Swimming for fitness (part 5). The pools are open again. Dust off your goggles and dive in!

[TheOrigRights]

We're so busy counting laps we didn't see part 4 fill up!

Everyone is welcome here.

@seasally The workshop I did was in a school swimming pool, but yes, the private lesson I had was in her endless pool in her garden. A fantastic way to learn! She's a great teacher & I love the Total Immersion teaching method. Got me from an almost non swimmer to doing my first open water race last summer! I travelled over from Chester & was totally worth it.

@sazza42 You won't believe but I'm in Chester too!

@seasally well I can say with certainty that your journey would be worth the effort then!

I’m so glad this is back up and busy! I swim 3x a week on a good week, 1.5k each time in about 45 mins unless I’m doing speed drills then I only do 1k. I’ve also joined a weights gym which I am trying to go to twice a week, sometimes this means I can’t swim the day after so I’m trying to get the balance right as swimming is my priority.

I am lucky my council pool is fairly quiet and at worst I share a lane with one other person when I go, if it’s a woman it works well, if it’s a man not always so well. I often have an empty lane for the last half of my swim as I try and time it strategically. I go in the fast lane (there are 2) as the medium lane is usually just breast stroke and I am crawl - but I am not fast.

i am self taught and keep mulling over lessons . I’ve heard mixed things about total immersion. I was thinking if maybe going to swimtrek in Brighton (about an hour away) but it’s so pricey.

i find that swimming relaxes me but weight training is starting to give me major endorphins. I’ve actually done nothing since Monday as have been feeling a bit rough so thinking about what I might do tomorrow, maybe the gym as I need an endorphin hit.

Also mulling over an Apple Watch to add interest and tracking to swimming.

I’ll join please. I am addicted to swimming. I swim 2-3k every day and feel really grumpy if i go one day without swimming. I think there are worse addictions. What other exercises do people do to support their swimming?

Hello, can I ask for people's tips, favourite online resources etc for breath control, front crawl technique etc?

My local pool doesn't currently offer adult lessons. It's a shame that the other areas of the leisure centre (gym, fitness classes etc) have someone there to give you advice, but not the pool.

Hi @Secondguess
I'm mainly self taught and while I am certainly no expert, I've gone from barely able to swim a single length w/o nearly passing out to very comfortably swimming 1K front crawl.

Confession: I was in my mid 40s before I realised I could (and indeed needed to) breathe out under water. That was a game changer!

What are you doing now? Breathing on every 2, 3 or 4 strokes? Bilateral breathing was important for me to learn as I was worried I'd strain my back/shoulders etc if I only ever breathed on one side.

I think until you've got your breathing right it's hard to work on technique.

For technique I have got a friend (better swimmer) to watch me and advise on small changes.

Hi @CharlotteBog thanks for your message.

Similar here, middle-aged, not professionally taught to swim. After a break of decades not swimming at all, I'm trying to learn some technique. I watch videos which explain body rotation, catch and pull etc, but have to guess how I'm doing. I developed asthma after getting covid and hope swimming helps my breathing. I can breathe bilaterally every 3 strokes (but have better technique on one side, and have to remind myself not to hold my breath underwater). I'm slow, maybe 40s/25m, and after a 25m front crawl length I usually take a break or do a length of backstroke (with lots of breathing!) because I'm out of breath.

I don't have a fitness / swimming tracker and would appreciate recommendations for that.

I'd like to join this thread although it doesn't seem as active as it was. I've joined a gym age 50 and while I enjoy the fitness classes I'm mainly interested in swimming.

I used to swim FC as a child but have lost that ease/natural ability I had and now swim primarily breast stroke and worry about breathing etc.

I have an Apple Watch but I'm worried about using it in the pool. Does anyone else use it successfully?

Hey - would love to join here too.
I swam a lot as a child/teen and just started swimming lanes for fitness in January this year (I’m 34 now).

I’ve been swimming breaststroke and waiting until the end of the session when it quietens down to practice my freestyle as I’ve lost the breathing technique.

I find I generally swim at an awkward pace where I’m usually too fast for the slow lane but too slow for the medium lane so really want to be able to do continuous freestyle lengths in the medium lane.

@OytheBumbler I use my Apple Watch to track my swims, it works really well and even knows what stroke I am doing!

Yesterday I ate some cake then went swimming. I found every stroke painful. Normally I swim on an empty stomach. I am beginning to think Enid Blyton was right to advise waiting an hour. I'm pretty sure all my blood was in my stomach and none was going to my muscles. Normally I can swim a mile of fc effortlessly but it was agony yesterday and I got out after 1100m. Does anyone else experience this if they eat before swimming?

I haven’t eaten before swimming for ages but I don’t remember agony. What sort of cake was it?

Yesterday I went and Thursday seems to be the day all the club swimmers go as it was unusually busy, normal days I often have the fast lane to myself. With all the good swimmers I was too slow for the fast lanes so went in the medium. But it was too busy and slow. Then I realised the slow lane was empty so I went in there until an old lady got in. The middle lane is wide so then I just swam up and down the middle probably annoying everyone . Meanwhile one little old lady in the slow lane. Why do slow swimmers insist on going in the middle lane?! Middle lane should be slow freestyle or fast breast stroke. Instead it was slow breast stroke all round! @Panda89 it sounds like you are right for the middle lane from what you’ve said !

despite all this I did an awesome swim

I’ve spent ages stalking deakin and blue for a decent suit where I can have breast prosthesis added but then did a search on here and found Asda recommended - just ordered a lovely post surgery one for £19 including fast delivery ! Am quite excited. I have a boy leg suit but it looks awful on me and makes me hate entering the pool area. It’s also starting to flap around a bit so a new suit was a necessity.

That sounds infuriating @Countrylife2002 . I’m a fast breaststroker. The only pool I can get to at the moment has a slow lane and a fast lane. I have to time my swimming for when the fast lane has slowed down sufficiently for me to use it.

@MinnieMountain I think one of the things I’m finding about becoming a stronger swimmer is that these things don’t worry me as much now as I can easily overtake / swim around etc, I have more tools available to manage. I usually swim 60 lengths but did 70, possibly because of all the extra stops ! I’ve started strength training and it’s made a massive difference to my ease in the water . Not sure I’m actually faster, but I feel better !

Just resumed swimming after a long break.Trying to get my fitness up before daring to go back to the club as I'm too slow to keep up there right now. At the moment I'm swimming at lunchtime and the fast lane is full of slow people so it's a bit frustrating. I'm lapping people in 100m. Trying to time it so I start half way through a session and hope that enough people leave by the last 15 minutes that I can do a good 800m at the end.

Hi all, I've enjoyed skimming through this thread - can I join!?

I've started swimming again the last month or so. It took a very firm pulling up of the big girl pants to get going, but now I'm really really enjoying it! I was a club swimmer as a teen (not a particularly good one, but still 😆) but haven't swam 'properly' since, and I'm 41 now... At first it seemed v hard and I needed a little rest after most lengths (20m pool), but I've made a concerted effort to pay attention to my form in the three sessions I've done this week and it's got easier, and I've managed several continuous 100ms. And, someone actually complimented me on my FC style today and it properly made my day, I'm unreasonably happy about it!!

I did 1200m in about 33 minutes today, with short breaks between bursts of swimming. I love breaststroke but can't do too much due to a hip problem, like FC too. Used to love backstroke but I'm not feeling it for some reason now. I feel like I need a goal/target/plan though rather than just swimming whichever stroke I feel like in the moment and doing my best. So if anyone would like to point me in the right direction of any good resources I'd be grateful, but I'll also keep reading this thread for inspiration ❤️

I haven't swum in a few months. REALLY missing it. I'm going to get back into it tomorrow!

I'd like to join too. Been in improvers since January. Have now learned the front crawl, breast stroke and now on butterfly.

Love, love swimming 🥽

What are everyone’s weekly schedules?

at the moment I do:
Monday easy swim 1-1.5k
tues gym weights
Weds yoga at home
thurs longer swim (working to increase), nearly at 2k
fri intervals and technique 1.5k
sat yoga at home
Sunday gym weights

I am so tired on a weekend though. Today I’ve not done anything not even yoga. But I feel that swimmingx3 and weights x2 isn’t excessive. Should I just crack on and it will get easier?

I added in weights at the gym in Jan and it’s def making me swim faster. It affects my swim the next day though which is why I have Weds clear before the day I’m trying to extend my distance.

I think I might do alternate swim/gym Mon to Friday and just have the weekends clear to flop / gentle yoga . Sometimes dd likes to go to the gym together on Sundays, but tbh not that often, and if she doesn’t choose to go, I can’t motivate myself! I have a routine of exercising first thing then getting back in time to start work. I feel so much better for it in the week. I just seem to be zapped of energy on a weekend , but maybe that’s just being 50!

I'm swimming 3 times a week but it varies as our pool is often closed for competitions. My sessions tend to be about 2k in 40 minutes.

Current weekly schedule is 45 swimming lesson on Friday and an hour swim practice during the week - did the butterfly today. Need to add weights as am almost 53.

@atlaz 2k x3 is what I’m aiming for, I tend to be quite ‘heavy’ the day after the gym , but I’m hoping that will improve as I get used to it. I’m not especially trying to progress fast through the weights, as swimming is my priority.

@BonzoGates i wouldn’t know where to start with the butterfly! Amazing!

I actually think I might be fighting a lergy, so will see how I feel tomorrow and take a few days off p’haps.

I’d like to get to do yoga daily. I really love yoga with kassandra. But at some point I also have to walk the dog and do my day job! I need to see if I can do it fairly soon after I get up I think, that would be such a good start to the day and I only do the short vids. Instead I sit catatonic with a full teapot at my side !

I'm finally back in the pool after a horrible winter of health & personal issues. Managed 1K in 40 minutes which I was quite pleased with after a long break.

My ego was boosted by the fact that I was the youngest person in the pool by quite a margin ( I'm 54 😂) and to my surprise, the fastest. That's never going to happen again 😜.