Swimming to improve health

[Butterflyflytoday]

I started swimming regularly a few weeks ago to improve my health and fitness - I’m really enjoying it!

Has anyone got any tips as to what I should be aiming for?

I now swim for 1 hour, my technique has improved - I taught myself to breaststroke with my face in the water and just last week had a lesson teaching me to front crawl with my face in the water. The last few days I’ve mixed up front crawl and breaststroke- so today did two lengths fc and 1 bs for an hour.
Should I be aiming for multiple lengths in the same stroke rather than mixing them up as
much as I do?

Mix it up. Vary the strokes, distance and speed (eg 3x50m with the first 50m steady, the next a bit quicker, and the last 50m fast), and add in a variety of drills (just arms/pull, just legs/kick, catch up, zip up etc). Ideally you want short regular rests between each bit just long enough for your heart rate to drop a little, which could be anything from 10-40 secs depending on what you were doing and to what intensity. It is a better work out than just plugging away up and down the pool for an hour doing front crawl, and much more interesting. You can find basic sets online to work to, some pools have cards hanging up with them on (often called 'swimfit'), you can pay for apps that provide them if you have ££ to burn, or you can create your own. Some pools have swimfit sessions you can book into that will be lead by a teacher/coach with the set provided.

It sounds like you might benefit from lessons too? Many pools have intermediate lessons for adults as well as beginner. They are aimed at those who can already do the basics, swim at least a length before needing a rest, and are comfortable in deep water. I highly recommend them, having done them myself when deciding to take swimming up properly. It improved all 3 of my strokes, and I also learnt butterfly and tumble turns which were completely new to me. You will learn a number of drills in the lessons too, which you can pinch for your own swims.

I'll add, the lessons at my pool come with a free swim membership, so are really good value if you are going at other times too. The lessons are £5/month more than a swim membership, so essentially you are getting 30mins teaching for a little over £1 a week!

Try to swim more lengths with the same stroke before taking a break and switching strokes. This keeps your heart rate higher for longer. Watch YouTube videos to see how to improve your stroke and get lessons if you can. There are so many little things to improve. I was a decent swimmer and have started lessons a year ago. I can now do 200m+ non stop and 1200m+ in an hour which was unthinkable a year ago.

Thanks @SkankingWombat thats really useful, will aim to mix things up a bit. Will also book some more lessons, they are very cheap with my gym membership.

@PlainSkyr I feel as though I can breaststroke forever without stopping but I haven’t managed more than 5x17m of front crawl in one go and that was only once at the very end of my swim today.

I feel like I’m not really taking rest breaks but when I look at my watch stats in detail I do take a few 10-13 second breaks but I think that’s when I check my watch!
I’m hoping to join a lesson tomorrow, no one else seems to have booked on so may end up being 1-1 like the first one I went to which was incredibly helpful! Even if I can’t get there on time for the lesson I will use tomorrows swim to improve my stamina when doing front crawl.

Echo above posters about looking for a swimfit session, our council do stroke skills and swimfit for a fiver pay as you go or included in monthly membership and they are both great. Swimfit mixes it up a bit with a structured session.

I worked my way up to a km then 1600m (a mile ish) and now am trying to get that mile done faster. I do breast stroke/back stroke/front crawl 100m or 200m each then switch.

Sorry I pressed go to soon ! I think if you are getting lessons that’s ace because your technique will be great. Just keep adding a bit of distance each time you go.

@Butterflyflytoday - breast stroke is quite easy - my swim teacher won't allow me to do it except for cool down. So the real challenge is to keep improving your FC whilst using BS more for a 'break'. Set a target of x lengths of FC and keep working at it. Might just be 1/2 length more easy session to build up gradually. Above all consistency is key in swimming. So don't skip your sessions unless you can't help it.

You might find this company helpful too OP. They are one of the ones I mentioned before that you can pay to provide you with a training schedule. I don't do that, but do follow them on Facebook and find the videos and articles really helpful (and free!). This one explains how to improve your stamina:
blog.myswimpro.com/2023/02/27/5-ways-to-improve-your-swimming-endurance/

@SkankingWombat - that's a really useful blog. Thanks for sharing.

Breaststroke really isn't easy if your teacher can teach it correctly, I wouldn't be happy if my teacher was only using it as a cool down.

is there such thing as an easy stroke? If it’s easy just do it faster! It’s still great for your heart and lungs

I do breast stroke to warm up and cool down then pound the pool in front crawl, but never had lessons. I have one booked, can't wait. I have used a leg float and wrist bands for resistance before, think it helps.

I tend to do 3 strokes under water then come up, I used to do 5 but I have a cystic lung condition. An uneven numbe feels best as it switches sides. It really is a case of do more than you thought you could, to find that you can do it.

Thanks for all the tips, it’s really helpful.

I made it to the swimming lesson. It was hard going as I usually swim in a 17m pool. The instructor did give me the option of swimming half lengths but I decided to go for the full 33m. It’s amazing how much improvement can be made even in just 45 mins with some great instruction. I have improved in my front crawl breathing which improved my stamina and I also improved my breaststroke legs.

Until I decided last week to join the swim fit session (which I wasn’t really ready for and being the only person had a swimming lesson instead) I thought that swimming lessons for adults where really just for beginners or serious swimmers - I don’t know why I didn’t consider they were also for people to improve!

I will ask the instructor about drills when I feel more confident.

@SkankingWombat swimpro looks really useful, I may consider that when I’m no longer paying for lessons.

@MistySkiesAreGone the instructor told me to do three strokes in the water and then breath, so as you said you end up switching breathing side each time.

That sounds like great progress already ☺️ You'll find you're a completely different (better) swimmer in no time if you continue to push yourself to learn and improve. I started 'improver' lessons a little over 18 months ago as well as spending ages watching videos online to pick apart technique, and then joined a masters team last summer once I had managed to improve my fitness and technique a little. I've gone from being under confident and out of puff swimming one 25m length to covering over 2k in an hour with a mix of strokes (although I still find fly really really tough going). My technique is completely different now too, as knowledge about efficiency has moved on somewhat since I was taught to swim at school. The next step/goal for me now is speeding up further so I can compete 😬 (and the hope to continue to be a bit quicker than my club swimmer DCs for at least a little while longer! Nobody wants to be lapped by their 8yo 😂)