r/Swimming

I've seen footballers go sub 40' for their first 10km with barely any training in running before.

Does this exist in swimming? People starting to swim for 2 or 3 months and just ripping a 1:30/100m a kilometer?

Thanks in advance

Hey. I wonder if anyone has any advice please.

I jave brain lesions which affects many aspects of my life.

I swim 3x a week, between 50-100 lengths.

A new brain lesions though has affected my continence, and I leak urine throughout the day and night. There is no way to stop it as it's the brain that is messing up the processes needed to make voiding possible, so medication etc is not an option.

I leak about 200ml during the day at probably 30 minute intervals, and about the same overnight.

I swim in a chlorinated pool.

I haven't swum since this started. Plenty of people say the outward pressure of the water stops the incontinence, but I need real life experience before I can realistically get in and try. I will not subject other people to swimming in my urine (regardless of what is already in there), chlorine or not, I just won't do it.

Does anyone have any relevant experience that may help me please?

Thanks.

I’m really trying to be patient with the lap swimmers at my Y association. I believe swim is for everyone and I honestly think it’s the safest and most effective to achieve whatever fitness goals one has.

We have 5 Rec centers across the towns in my specific area. I am really struggling with other lap swimmers. I have no problem sharing lanes and infact I love sharing lanes. I prefer it to solo swimming. There’s some old guy I swim with occasionally who apparently was a college swimmer way back and there’s another lady who was also a college swimmer.

My issue is when people ask to split a lane or ask to circle swim and then it becomes very obvious they have no idea what either of those are. Often they’re on my side of the lane when splitting or swimming down the middle when circle swimming. Sometimes they’ll ask to split and then literally walk laps down the middle of the lane. Or worst I’ve had parents ask to share the lane and then when I say yes they then put their kids in the lane to play… (it’s against the rules to play in the lanes and kids under 16 aren’t allowed to use lap lanes unless it’s a lesson or team practice)

Other issues I’ve had are other lap swimmers becoming frustrated with me. I’m quite faster than the average lap swimmer, I just recently swam in college and have maintained my shape (roughly). I try to be very respectful. When splitting lanes I have had members get upset when I pass them. I stay as far away as possible when I pass them. And I don’t just like blaze pass them splashing. I stay long and very smooth (I don’t really kick a whole lot to begin with).

Another issue I’ve had is when I have the lane to myself and decide to work on some sprints or quicker tempo I have patrons yell at me because I’m “too splashy” and am being “disruptive”. (I don’t go faster than smooth when I share lanes just out of precaution too)

I know the easy solution would be to join the masters program for our association but the issue with that is I am one of the coaches of the club team for that y association and I’m in charge of the older kids morning practice which coincides with masters.

Is there a constructive way to handle and navigate these situations? Do I just need to find a different way to workout? I’ve noticed this across the 5 Ys and across multiple times. So changing locations and times hasn’t really worked. Is there a good way to approach people who don’t understand lane etiquette? (I usually don’t bother because I don’t want to get yelled at)

The patrons complain about me to the aquatics director and lifeguards (who day they don’t get it and that I’m not doing anything crazy) but since that hasn’t yielded results they are now going above the aquatics director to complain about me. The AD just says they’re being grumpy old people when they yell at me. Again I am incredibly polite to these folks and I more often than not modify my planned workout if someone joins my lane or expresses that they aren’t comfortable with me doing certain speeds. However it’s really starting to grind my gears. I don’t want to blow this out of proportion because at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter (floating around rock in space) but it’s going on a year and a half of this and I’m getting really fed up

I joined a new (dry land) workout class and the instructor asked if I’m a swimmer. I said well yes I swim every week. She said ah yes you have a swimmers body.., but NOT in a bad way. I was like what bad way?!? I am dying to know what that means. Big shoulders (on a woman)??

Hi,
as the Title says, I struggle to break the 2:00/100m „barrier“. I am new in the sport of swimming as I started in March this year. I started because of triathlon and now it feels like i am at a plateau. I saw no major improvements the last weeks and this demotivated me. I go to the pool 4-5times a week and mainly focus on long distance swimming.

Everytime i try to swim faster than 2:00 I gas out pretty much after 50m and have to go back to >2:00. my fastest 800m was 15:04 (yes it is faster than 2:00/100m but i was pretty much dead at the last 50m).

over the last month i learned the 2 beat kick and worked on high elbow catch but i notice muscular fatigue on my right side that carries on over the whole distance. When I use a pullbuoy I notice that my recovery is smoother and isnt as exhausting so i guess my hips drop over time.

I am glad for any tips that can help me improve.
Thank you!

I am not getting it. Can't seem to be able to do a somersault. Any advice? TY

For me, it’s a single drop of water slowly trickling inside one goggle eyepiece. It doesn't even sting, but the distraction forces me to stop at the wall immediately to fix it.

What’s your random pet peeve while swimming laps?

I’m paying for a gym membership that I’m not using. Help me regain the motivation to get my bum back in the water/gym. Once I’m done at work, all I want to do is go home. I’m on a GLP-1 compound and have lost a lot of weight, but I know my muscle and bone strength is dwindling. So, any motivation to get over this rut would be greatly appreciated.

Hello,

I’ve been swimming 7 days a week for about 3 years, taking only 1 day off here and there. Probably about 10 days off in 3 years. I swim 1.500 yards each session. I can do that in about 22 mins. I feel good and not tired or overtrained. My question is, what am I missing out on from a more traditional approach to training? ( I’m not a competitive swimmer. I swim to supplement my surfing and my yoga).

Heyy I'm not asking for technique analysis or anything, I used to swim in a team as a child, quit and now I've been trying to get back into swimming front crawl for about 6 months.

The issue is, my pace is like 2:30/100m which is soo slow. I watched a bunch of videos about technique and I can swim pretty comfortably for over 2km without feeling exhausted or too out of breath, it's just extremely slow.

I'm not very athletic otherwise and I often see beginners online achieve significantly better pace without very refined techniques because they're very strong (mostly men who do other sports and get into swimming to improve endurance and whatnot).

So my question is, at what pace is it still a technique issue and when does it become just me having zero arm muscle? I do know the ideal solution would be lessons but I'm starting college soon so need money for that, I'm hoping there will be an opportunity for swimming lessons when I actually get there tho.

I swim for 75 minutes a medley of strokes for my mental & physical health at 5 am. I read yesterday that Cryptosporidium is highly resistant to chlorine. I am not happy about this. No, I do not swallow water, but nevertheless, I didn’t go this morning. I am the primary caregiver for 2 medically fragile individuals & I realize this isn’t a contagious condition in the traditional sense, but I am freaking out a bit. Does anyone have any encouraging words to help me feel more comfortable about this?

I'm curious about everyone's adult learning experiences! I see lots of success stories (and some frustration) on Reddit and am curious what leads to good vs not great lessons.

So tell us:

- How many lessons you had and over what period of time?
- What was your swim skill prior to lessons? e.g. never swam before, learned as a kid but never more than vacation swims etc.
- What expectations and specific goals did you have in mind prior to starting the lessons?
- Rate your skill improvement from 1 (no development ) to 5 (exceeded expectations).
- Why did you give the rating you did?

Hi! I used to be a really good swimmer, but for a variety of reasons I haven’t done much over the last 10 years. I am getting back to it now, and go to the pool a couple of times a week and I LOVE it. My cardio fitness is terrible, but I can do a few lengths of back stroke before I need to take a rest, and the pool I go to is super quiet so I’m not in anyone’s way.

I used to rock the front crawl. It was my favourite stroke, and I could zoom along nicely. Not athlete level, but pretty good. Now that I’m more comfortable in the water again, I would like to get back to being able to front crawl.

I have tried swimming widths when the pool is empty, but I just don’t breathe. I have also tried holding on to the edge, kicking, and bobbing my head up and down in the water to get used to the breathing as I vaguely remember doing this in classes as a kid.

This seems to be helping, but I’m here now asking for advice - is there anything else I could be doing to improve?

hey everyone! the past 9-10 months i’ve been dealing with pretty severe brain fog that has really taken a toll on me. i cant think straight and always feel incredibly anxious because of it. im currently going into my senior year and the only relief of this fog is when i swim. as soon as i dive into the water i feel like myself again. the one thing this experience has taught me is to never take the moments of normalcy or feeling of being “yourself” for granted. i urge you all to just step back and be grateful for your health. if anyone has any type of recommendation or advice as to what could be causing this “fog”, i’d really appreciate it. have a great day!

Does anyone think a fitness center will allow a membership to cancel and override the 30 day policy and skip the cancellation fee? They out of the blue today said the big pool will now only run 5:30AM to 6:30AM daily and I cannot do that. I don't want to pay another whole month and never use the membership because they made a last minute change. I told them they should have given a 30 day notice for the change and wrote a long e-mail to the manager then I also cancelled the credit card but that was also for other reasons too.

Such an ultra high end well known facility across the whole country and them trying to pull this is just dumb. They are only about their private school kids and the tuition the millionaires pay for their kids to go to high school for $50K per year. They really no longer care about fitness center memberships.

I used to swim in my school team years ago and I am now going back to it after a 10 year break.

The last few months I would just swim for 45 minutes. Mostly breast stroke (which is what kid me used to do in competitions because my trainer decided I was best at that) and occasionally front crawl. Since this is getting boring I got myself a pullkick board.

What are good drills to swim with them (suitable for someone who is not really a pro)? I wanna improve technique but also strength especially in my arms...

I am based in UK and working as a full time nurse. Happily married and have a 15 year old kid. And I want to learn how to swim 🤣. Is it too late for a 38 year old woman like me to learn how to swim? Planning to register in a weekly swimming class next month.

Hey all!! I was curious if you had suggestions for how to break through a mid-tier swimming level plateau. Could be a particular regiment, drill, diet, etc.

I've been swimming consistently for 2 years now, swimming 4 to 5 times a week for 45 minutes, lifting weights, running occasionally. I have improved my 500M free time from 10:00 to 7:40, can do 1500M in 25:00, 200M in 2:40, etc. I am proud of all that, but I know it's nowhere close to an advanced level, but I'm at the point where every improvement is maybe a second or two. I consistently reach the same time, as if I've reached my personal ceiling. I know there are still many minutes to improve across many events, but I don't know what to do to start seeing greater gains. Curious if someone else has been in this situation and has been able to break through it.

For context, I'm 25M and was a mediocre year-round swimmer as a kid.