r/Swimming

Is this normal? My child age 8. Has been going to swimming classes for the past week and a half almost two weeks. Yesterday we arrived earlier to class to join the free swim time before their class. They started their class and I went to change my other child as I was finishing I got a call that I needed to come to the office fast. I was there as soon as they called me since I was in the room next door. I feel horrible now that I didn’t actually see what happened. My other child said it happened so fast they just took him inside. First on the ledge but then ended up taking him inside. When I got in the room they said they were going to give him oxygen a bit to calm down. The manager on site said he was most likely hyperventilating. My child said he panicked because he swallowed too much water through both his nose and mouth. I didn’t take him to er because he was fine right after. I think I will be taking him in today though because I’m so confused. He usually does get bad panic attacks but maybe it could be something else maybe too hot and too much pool time mixed all together.

Hello! I am a beginner swimmer who is taking a marine biology class this summer where I'll need to pass a swim test. We need to tread water for a half hour, complete four laps of the pool in any stroke with no time limit, and jump off the board with clothes on, although I'm not sure yet if we're doing the low board or the high board.

I'm able to practice swimming in a 25m pool with a max depth of 5 ft (no diving board) but the pool we'll be completing the swim test doesn't open until the week we're taking the test.

My main concern is the jump with clothes on, since there's no way for me to practice jumping off the diving board, let alone with clothes on. Are there any skills I can practice in my usual pool that could prepare me well for the jump? I know I know how to swim, but deep water freaks me out a bit still. I've had a fear of water since I was pretty young, but I REALLY want to go with this class, so I've been busting my ass learning how to swim more than a doggy paddle and tread water (which has been super fun and I hope I've got the time in the future to go swim a few times a week!) Thanks!

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It seems like whenever I am consistently swimming, I will be getting random diarrhea during the week, but whenever I stop, I don't.

(before you start attacking me I do NOT go in the pool unless I have no symptoms for at least 1 day)

Most of the time it's mild but sometimes it's not, and at least one time it was severe poisoning.

For context : I'm a beginner and I do accidentally drink water a lot while swimming, but I always thought water will always be swallowed/going up nose/ears as a normal part of swimming.

Does anyone have a similar experience? I'm a new swimmer and I'm starting to hate this tbh.

I have been swimming a long time and still try to compete, when I can, in Masters meets (time allowing! I never thought about the time commitment as a kid, yet now I'm all to aware of how much time meets take up 😮).

One of my weakest parts of any race, is my start. I'm serious. My dives are horrendous. Just a couple of examples... a few years ago I was in our club championships and I was so slow off the block I saw the guy next to me dive in. I was pretty much still in the air and he is already in the water 😂. The other one of note was when there was a photo perfectly timed to get the start of my race. Next to me was a someone with near perfect form... then there is me. Head up, arms and legs apart. It was a riot.

So I was hoping to get some tips on how to fix it. I think my biggest problem is head position. As in, it's sticking way up. But I really struggle to get tucked in.

I have swimmers ear and I am on ciprodex drops. Today is day 4 and my ear is still hurting and red. How long does it take for this to go away?

This might be a silly question. But i wonder if I’m supposed to see my legs kicking when my head is under the water during freestyle. Does that mean I tuck my chin too much? Or something else. Thanks.

Hi all,

Due to the high & always increasing number of such requests, this is now the weekly (Thursdays) thread to post your requests for critique & community feedback on technique, all strokes.

Requests for feedback or critique on technique outside of these threads may be automatically deleted.

In a month or so I'll be moving somewhere with a pool. Given that the access is free, I'm thinking of swapping my gym for the pool for exercise (I go to the gym 5/7, 2 days for cardio and 3 for muscle training) as I really like swimming.

However, the pool is unheated and positioned such that it is shaded for most of the day, and it is currently the middle of winter here in Brazil. Being a tropical country, it isn't as severe as somewhere up north, but it still feels a little dangerous to go swimming when it's under 20º C (68 F) out as I've never done it. I'm not an experienced swimmer by any means, but I know how to swim, except I've only ever swam in hot weather or heated pools.

I wouldn't be swimming very long, I figure 30 min a day should be about good enough to keep my current level of fitness (if not too much!), so I'm not sure if I should be worrying too much about hypothermia or not in these circumstances. I would like to eventually build up tolerance for the cold water but I'm wondering if it wouldn't be wiser to start up in the spring instead. What do you think?

Thanks in advance!

There’s so much criticism against the Enhanced Games but it’s clear to me money is the biggest factor.

Listened to this podcast called superhuman where British Olympic medalist Ben proud is interviewed, along with Ukrainian swimmer Andrii govorov (wr holder). Both were like I am basically broke so I’m going to take this big tech money funding the enhanced games and juice up /train with steroids and cocktails of peptides.

Really interesting show btw.

Isn’t it hypocritical to say that these former olympians are immoral sellouts when their own sports organizations can’t provide them with a decent living?

Hello swimmers! I am working hard on timing my breath with my stroke rhythm. I've noticed that when I start to fatigue that I sometimes change my breath pattern, or quickly hold my breath unintentionally, or need to change the length of my inhale / exhale. Also at times when I'm really fatigued I'll take in a little bit of water which really throws me off. It seems that I need to be perfect with my breath timing to stay in rhythm with my stroke.

What I'm wondering is how do people handle a change in your breath timing when swimming longer distances and/or open water?

Do you need to be perfect on your breathing to stay consistent or do you eventually learn how to handle unintended interruptions?

Thanks All!!

I find it extremely strange that noseclips are allowed in races. For what reason?

I have a complicated medical history that affect my respiratory system that includes recurrent pneumonia, idio PE, late onset asthma and COPD overlap.

I have had walking pneumonia every May for the last 4 years, on top of the 4 instances before it became annual. It's 6 weeks of my life, minimum, which is a lot of time to decondition on top of the illness.

I have always been a swimmer, if I am swimming 3x/week, I can be off inhalers entirely.

But lately, no sooner do I get to a level that feels like progress, I get sick again so I stopped swimming altogether because it felt like a never ending recovery arc.

I got the idea that I could find a sports med or sports Pulmonologist to help me make a plan to help me manage with hallmarks and steps.

Does anyone know someone that does this kind of thing or have experiences along these lines that might help me have a working plan?

In total, I’ve been learning to swim for a little over two months as a 22-year-old. A kid started at the same time as me, learned quickly, and now swims in the deep end. I still can’t swim properly in water deeper than my height (5'7"). I can swim in shallow water, but I still struggle to rotate my body and turn my head to breathe. Whenever I try, I lose all my momentum.

I never learned how to swim as a kid, and I’ve been terrified of the deep end ever since I first got into a pool. I nearly drowned once in the 7-foot section — it took five people to save me (two lifeguards and three friends). After that, I decided never to go deeper than 6 feet so I could at least push myself back up from the bottom if needed.

I think the main things I need to learn now are how to tread water and how to rotate my body properly to breathe while swimming.

But even though writing this is easy, actually doing it still feels incredibly hard. Sometimes I feel like I’ll never truly learn how to swim and will just have to accept that I should stay away from deep water and other large bodies of water.

I have attended swimming classes for three months in 3rd grade and never really learnt to swim,everyone else who was there with me learnt while I was playing in the pool and sinking and almost dying every now and then.

But I never learnt.

My mom worked in an office shore oil rig ,and the very reason she was able to get the job was ,she knew swimming.my brother swims and volunteered at a diving school in aus.

Now after seeing his underwater clips I wanted to swim as well and joined for classes,but the very first day of I was so shook that I can't do basic stuffs like floating and somehow I swam the whole length of pool.

But the coach,was utterly disappointed and the very fact my younger cousins can float so ealiy while here I am watching yt vids to learn front floating and still sinking.

Yes I am extremely muscled 9% fat last time checked,probly lower now.i genuinely wonder if that's the problem.or just an problem of practice.

I was born into a swim family. Parents swam. Bother swam. So of course I did. It was all I knew so I got good and since I was good I kept doing it. But once I got to high school and I’d watch girls come to the first day of practice to join the team I always wondered why swimming back and forth for 2 hours a day. Lol. I feel like swimming is a sport you’re either born into or you have the god given talent/body/speed idk

During our Croatia holidays 2025 I had the possibility to train in an 50 m pool of a water polo club in Split. Great guys and stunning facility.

What were your best holiday swimming trainings impressions?

https://preview.redd.it/o921z7r8m92h1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b96761df48252366add3fcdb99a5d0b42fa161d5

50 m pool

View from above