Learning to swim/improving swimming

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Kicking seems to be more for speed than endurance?

I don't recall anyone teaching me to swim and I was pretty mediocre until I went to uni and found I could go every day for very little to an almost empty pool.  It was a great way to relax and I went 2-3 times a week for nearly 3 years and soon became a much better swimmer just by practice. 

Yesterday I went again for the first time in 2 years!  Fortunately I could still do it altho' some muscles are a bit tired today.   

[simonp]

In Thursday's swimming club I did 1700m in the hour.  This included quite a few drills (kick board, pull buoy, etc) so it's quite pleasing to still manage that many metres.  However, I'm still not getting through the entire programme in the hour.  This will take a lot of improvement to achieve.

I swam this evening after having been to the gym earlier in the day.  Again managed 1000m in under 30 minutes - this despite taking rest breaks.  I also timed myself for a 25m length of front crawl as fast as I could go - I managed about 22s.  Not exactly record breaking, but I'm sure this is faster than I could do back when I was 30. 

[David Martin]

Did about 1400m tonight before I got cramp. That was after 30 mins in the gym doing weights as part of a research program.

But the best thing was that I finally seemed to crack front crawl. Kept it going for 200m without much bother. The tipping point seemed to be rotating enough to get a clean release of the hand on my non-breathing side. That seems to have made a big difference, and makes it easier to start work on bilateral breathing. So I am well chuffed. I had previously struggled to do 2x 25m and there I was just cranking them out...  Absolutely wasted now.. Running a stupidly high calorie deficit (1000 cals) today - my weight when I got home was lower than I have seen in many a year so I am  chuffed.

Tomorrow will be a recovery day.

Thursday I will find out what difference -3kg in body weight makes on the hill climb.

..

[CrinklyLion]

I still haven't properly cracked front crawl.  After 3 years of lessons!  It's just not my stroke.  But every week I get a tiny bit better - and last week I swam over a mile (including lots of drills and a bit of gossiping constructive feedback from the instructor) in the hour long lesson, and half a mile of that was front crawl.  Considering I struggled to make it up and down the pool without stopping swimming crawl a year ago, I don't think that's too shabby.

But I would still like to get back to the distances and speeds that I used to do, despite my dreadful technique, when I swam most days a few years back and was somewhat thinner and fitter.  Between 1/2 a mile and 2 miles of (rubbish) breaststroke 4 or 5 times a week.  And I could churn out a mile in about 40 minutes.

[simonp]

Back at swimming club for the first time in 6 weeks or so tonight.  "We thought we'd lost you!" they said.

I found it a little bit hard going.  It was only 3/4 of the way through the class I remembered last night's booze and this morning's mild hangover. 

However I can do some things better than before.  I think the core stability class + rowing machine + upper body weights have been doing their bit.

I also signed on the dotted line to become a member of the club rather than just a hanger-on.  I suppose yet more insanity awaits.

[David Martin]

I have been back once since Christmas. A damaged back being the reason why not. I should be back the week after next once my back has been signed off as suitable - and can reallystart to get shot of the excess kilos that seem to adorn my frame since Christmas.

..d

[simonp]

After having joined the swimming cult last week they've revealed their true nature, and made me do some individual medley stuff and then /five/ /hundred/ /metres/ of pull.

I think the newbie who turned up for her first class got a bit of a shock.

No it wasn't just the sigh of me in my slightly yellowed speedos.

[Manotea]

Reminds me of the time I joined an improvers group organised by a chap who joined the staff of the local leisure centre. Previously a GB swimmer he had trouble understanding why we needed to train for the BT Swimathon. He came from a world where 5k was the morning session session and 1km was a warm up....

[mattc]

2 weeks ago swimming was the only sport I could do pain-free, due to a succesion of niggly problems. So I've been 4 times recently - surprised how uncrap I was after about a year off. (this is relative - I'm still very much a beginner).

Anyway, the saga of same-sex poolside showers continues ... this week a lady was shaving her pits, then showering off the detritus. Not sure what I can do to top that ...

[simonp]

I'm getting better bit by bit I think.  The problem is once I get tired technique suffers, which leads to more tired.  When I'm struggling a bit, and there's a break between the sets, I catch up just in time for them to set off again, so I don't get the break. 

Got to get some decent swim time in between now and when they restart in April.

[andygates]

The trick is to identify when your form is going, and rest up.  Plugging on with bad form results in my style of "thrashing badger" swimming.

[simonp]

The trick is to identify when your form is going, and rest up.  Plugging on with bad form results in my style of "thrashing badger" swimming.

That describes my attempt at Butterfly quite succinctly. 

[Rich753]

Forgive me if this isn't already somewhere in pages 2 - 6, but you really need to read "Total Immersion - freestyle made easy" by Terry Laughlin.

www.totalimmersion.co.uk

www.totalimmersion.net

He teaches front crawl in a staged technique whereby you assemble an efficient stroke, bit by bit. Swimming is 70% technique and 30% strength. Without any technique, everyone struggles.

Read the book, look at the videos. As a cyclist-turned-triathlete who completed IronMan in 2008 from scratch, it works.

In Terry's words, "don't practice bad technique." You'll never escape.

Also, do try a club - tri clubs are good. The standard is from good to appalling (a bit like triathletes cycling skills, really)

is it realistic to learn to swim from book & video?  or do you really need personal tuition?

[simonp]

I think having someone point out the flaws in your technique is invaluable. Things like needing to stretch forwards more, catching the water, head position, relaxed arms on the recovery, being flat.  I have one of my books though and it does provide a lot of the why which you don't get so much with coaching.

[mike]

Amazing Swimming Animation With An Ideal Fast Freestyle / Front Crawl Stroke Technique. is good too.

1500m for me this lunchtime.  Quite sore now

[andygates]

Books and vids are ace - but it's easy to get it wrong, feel right, and plug on.  Having someone show you not how it looks but how it feels is very, very useful.  It's kinda like the reason nobody learns martial arts from the books alone.


Restarted my swimming with a speed test.  2:16 / 100m.  Work to do, oh yes... but it'll come with consistency and discipline and all that junk.   

[mike]

I had a 4 hour lesson at the weekend with Cambridge swimming academy

Bloody ace. An hour in the classroom (which went much quicker than I expected), 2 and a bit hours in the pool during which we went through the theory we'd just covered, did a load of different drills and were videoed individually above & below the water, then back in the classroom to talk through the video nasty.

Damn, I swim badly   my reach forward is going so deep that I'm only taking about 3/4 strokes, my body is twisting about like a porpoise in a heavy swell and my leg kick is random and occasional.  And, just to add insult to injury, there's a definite thinning of the hair in the 'head on' shot     

So some time soon the DVD from the course will drop onto my doormat, together with a set of drills which they think will help me and a suggested training program to get me up to full tri distance & speed eventually.

I'm really enjoying the learning, just wish I didnt stink of chlorine the whole time!

[mike]

Video nasty:
<a href="http://i8.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/mikes99mail/videos/Mikeswim1.flv" target="_blank">http://i8.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid8.photobucket.com/albums/a19/mikes99mail/videos/Mikeswim1.flv</a>

(poor quality, sorry.. new to this imovie thing)

[starkj73]

Just getting back into swimming. Have been trying to be aware of technique. The main problem at the minute is breathing in while doing breast stroke. I lift my head above the water but always end up with water in my mouth.

I presume I should breath in with pursed lips but through bad breathing control always need a good gulp of air.

Any advice, thanks.

[toontra]

A bit of a breakthrough today!  I've been going to swimming lessons for 8 months now, at least once a week, starting from scratch as I never learnt as a child.  It's been really hard as my legs sink like a stone and trawl along the bottom (too much muscle I reckon ), so leg action, breathing and generally staying afloat long enough to practice arm technique has been a constant struggle.

I've just got back from cycle touring in Scotland for a couple of weeks so missed 3 weeks lessons and went to the pool today expecting the worst and, lo and behold, I was freestyling in a fairly elegant way!  Everyone commented on it, including the teacher.  They all reckoned I'd been to a swimming camp for intensive training, but the opposite was true.

It makes me think that you have to lay off things for a while and come back to them fresh to see an improvement.  It just felt so relaxed and natural, rather than worrying and analysing technique too much.  I'm hoping this is the breakthrough I've been waiting for!

[mike]

Just getting back into swimming. Have been trying to be aware of technique. The main problem at the minute is breathing in while doing breast stroke. I lift my head above the water but always end up with water in my mouth.

I presume I should breath in with pursed lips but through bad breathing control always need a good gulp of air.

Any advice, thanks.

two things:
when are you breathing out and how far out is your head when you breath in?

I try and blow out under the water, just before breaching.  I probably sound a bit like a walrus but I'm past caring...

Can recommend 'total immersion' for a great book on how to swim front crawl much easier.   I've gone from being knackered after 2 lengths to doing 3k in about an hour, and my 'strokes per length' has gone from 25ish to about 16.

[starkj73]

Just getting back into swimming. Have been trying to be aware of technique. The main problem at the minute is breathing in while doing breast stroke. I lift my head above the water but always end up with water in my mouth.

I presume I should breath in with pursed lips but through bad breathing control always need a good gulp of air.

Any advice, thanks.

two things:
when are you breathing out and how far out is your head when you breath in?

I try and blow out under the water, just before breaching.  I probably sound a bit like a walrus but I'm past caring...

Can recommend 'total immersion' for a great book on how to swim front crawl much easier.   I've gone from being knackered after 2 lengths to doing 3k in about an hour, and my 'strokes per length' has gone from 25ish to about 16.

I would say I blow out just before coming up. I think my head is well out of the water for breathing in. Maybe just getting a bit of splash. Back to the  pool tomorrow so will try to even the breathing out.

[andygates]

Start breathing out as your head re-enters the water -- there shouldn't be much breath-holding at all, just IN-ooooooout, IN-ouuuuuut...   

Also, try to concentrate on timing your breath with your pull.  As you pull, you make a wake around your head, and your mouth has plenty of clear air.   

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

I just tried 50m front crawl and nearly drowned twice.  I need to see the swimming coach, I think.

[hellymedic]

How are you with backstrokes? Less danger of drowning...