Hey guys. I made this post a while back talking about some of my experiences with high school swim. Thanks for all of your lovely replies. This is just an update.

I haven't talked with my parents (yet, the situation is a bit complicated right now), but I did meet with a few of my coaches who talked with me and really opened up about their personal experiences during swim, and how it's not the end of the world if I don't finish it perfectly.

We had our varsity conference last weekend, and I did absolutely amazing. Dropped 4 whole seconds in my 200 free and they were losing their minds over it. I feel a lot better now. A lot more comfortable.

Swim has been extremely rough for me for the past decade, but I'm glad I'm able to end it trying my best. Three weeks until State; I'm still getting my ass kicked before taper, as expected, but I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Huh. Maybe I am gonna miss this stupid sport after all.

Hi everyone.. in recent months I took up swimming, as a newb.. I also tried out paddleboarding and was all about it! But that was summer. And I had a life jacket. Now I have my own paddleboard and I want to go out there again.. thing is I know the waters going to be colder, 60s maybe even 50s.. I’ll need a wet suit at least in addition to a life jacket.
Any advice on paddleboarding in fall and being a relatively new swimmer?

Im struggling with lowe back pain and my physiotherapist says I need to work on strengthening my core and back. I hate going to the gym but I've always loved swimming so I thought I should do that instead. I've only done recreational swimming in pools and nature and not payed attention to technique since I learned to swim as a kid.

I have acces to a swiming hall with lanes so mostly looking to do laps, maybe I can get away with doing some exercises if there aren't that many other people here.

Any and all help is appreciated thanks so much in advance!

I just wanted some advice on how to pull arms out during butterfly in a less stamina taxing way and a more ergonomic way, as the shoulders tend to hurt after i imitate Phelps way of hand exiting.

Without being dramatic I feel like my swimming is coming to an end. I learnt to swim freestyle around 3 years ago, building up to 15-20k/month. I really worked at this and was really happy with my progress. Particularly the mental health benefits. Prior to this I could barely manage 25m!

My symptoms in the last 3 months or so (after a previous similar that went away) are:

- Aching right shoulder post swim

- nerve tingle in some fingers right hand

I have seen a physio, no obvious injuries are identified, but I have a hypermobile shoulder (only the right one) and have specific targetted exercises to work on this.

I have had video analysis, and a recent coached 1:1 session. This has identified:

-lack of rotation

-right hand too high in water

-to relax far more on recovery

I have now completely cut back on my swimming, out of worry of doing damage.

Any thoughts or input from you wonderful people would be appreciated! I would long to continue swimming.

Generally healthy, lean and former cyclist. Mid 30s.

Thanks a bunch!

I have a difficult time keeping my legs in a streamline position, especially when I get tired. My legs splay out and that creates a terrible parachute effect.

I'm contemplating on banding my feet together to work on my streamline position, keeping a taught core, and enhance the weaknesses in my catch/pull to help focus on that in the future.

If I were to band my feet together though, will I be able to keep a reasonably parallel body position in the water or will my feet ultimately drop? And if they do drop to the pool floor, does that mean I'm not doing something correctly in my positioning/keeping my core tight enough, or that my legs are just too lean to float?

For reference, I do have a muscular build but not overly so. I do not have much fat in my legs though as I am also a triathlete.

*The pool I train in is no deeper than 5ft so I can easily stand up if I struggle.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions!

I'm not sure who or how to address this, but the place I swim allows more than two swimmers per lane, but people will actively wait if there are two people in a lane at a time. Most busy pools will have up to 5-6 people at a time. How can I let the lifeguards/admins know to encourage people it's okay to have more than two?

Once again the pool at our Wellness center has heating problems. It's been this way for a week now. Today it was 76°. So I bought a wetsuit (61F, 135 lbs, I get cold easily). Today I swam laps in it for the first time. Happily, I didn't shiver for 3,200 yards. So that was nice. I was ridiculously buoyant and flew through the workout, shaving about 10 minutes off my usual time. I had trouble with breaststroke a bit because my legs were so... floaty. Anyone else workout in one?

I have realized there is a lot of people on my pool training with swimming fins. Is this a new trend? Does it add any benefit or extra training? Is it a way to compensate for people with some physical problem?

when I was swimming competitively (a very long time ago) we never used them and I barely saw them in any pool, so I am surprised seeing them so often now.

I did 15k yesterday over two sessions, actually felt pretty solid and held steady pace. Only source of pain during the last 3-4k was in my ankle from extended plantar flexion.

Anyone else have this? I have been doing some light resistance training on my tibialis anterior as noticed it when I used fins for extended periods too.

Any tips for strengthening this muscle? I know it’s quite a niche question but worth asking maybe.

Other question was hydration. I just had water for the swim and was tryna just micro hydrate throughout but kept on getting so thirty and wanting to just chug the bottle however I had to restrain as I new it would not end well. Would having an electrolyte drink help this?

I drink a lot on a day to day anyways so might have just been general thirst.

Thanks for any input and happy swimming!!

Just started swimming a few weeks due to a broken back. I have a 10k race as my goal in April, so right now just experimenting with freestyle and seeing how things feel. Eventually I’ll book some swim lessons and learn how to do drills properly.
This felt amazing and I could’ve gone for longer. I was in the pool for a total of 1:22, so 12 min of rest.
How fast do people typically do 3000 yd? curious any tips or tricks

Hi, I made a post about my brother's sinking legs previously and it only got one reply... So here I am for more drills ideas, since I don't really have this problem.

What effective drills are there apart from kicking with a board?

Also, we live in a country where we can't tape in swimming pools, so we had to wait for summer time to film ourselves at the campsite pool, which makes it hard to get visual feedback. So we didn't really realize how his legs were sinking until we compared our footage side by side. Are there any ways to keep track of your mistakes in the water without any footage? I don't really think so but who knows...

Hey friendos, need some help here, I’m kinda baffled.

When I do longer non stop swims, let’s say over 600m I start to feel bloated when I get out of the water.

Today I did 3km non stop, felt fine in the water (could’ve done another km) but 5 minutes after I got out I felt so bloated it was actually painful for like half an hour until I got home and lied down. Now after some burps and farts 😄 it’s better 😅

It feels like it’s gas / air but I’m confused at to what I’m actually doing to cause it. I breathe alternating sides every three strokes and have a two beat kick. Breaths are fairly shallow and my head is one goggle under and one over the water when breathing. I guess I’m swallowing air somehow(?). I’ve asked a bunch of people but no solution so far 😅

For reference my pace was 2min/100m which is fairly comfortable for me.
I can do 10x100m with like a 2-3min break at a 1:37 pace and my full out 100m is probably around 1:24ish.
So I’m not a pro by any means but not a beginner either.

53F here. I have been swimming off and on for my whole life. I swim only breast and back strokes. Yesterday for funsies I started to breathe every two strokes instead of every one. Are there any benefits to doing this or am. Am I just doing parlor tricks?

i swam the 200 fly this weekend and ended up going a 2:02 which is a PB for me. I did end up slowing down a lot on the last 50 especially. I went out in a 56.00 on the first 100 which is a bit too quick i believe. Towards my last 25 yards my hips sank pretty low in the water which started slowing me down a lot. I was wondering if anyone has any tips on how i could train myself to maintain my body position even if i’m tired

next time i swim it i’m definitely going to try going out with slightly less effort because that has worked for me in the past

Also, any other tips for 200 fly? I do swim a good amount of 200s fly in practice which has helped me improve as i’m relatively new to the event but what other stuff should i be focusing on?

The only swimming I’ve ever done was a few years of weekly lessons as a kid
I’m a pretty average swimmer but only ever did it to learn the basic strokes, and for safety of course as a child
I do really enjoy swimming though and would like to start now (I’m 22) I think it’d be great exercise and also relaxing and an opportunity to zone out
The problem is I’m pretty anxious and hate new situations, and I’m pretty scared to go on my own
I’m not sure what to expect, and even thinking about what to wear is freaking me out a bit
I usually swim in trunks and a sports bra (I’m a woman) is that ok at a lap pool? Or will it look weird? Do I need a cap and goggles? I’m assuming those are mainly for comfort but would it be weird to not have them?
I think I understand lane splitting and what not but I’m not sure of my pace, so do I just swim in the slowest looking lane if I have to split until I know my pace better?
I’m probably overthinking this by a lot but still, it’d be nice to have some of these stupid questions answered so I’d feel a little less awkward

Hi all,

I've been trying to teach myself to swim freestyle for the last few weeks. I've finally learned to breathe well enough to not feel like I'm running out of breath all the time and I've gone from about 4:45m/100m to about 2:45m/100m, so I feel like I'm making good progress and I'm pretty proud of that.

The thing I'm trying to work on now is when I go to rotate to breathe on my right side, my left arm bends and drops, I'm having a really hard time keeping it straight out in front of me (and please correct me if it's not supposed to be straight, that just seems like what other people do from watching videos). Does anyone have any tips or dills I can do to try and fix this?

Thanks! :)

I don't know if this is a Parenting post or a Swimming post - putting it under Swimming for now - if the mods reject it will move it to Parenting.

Context

My 6 year old has been going to swim for around a year - 2/3 times a week based on her schedule. We started it as I view swimming as a vital life skill.

The Challenge

However, it turns out she is very competitive. Something I had not anticipated/expected.

In the course of the last year, she saw a few Olympic videos and winners getting Medals - she became obessed with getting a medal/certificate.

She had been badgering us to take her to a swimming meet so that she could 'win'. I resisted for a year but finally I relented and took her to a local meet this weekend.

Turned out she did not win (did not come in the top 3) - clocks 30s for 25mtrs freestyle - water start.

The Situation

She is super upset and now wants to stop swimming as she did not win. What I failed to realize (my mistake) before the meet was that she had imagined a whole world where the win was guaranteed and she came home with a certifiate. It has been a shattering of a dream for her.

I appreciate it is a process of learning from failures, but, last 2 days have been traumatising for her and as a parent you question your decision - in retrospect, taking her to the meet was likely a mistake.

The Query

• Should I stop taking her to meets for a few years? What age is ideal to start taking her to meets?
  • Her coach says she has potential and is very dedicated for her age so she may make a good competitive swimmer in the future
• Is 6 too early an age to learn swimming? Should I wait till she is 9/10 before restarting her classes?

We will ofcourse will counsel her when she calms down, but I just wanted to check in case anyone had any opinions.

Edit 1

A big thanks for the helpful responses; didn't expect so many! Much appreciated.

Summarising my take aways from the feedbacks.

• I intend to work with her on explaining 'need to win and being competitive are two very different things'
  • We will be taking a 2 week hiatus from swimming lesson and let her reset
  • In that period I am going to work on changing her definition of a win:
    • A win will be improvement of her timing
    • Going forward she will get a badge from me for every meet she participates in (The badge will have the date of the event and her timing - plan to stick these on her door)
• Since a few of you mentioned, yes I know this could also fit in the parenting sub and hence the disclaimer in the first sentence

My 8 year old daughter is a swimmer. She swims 3 squad sessions a week at 75 - 90 mins and a 30 min private technique session. She has been dealing with tight muscles that make it hard for her to train. I wanted to ask how you guys manage tight muscles and recovery? I had her in physio for a checkup and massage this morning which helped and we will be focusing on more stretches for cooldown.

Does anyone use something like a massage gun or foam rollers? Would these or anything else be possible to use for her?

70 yo distance swimmer. I am using AI (Claude) to plan my training for a 10k next summer after successfully using AI to train for a 5k. Below is this week's training plan. What are your thoughts?

Day 1: Aerobic (~3,800)

• Warm-up: 400 easy
• Drill: 4×50 on 1:10, RPE 3, working on breathing to the left:
  1. Side kick, left breathing. Lie on your right side, right arm extended, left arm at your hip. Kick face down and roll your head left to breathe, with one goggle staying in the water. Fins are optional.
  2. 6-kick switch. Do 6 kicks on your side, then one stroke to roll over. Breathe only when you’re on your right side, so every breath is to the left. Fins are optional.
  3. Left-arm single-arm swim. Keep your right arm extended out front, stroke with your left arm, and breathe left on every stroke, turning your head with the pull.
  4. Full stroke. Breathe left every 2 on the first 25, then breathe right every 2 on the second 25.
  5. If you’re gulping water, slow your kick instead of lifting your head.
• Main: 3×1,000 on 18:00. Hold 16:50–17:10 (about 1:41–1:43/100). RPE 5. Open turns are fine.
• Cool-down: 200 easy + 200 choice

Day 2: Threshold (~2,600)

• Warm-up: 400 easy, then 4×50 build on 1:00 (RPE 3 building to 6)
• Main: 6×200 on 3:30 at CSS. Hold 3:04–3:08 and keep the reps even. Flip turns. RPE 7. If you’re over 3:10 by #5, stop after #5.
• 200 easy
• 400 pull, steady (RPE 5)
• Cool-down: 200 easy

Day 3: Pull / open-water skills (~2,600)

• Warm-up: 400 easy
• Main: 5×400 on 7:20. Odd reps are pull. Even reps are swim, with the last 100 as 25 head-up plus sighting every 6 strokes.
• Pace cap: no faster than 6:45 (about 1:41/100). RPE 4–5.
• Cool-down: 200 easy

Day 4: Long swim (~4,500)

• Warm-up: 300 easy
• Main: 2×2,000 with a feed stop of 30 seconds or less between them. Practice taking the feed quickly.
• Target 1:42–1:44/100, which is about 34:00–34:40 per 2,000. Open turns. RPE 4, letting it drift to 5 in the last 500.
• Cool-down: 200 easy

I was competitive swimmer from age 8 to 16 and think it impacted me in a negative way. I was a girly girl and the change I saw in my upper body compared to girls that didn’t swim caused me extreme distress and body image issues that I still carry as an adult.

I just want to hear coaches and parents perspectives as to why this is not talked about more openly.

When I voiced my concerns as a young girl about that my coach and parent convinced me it’s a myth and nonsense. But it is not.

Swimming changes the growing girl physique and phenotype. Why is this such a taboo topic that nobody wants to recognize?

So, I got an infection and am 2 weeks desling with it and still don’t have all my hearing back. I longed for the easier csection pain because IT sucked! I had shingles in my 20’s and I equate the pain with that.

Anyways, i always swim with silicone plugs- I think that the problem was surfing because the infection started 2 days after my last surf.
I am itching to get back to it feeling like a lazy whale, but I haven’t healed 100%.

What lind of plug can i use to seal up my ear while it’s healing? Wax?
I will probably go get a mold made after this.

My sets range from multiple 100s to multiple 400s.

For 100s I might do something like 6x100s on 1.30 x2. When I’m doing it I’m typically coming in on 1.20/1.25, and maybe 1.28 toward the end. This means I’m getting 5-2s of rest between coming in and going again. Toward the end I’m completely gassed and this means it’s hard to maintain the pace, so i get slower, I get less rest and so on.

Is the rest period too short? Should I try to go same pace by maybe on 1.40, focusing on coming in on 1.20?