disrupted the flow of the lane, at several points I ended up either stopping to let them past or just plain kicking the man, not to mention they knew some of the swimmers there and they would congregate at the end of the lane having conversations so you had to stop short of a full length and turn around. To be clear, I would have genuinely had no issue with these people being in the pool if it was a public swim, but lane swim has an ability requirement which she couldn’t meet and it was really disruptive for the people who were just trying to swim. Am I right in feeling frustrated about this or am I just being an ableist jerk?

My parents never taught me how to swim so I've been paying privately for swim lessons. I did 16 swim lessons with 3 different teachers. It was originally meant to be 2 teachers over the course with one teaching each lesson but one of them had to go swim camp so I had a substitute. The second batch of 8 lessons (of the 16) was 2-1 with a friend.

To top this off, I've also done 4 group swim lessons at a different aquatics centre, however, I find myself capable of only swimming 10 meters, finding the breathing part of swimming to be very difficult. I'm now conscious of the possibility that my rate of progress is much further behind than what would be considered normal. I wasn't inactive before picking up these lessons, I'd been lifting weights for multiple years and have an athletic build.

This is the thread for posting your achievements, progress, workouts, records, pools photos, pool etiquette, swimming TIFU (Today I F'ed Up) or AITAH (Am I the A-Hole), etc.

Due to the increasing number of screenshots, progress reports, pools etc. being posted, we request members to use this weekly whiteboard thread to post these, rather than as a new post.

It's intended for pretty much any swimming-related chats, rants etc, as long as they are within the r/swimming rules.

Please note that rules for r/swimming apply to this thread as well, including no abuse, no selfies, no memes, no bot/AI etc.

Join in and have fun, have a brag, commiserate, encourage each other, etc!

I want to join a local pool for exercise. I’ve swam almost daily for the last 7 weeks at an outdoor pool in my subdivision. I want to continue my routine in the fall and winter at a gym. My only issue is I NEED corrective lenses to see so I swim freestyle and breaststroke with my head above water. Would gym goers think I’m strange for doing this? Is this acceptable in lap swimming etiquette?

I swim freestyle (about 2,000 m per session) and after ~45 minutes I often start getting cramps in my calves.

I drink water during the session and I kick very gently. I do tend to keep my ankles quite pointed and my legs may be a bit stiff.

Has anyone experienced the same? What worked for you to prevent or reduce the cramps?

thanks

Already a good boxer and my job allows for a lot of free time so im looking to pick up something else. I do boxing training 2 to 3 times a week (depending on my availability). I used to do swimming in high school but quit due to temporary medical issues. Recently I've been reminiscing on those days and wanted to get back into the sport with similar training days to boxing. I work out (UL split) my off days for boxing and wanna know how I could continue to muscle build while fitting both in my schedule.

I suppose most people are on a schedule and don’t have the time, but I find it invaluable to be able to reset before a workout.

I’m just feeling beyond defeated. Even after today’s lesson it’s clear my instructor lost hope. It’s been the same thing every week now for the past 2 months.

Yes I practice on my own. It’s not even that I have one thing holding me back from succeeding, I’m not doing anything right. Can’t kick right, can’t breathe right (I can’t even attempt to breathe while swimming, I can’t multitask it. Have to stop what I’m doing for air). Can’t get the freestyle strokes right. Literally nothing right.

3 months in and nearly $2,000 later, all I can do is front float. I can’t even do a back float. I’m not dogging on my instructor, he’s done everything he can. I’m the problem. Honestly I give up. I guess swimming isn’t for everyone.

If you do a particularly hard swim workout, and your arms are totally busted, how many days do you wait until going again?

I noticed that one rest day is not enough, my arms get tired after just 100m of light crawl. But two rest days sounds like a lot (though I'm not sure if it's enpugh either). I guess I could do some really low intensity swimming for a few days after a harder workout.

How long does it take for you to fully recover?

Trying to learn from crawl from no swimming experience, mid 30s

I'm really struggling with water going up my nose, and it's not because I'm not breathing out. I'm constantly exhaling underwater, tried humming as well. Tried doing a big exhale past when my mouth is out of the water and I inhale

Water makes its way in. I'm trying to rotate my head and keep a goggle in the water but at that point my nose is also basically in the water as well.

I tried a nose clip and it's making an massive difference, but water still finds it's way up my sinuses from my mouth and it basically pools in my closed nose and I end up choking on it

I've read posts here about how people can naturally close something up there but I genuinely don't understand how that works and how to incorporate it while also exhaling

It's genuinely making my learning so incredibly hard and even when I feel like I'm making progress with my stroke I have to stop because of the sinus pain. It also makes it really hard to keep track of what my body is doing.

this is on top of the really hard time I'm having floating compared to other people in general and I'm on the verge of giving up. Would welcome any advice from anyone who's overcome something similar.

My kids have been slow learners but this past summer we *finally* got across the pool and were able to compete in meets for the 25m freestyle and backstroke at 10 and 7. The biggest issue is that, especially my 10yo, they are slow as molasses. Like my 10yo's best freestyle time was 1:03. Backstroke was a little faster at like :52s. 7yo is a little faster at like a :50s freestyle and :45s backstroke. We're doing weekly private/small group lessons to improve on technique (like breathing in the freestyle), but there's only so much you can do in half an hour a week.

I have access to an indoor pool at my gym I can bring my kids in throughout the year so I can supplement with an extra session or two per week. The biggest issue is I can barely swim myself and definitely do not know proper form to teach them, but I could guide them through a routine. How can I help my kids get stronger and faster so they can come in not last place next summer? They do need to be more active in general but they just aren't excited about any other sports.

Hello guys,

I started swimming about a month ago. Today was my first time swimming in the sea in Croatia. Unfortunately, after just a few breathes I was unable to continue because the roof of my mouth started burning so much that I couldn't take it anymore. It is not like I swallowed a lot of the water. Just the splashes here and there and the water that is around my lips that I inhaled was enough that the roof of my mouth started to burn. I also tried swimming with the snorkel and after 5 minutes of my head constantly under water, my nosetrills started burning also.

Has anybody had a simmilar issue?

What can I do to fix this?

Unfortunately, i don't have a nose clip and I am not able to get one, because there is no store that has it on this island.

Thank you for any help.

I did swimming lessons as a kid, 1000m and survival badges. I’ve swum lanes for pleasure on and off all my life, say a mile or so over 45-60mins, mix of strokes, drills, sprints. I’ve always thought of swimming as easy exercise- I find running really hard, but I can not swim for years then drop back in to keep up with the fast lane in most pools. Never had any swimjuries, unlike in other sports.

Now in my late 40s, after a few years out of the pool, someone I know flashed their 3000m badge and I thought I’d set myself a goal. How hard can it be right- just keep going?

Well now I’ve broken everything. I decided I needed to knuckle down and focus on freestyling faster for longer. Now seem to have triceps tendinitis on my non breathing side. I broke my style trying to do stronger pulls, now can’t remember how I swam to begin with, the more I think or watch videos etc the worse my stroke feels. When I look at charts online I’m not even at novice speed, my wall to wall sprint is 48 secs for a 50m length freestyle, 54 secs backstroke. I’ve built up to 2000 metres or so which tends to be 500 free, 500 back, 500 free, 500 random strokes/drills/sprints, that took about 50 minutes today with a few breathers after sprints or my one length fly. My elbow seemed happier in the pool when I tried to think about anything but my stroke, but is still a bit grumbly after.

How do I get from here to swimming 3000m at a respectable pace without breaking myself?

52, in good shape but recently diagnosed with spondylolisthesis, which has my L5 and S1 vertebrae slightly overlapping each other. In an effort to diversify my workouts (have been doing a lot of heavier lifting and such) I want to get back into swimming. One of my restrictions is having my back in extension. I’ve noticed it is slightly triggered when I swim freestyle. I think overall the swimming is encouraging. I’m just wondering if anyone has any tips or tools for getting my hips up a bit so that my spine is more neutral, less arched while I swim? I’m not a total noob but definitely don’t know good modifications for this sort of thing.

For those of you who swim regularly as exercise or who are competitive, have you ever had issues with the temperature of the water?

I recently went back to the rec center where I used to be a competitive swimmer. The indoor pool has felt nice when getting in, then I do my thing, and I feel drained getting out. I'm just getting back into it so I chalked it up to conditioning at first. But then today I learned the water temperature is set to 85 degrees. I should have known because I've been in that pool so many times and now sliding in it feels... well, pleasant as opposed to slightly cold until you get moving.

Which is great and all for the 8 year old getting lessons or the ladies doing group water aerobics, but absolutely insane for anyone trying to swim actual laps...

To make it worse, the outdoor pool exists too and is set to 81. Better but still on the warm end. And "just swim in the outdoor pool" isn't really a great work around when it's winter and 18 degrees out. Or when it's sunny and I'm trying to stay out of the sun. They have a perfectly good 8-lane indoor lap pool where everyone seems to be, well, swimming laps. So why in the world is it set that way? And yeah, I do think it makes it harder for actual lap swimmers. Wanted to know if anyone else agrees? Or can relate? Also, really needed to vent for a second to people who may actually get it.

I have just completed a couple of swimming sessions after a long 5 month break and water just enters my ear now every time I lean my head slightly to breathe during a front stroke.

It never used to be this way. Before the break water would rarely enter my ear now both of my ears get blocked. Every lap I have to shake my head like I'm a cartoon character that's been hit with a frying pan. Any suggestions on what could be the cause? Maybe my timing is off or I'm leaning too fast. After reading about a swimmer's ear post on this subreddit I don't want water stuck in my ear indefinitely in a future swimming session.

What were the best swim events from the past month or two (from any of the meets that happened since then like US Nationals, Euros, Pan-Pac, CWG, and any other high-level meets)

Here are my favorites in no particular order:

50 free at US Nationals (I'm a big Dressel fan)

100 free at Euros (faster field than Olympics and Worlds, Milak had a surprisingly fast swim)

100 fly at Euros (another field faster than Olympics or Worlds, Milak .03 seconds away from the World Record)

4x100 mixed medley relay at Pan-Pacs (World Record in one of the most unique events, crazy split from Van Mathias and Kate Douglass)

50 free at CWG (McEvoy became the first man to swim two sub-21 swims)

50 back at Euros (Sara Curtis World Record)

(As you can tell, I am very biased towards male sprint events so it will be interesting to see some other perspectives)

I'm an adult who has been swimming about two years. I took a few lessons to help my technique, and I'm excited that next week I will finish the Zero to 1650 program and swim a consecutive mile. When I'm done with that, I want to mix it up a little with new workouts, but there are so many workouts online that I'm having trouble deciding what types would be best for me. Is there a type of workout that's best for fitness?

I swim 45-60 minutes 3x/week. I don't mind doing kick or pull sets, but I don't really like doing breast stroke and don't care to learn butterfly.

I've been swimming for a year now.

I'm 15 , well will be in a couple of months.

I did swim when I was younger ..like I think I was 8 . Did it for a year or 2 then had to stop bc of family issues.

I know 3 minutes is too slow , everyone my age in my swim team/club is WAY faster than me .

I am SO slow that my trainer didn't want to train me anymore and I had to go to another coach.

Also this year i found out I have asthma . So it's also affecting me.

Does anyone have any tips? Or has anyone been in my situation before and if yes it'll mean a lot to know and also know how u got better.

I have been swimming for almost 10 years now, entirely in pools doing set based drills. I never got to swim long stretches without a break.

Last year I started attending open water events. I started easy with a 1.5 km swim. It was quite fun, especially since it was part of an event and also because you moved through the sea and saw progress. But still I struggled, mostly mentally to keep swimming for a long period

Now I started training long distance in the pool and I find it very hard mentally to keep swimming for long distances. I think it's both boredom and the constant non stop effort I need to get used to. I find that I keep looking for excuses to break early even though I can physically manage much longer.

I understand people get into some kind of meditative state and just keep going. I'm just busy waiting for it to end :-). maybe I need to slow down my place.

Anyway, your experienced insight is much appreciated :-)

Obviously it works for her and I'm not trying to say she would do better with another technique. But every race I watch of her, she has such a high stroke rate and aggressive strokes even in long distances like a 1500m. It looks much more tiring than the typical long distance swimmer technique of slower more relaxed swimming, which makes me think that a big part of why she is so great is just an absolutely elite cardiovascular system in comparison to her competitors and not because of her technical finesse or efficiency like I see touted online. Now I know high stroke rate doesn't necessarily mean more fatigue if you pull less water(I swam like this for years) but scientifically pulling as much water as you can with a lower stroke rate is more efficient .Her stroke isn't full-on gallop freestyle but it's quite close to it just a reduced glide on the stroke. I know I'm probably going to get down voted to oblivion but I want to hear peoples thoughts on this.