Any swimmers out there?

[MrsTumbletap]

I am thinking of taking up swimming as my main form of exercise. I have a bad ankle and impact sports are not helping.

Do any of you swim? Do you wear goggles and a swim hat? How many lengths do you do? How often do you go?

Would love to ask more questions for any experienced swimmers out there!

There's a good swimming thread in the exercise section that I lurk on.

I wear goggles but no hat.

My lengths vary depending on what I am doing and how busy the pool lanes are, but I aim for 40 or 50 in a session. I'm building stamina back so I do 10 or 20 length sets whereas my dp tends to do speed or technique drills. (I should do more technique drills, but they are usually frustrating if the pool is busy)

There is loads of stuff on YouTube for inspiration. (Technique etc) or you could always book a one off with a coach to get started.

I find if I have even a week off, it can take me 10/20 lengths to get into the rhythm again. So don't worry if it all feels like treacle at first!

I also wear goggles but no hat, I just go every other day when I would be washing my hair anyway. Currently heavily pregnant so I've only been doing 10 lengths 3 times a week 😂 but before that I would aim to do min. 32 lengths, just because that's half a mile. It had been ages since I had been swimming when I started, and it turned out I wasn't doing it properly! I joined a group for adult lessons which were invaluable (I didn't even feel silly!) so now I know my technique is good and I'm getting the most out of it, so if it's been a while I would definitely recommend a refresher!

Goggles, hat to keep hair from face and ear plugs as I swim front crawl and hate that water deep in ear feeling.
Ask at your nearest local authority pool; usually an adult improver/ returner coached session you can join at a reasonable cost.

Yes goggles and hat to keep everything out the way.
I swim 1km in a pool usually. 40 lengths of a 25m pool. I swim mostly front crawl with a bit of breaststroke and backstroke thrown in.
Outdoors I swim about 1.5km usually, all front crawl. I wear a wetsuit for longer swims or colder months.
Swimming is addictive. You will feel so much better about everything once you start going regularly.

I wear googles and a hat, otherwise my hair gets tangled around the googles. I swim for 40mins and see how many lengths I can do. I get quite competitive with myself! Its a good way to push myself and improve without measuring/comparing my ability to others.

I swim 2 or 3 times a week - I use it as my low impact exercise between spin classes but I really love it. 40 or 50 lengths at a time. I don't bother with goggles or hat as I swim breast stroke. I love a swim, it really clears the mind.

Yes to both googles and a hat (it makes a big difference if you have a lot of hair). I swim a lot more than i used to, maybe 2 or 3 times a week, mainly because now we're having to prebook sessions due to covid restrictions I can see when the pool is quieter!
I usually do a minimum of 40 lengths (1km) up to 100 if I can get a double session booked. I recently did some lessons for stroke improvement so that's encouraged me to go more to keep practicing and my gym runs regular challenges through their swimtag system so that's also motivating.

30 weeks pregnant and still doing at least one swim a week

Usually in my none pregnant state I try to go twice a week (only times it is relatively quiet, men seem to get a complex that I am faster than them for some reason... and then start thrashing about and it puts me off!) and do a mile at a time depending how I am feeling, I wear hat and goggles.

I LOVE outdoor swimming so I go to the local outdoor swimming spots but wear a wetsuit for outdoor (again with hat and goggles)

Swim thread here...
I'd say more right now but... I'm late for swimming (!!)

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/exercise/4237284-Swimming-for-fitness-part-5-The-pools-are-open-again-Dust-off-your-goggles-and-dive-in

I wouldn't describe myself as a strong swimmer (I was late to learn at eleven years of age) but I love the feeling of being in the water.
I've recently made more effort to get to the gym where there's an outdoor pool and it's such a great way to start the day.
I also swim in the sea when I can (don't live near the sea unfortunately) and recently bought a summer wetsuit to encourage myself on chilly days.
I'm also researching where to swim outdoors near me.
What I would love to do is master front crawl. I'm a breast-stroke swimmer, sometimes the head-up/hair-dry type and sometimes with swim hat and goggles with my face in the water which is more energetic, and better for my neck.
I don't count lengths just swim for half an hour.

This is so helpful thank you!

Have a great pool hear me that's £25 a month direct debit so thinking of going twice a week to start.

I can swim but my technique is probably shocking, your suggestions of booking a coach/teacher to start me off doing it properly or watching youtube videos are good ideas.

How did you all start? We're you always good and able to do 10 lengths? I'm thinking I would probably do one length and have to rest, another length then rest etc as I get so out of breath. But that's why I want to do it, to have better cardiovascular health really.

I struggle with the breathing and stroke technique but love being in the water.

Didn't even know there was an exercise section! And there is a swimmers thread, fan, I will be using that for advice/support. Thank you @Shurl and @lljkk

I did swimming lessons as a kid and got a 1500m badge so I guess I've been able to swim distances from a relatively young age (that was primary school). I've never trained or swam competitively or had tuition beyond that until I did the lessons recently but used to go lane swimming with a friend in our late teens and I guess it's like riding a bike, you soon pick it up again and increase your stamina.
Make sure you pick an appropriate session if you need to rest between lengths, some lane swimming sessions can be non-stop and people get huffy if you hold them up!!

Yes, goggles and no hat. You want to be able to put your head in the water so if you want to wear a hat , go for it. I have grown to love swimming, I'm not great at it but it is great for my fitness. When I first started I would do about 4 lengths really slow, then about 40 lengths breast stroke. Once I began to improve I bought a float, and I would do leg drills up and down the pool in between 5 or 10 normal lengths, to give my legs a better workout. I slowly introduced front crawl but only when I'm feeling brave and strong, as I'm awful at it. Bizarrely I'm brilliant at breast stroke.

If you want to improve your strokes , watch some YouTube tutorials for tips. It genuinely helps.

Usually I would aim for about 100 lengths of the pool

I swim 3 or 4 times a week, doing 2km a time (about) apart from my Friday night social bimble swim in the river which is more about the gossiping. When I started swimming I could do a width, and with time I built it up and up.
I wear prescription goggles and a hat. My hair gets right on my nerves otherwise.

I think I will need a hat it past my shoulders and gets in a tangle.

How some of you are doing 50 or more lengths blows my mind!

Downloaded the pool timetable and would probably do a 7pm session twice a week, if my slowness would annoy other swimmers how can I prevent that? Do I say to them to overtake me? I don't mind at all, but I wont be fast and will need to get my breath back after each length to start.

Is there a swimmers protocol I need to aware of so I don't annoy anyone?

@MrsTumbletap

I think I will need a hat it past my shoulders and gets in a tangle.

How some of you are doing 50 or more lengths blows my mind!

Downloaded the pool timetable and would probably do a 7pm session twice a week, if my slowness would annoy other swimmers how can I prevent that? Do I say to them to overtake me? I don't mind at all, but I wont be fast and will need to get my breath back after each length to start.

Is there a swimmers protocol I need to aware of so I don't annoy anyone?

There are usually fast, medium and slow lanes and you pop yourself in the most appropriate one.

Start in the slow lane or open area, and just be aware of the other people in the lane - if they are right behind you, stop at the end, squash into the corner and they can go first. If possible, then go again right after them so it takes longer for them to catch you up.
Check which way round the lane people are swimming before you get in (or look at the signs). Never do backstroke in a lane, and when having a breather just squish into the corner so you don't get in the way of people turning.
If you do that, anyone getting annoyed with you have their own issues

Agree with the above, and also keep to one side as far as possible to allow people to overtake when needed. I'm neither fast nor slow, but I'm aware of what speed others are swimming at. No one wants to ruin their time by being stuck behind someone. As long as you are considerate, people won't get annoyed.

@MrsTumbletap

I think I will need a hat it past my shoulders and gets in a tangle.

How some of you are doing 50 or more lengths blows my mind!

Downloaded the pool timetable and would probably do a 7pm session twice a week, if my slowness would annoy other swimmers how can I prevent that? Do I say to them to overtake me? I don't mind at all, but I wont be fast and will need to get my breath back after each length to start.

Is there a swimmers protocol I need to aware of so I don't annoy anyone?

I started swimming regularly over 30 years ago. To start with I could only do ten lengths, stopping half way. You should find you improve fairly quickly in terms of stamina as long as you have fairly decent technique and are not 'fighting with the water'. In the early days I had some lessons to improve my technique, it's definitely worth trying to do that.

Nowadays I go three times a week and swim for just under an hour (I don't bother to count lengths any more). I never 'have a rest', I keep going.

I wear goggles, no hat as I have very short hair.

In terms of protocol, use the appropriate lane for your speed and be aware of where the other swimmers are - don't launch out just in front of a faster swimmer. They will overtake if there is space to do so, but there may not be if the lane is busy.

Good luck - I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I love swimming, did club level as a kid and could swim 200 lengths when I was 10 (5k).

I go 2-3 times a week but get frustrated as the lane swimming isn’t well policed in my local pool. I try and go at the quietest times so can have a lane by myself or only a few others. If I turn up and the pool is crowded I usually just leave it.. luckily I can see the pool through the window of the sports centre before paying so I don’t waste money!

I aim to do at least 50 lengths, in sets of 10, rotating between front, back and breast stroke. I want to find a decent set of water resistant ear phones so I can listen to music as it does get boring!

I wear a hat (obligatory in all pools here and so much nicer than getting a face full of someone's hair ). I also wear goggles. I haven't actually been since before covid though as pools have only just reopened and I didn't fancy it until I had been vaccinated. I'm thinking of having a few lessons as my technique is still poor.

Lanes sessions should be divided into slow, medium, fast.
Life guards should move anyone who truly doesn't belong in lane they have chosen.

Anecdotally (the slow lane swimmers say) that slow lane is the least disciplined lane. People there are least aware of letting faster swimmers pass and most likely to just bobble mid lane without moving forward so end up blocking everyone. Ideally, in any lane, you check at each end to see if you can let anyone faster overtake. Our lanes are wide enough that there is room to overtake in middle, usually, which is allowed informally even if the formal rules sometimes imply overtaking shouldn't happen except at the ends.

Lots of people pause for a rest at the end, especially shallow end. Anecdotally I believe fast lane swimmers are the very worst for just waiting around in the shallow end (!!) Wall blockers abound.

I can't stand water in my eyes so goggles essential for me. Ditto hat & hair.

I have long hair and no fringe. I put it in a low ponytail to swim. Don’t need a cap.

I swim in the snow lane as I do breast stroke. Some people in it are a pain. I tend to get the measure of the speed the individual swimmers go and adjust when I start a length/overtake them accordingly.

After twice forgetting my goggles, I keep a spare pair in my swimming bag.

If you’ve got long hair, you might want to consider your post-swim shampoo. Kit and Caboodle is good.