[Closed] Swimming! FFS - does it actually get any easier?

yes it does but you need to stick at it and do regular swims.

i used to race competitvely until 17 and im ashamed when i see my stamina and speed now!

I'm probably worse, best I can do is poorly coordinated directional floating. If you want to improve then lessons are the only way really. Join the local Tri or swimming club as they often have sessions in the local pool.

For me, pool fitness is always the first to go and the hardest to get back. I presume it's something to do with how you the stroke dictates when you can breathe. It will get easier, try a tri club session. They're generally a bit mellower than masters, and you'll get some technique tips too.

<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444; font-size: 12px;">So I guess it’s lack of swimming fitness is it?</span><span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444; font-size: 12px;"> 

sounds more like a lack of technique. dare I suggest a skills session. 😉

I can almost guarantee you're so out of puff because you are not breathing at all / properly.

Breath in every second or third stroke and exhale constantly whilst your head is under water. Say "bubble bubble bubble" until your head comes out for more air. You want to have fully exhaled by the time you come back up for air.

Very, very common for new swimmers to breath in, forget to exhale then attempt to breath in again but still having a lungfull of used up air. In effect you are attempting to swim two lengths / a minute whilst holding your breath. That's why you are so puggled.

I'm no expert as I can barely swim myself, but are you just trying to go too hard?

Its bloody hard as chuff. My girlfriend (who is quite unfit) can swim costantly for about an hour whereas i can just manage 1 length. Since trying some of the techniques learnt from my daughters lessons i can go faster but it still takes loads of effort. Plus i'm a 'leg sinker' which means no matter how hard i swim by body is at a constant angle of 45 degrees from the surface.

Its just sh1t.

To be fair, I did also say my technique is shite too. Last time I tried lessons (a few years ago), the instructor seemed not very good. But that was a different pool. 🙂

Ok, I’ll look into their Aquazone lessons for grown-ups. I need to do something - at this rate my 5 year old will be out-swimming me in a few months.

Short answer - yep.

Almost word for word same experience.  Eventually something 'clicked' (watched a few youtube vids on freestyle/crawl technique) and I realised that my lck of technique meant that my exertions were trying to keep me afloat rather than powering me through into a gliding motion.  Fitness is a factor too, but poor technique/breathing will amplify a fitness deficit to varying degrees, from unbearable to merely tolerable.

I really never enjoyed (occasional) swimming until 45ys old, but persisted after that age as wanted to be better/safer in the ocean.  So took to the pool and worked at it.  When it clicks you will progress quite rapidly.  I gave it at least once or twice a week every week for 30 mins, then 45 mins etc. In 3 or 4 months I went from sadly knackered after 2 lengths to happily knackered after 50 lengths.   Eventually settled on once a day for 30 mins.

Definitely question your technique. And I'm not totally up to date with the latest methods but there used to be a couple of schools of thought. Total Immersion and Swim Smooth. I like the Total Immersion style and can heartily recommend it. Out of breath after two lengths sounds like a breathing issue, exhale underwater, take your time as you roll onto your side and breathe. And not just into your mouth, fill your lungs. A lot of people could do with slowing everything down a bit, after you've pulled glide a bit and use this time to get the breath in. Hard to critique without ever actually seeing you though but really have a look for the Total Immersion stuff.

I had lessons when I was a kid then took it up as a fitness thing in my early 30s.

Dunno if knowing how to do the strokes helped, but I found I very quickly got better at it (this was 4 or 5 x30 minute sessions a week). Stopped 10 years ago but my fitness from riding seems to let me just pop back in at about the same level now on my rare trips to the pool.

So maybe focus on learning the strokes and stick at it for a bit? I'm sure it will get easier.

I was much the same, knackered myself with 2 lengths and lots of splashing.

I borrowed a DVD from a mate, "Fish like freestyle" which teaches you to swim properly. After a couple of months I could swim for an hour, faster than before, and get out without tired but not completely knackered.

Forgot to say, I eventually began enjoying swimming more than cycling.  So then cycled to the pool because I felt guilty 🤣

Bravissimo - Its probably technique.

Theres a local lady round here, Sarah, who's got one of those everlasting pool things, and does swimming lessons specifically for adults. Her main customers are people who do triathlons. They're all hyper-fit, put great times on the swimming and running, but are let down by their swimming.

This is because they all think they can swim. They can.... sort of. In that they think this is because they can get from one end of a pool to the other without sinking. But in reality, their technique is absolutely terrible.

So she gives them a few sessions to sort them out a better technique than a cat thats just been thrown in a bath 😀

Very, very common for new swimmers to breath in, forget to exhale then attempt to breath in again but still having a lungfull of used up air. In effect you are attempting to swim two lengths / a minute whilst holding your breath. That’s why you are so puggled.

I reckon you’re right. I do struggle to get a proper breath and that sounds very familiar. I don’t get that “satisfied” feeling one gets when one takes a nice big breath of air. I think, like you say, I’m not getting decent breaths of “fresh” air after the first one I take. I’ll give the “bubble bubble bubble” thing a try - thanks for that. It’ll make a difference from “For ****s sake, this shouldn’t be this ****ing hard!”

As I can't edit... I meant 'They’re all hyper-fit, put great times on the CYCLING and running, but are let down by their swimming.

Some excellent advice here by the way - without too much piss-taking. Thanks everyone! 👍 Feel free to take the loss toonof course.

*feel free to take the [b]piss too[/b] of course!.

Edit not working on iOS.

Some people make it look so blooming easy.
Also a leg sinker, my family think I'm a witch!
Have to stop to 'Clean my goggles' every couple of lengths...

Yes, the goggle cleaning stop is very important you know.

Leg sinking is just poor body position, you're probably breathing out towards the front (instead of correctly to the side) and this raises your trunk and lowers the legs. But it could be poor kicking technique, I see a lot of people kicking occasionally and out to the sides rather than a constant up-and-down movement. Running out of breath could be due to not exhaling enough, but could equally be due to thrashing down the pool (like binner's cat in a bath 🙂 )...

The main problem with swimming is that it's 80% technique / 20% fitness - and to get that technique right you need to get the head right, the arms in the right position, the right amount of rotation, etc. etc. Trying to sort all that out on your own is possible, but it's a lot easier if you t<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">ake classes, either in a group or one-to-one. </span>

My wife is an ex-national level swimmer and having watched her I can confirm that it's all about technique. You can be as fit as you want but poor technique makes it so, so hard.

Best advise I can give is the advise I didn't take, get some lessons and stick to it.

I had never swam properly till a few years ago when I signed up for a tri and had to learn, took me 4/5 trips to get the breathing for freestyle, I used youtube videos and then once I had it I went twice a week and on the 1st session would do intervals and then on the second session look to swim for as far I had covered in the intervals.

In 5/6 weeks I was going a mile in the pool easily (even though I never learnt tumble turns) and bossed the pool section of the Tri I did. I then did swim again till last week. I went down and managed 6 lengths before having to stop, went out for some more lengths and was basically drowning and got out after only 6 more lengths! I'm so ashamed I havent gone back yet!!!!!!!

OP, stick at it, it will come!

Swimming in a pool hard?

DD - get in the ****ing sea!

technique is everything

A while ago I was swimming masters at a swimming club. We had a new coach come in to coach the kids. He was a young lad with no coaching experience but he was straight out of the GB program having competed international level open water. Now this Guy was overweight, and properly so. Obviously he kept eating after stopping the training. Come club champs the cocky fast kids at the club thought they could have him and show him up, so they persuaded him to enter 400m freestyle. So race night he's standing there on the blocks, little short guy, belly flopping over his speedos, obviously not been in the water for some time.

Race starts, and he leaves them in his wake. Just glides through the water with barely a splash. Looks like he is not even trying. Only takes about 4 strokes a length from surfacing the turn. Laps the lot of them. Finishes not even out of breath. They took him alot more seriously after that.

I'm another in the aquatically challenged group. Never really learnt to swim as a child and have always been rubbish in the water.

Started to put more effort in about 5 years ago, encouraged and helped by my wife who swims reasonably well. I'm still laughably slow considering I'm pretty fit and reasonably sporty. But after 5 years of steady effort and weekly coached sessions I can at least go up and down the pool for as long as I want without drowning, and usually do about a mile (80 lengths) of various drills and strokes in a typical weekly swim.<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;"> Most men who do crawl with any enthusiasm go faster, the pool has three lanes and I'm usually in the middle (slow lane is usually drifting OAPs, </span>not that there's anything wrong with that but just to give some context<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">).</span>

TL:DR yes you can get better, you may never be much good however much effort you put in though. My biggest problems are easily identifiable as heavily sinking legs and a shockingly ineffective kick. This can be improved (and has been) to some extent with practice but I'm never going to be good.

I bet I'm worse for all the same reasons. Really must have some lessons.

At my peak of swimming focus & speed, two sessions a week, my wife was still lapping me. Fair enough, but she was 6 months pregnant at the time :-O

On a slight sidenote here, I recently saw a physio and she recommended swimming to assist me with balance issues - swimming requiring good coordination between different bits of the body. I quite fancy breaststroke. Ideally I also want to do this to assist with fitness, is breaststroke a good choice here?

It’s hard work stick at it, get the technique, breathing, arm and legs in coordination

I swim 2 sessions of a km a week 25-35 mins, I damaged my shoulder and I could hardly swim 8 lengths for a long time last year, build it up gradually, even now I feel more exerted after a 1000 metres in the pool over

a quick hour long 25km on a drop handle with 10001500 ft of climbs

<span style="font-size: 12.8px;">You can swim breasstroke badly, same as any other stroke - and all of them require coordination to do correctly. The main problem with breaststroke is that it's fairly easy to get away with poor technique (and you won't necessarily notice), as your head comes out of the water regularly which means you don't run into the out-of-breath problems DD mentioned.</span>

Having trained myself to do an ironman swim I can confirm progress is slow. Very ****ing slow!

As mentioned, concentrate on breathing, forget about distance and speed. don't even bother with bi lateral breathing. do 1 length at a time then recover, try to swim in oxygen debt and it'll just get worse.

See if the local pool does swimfit or other type of group sessions, they will help you out too.

Deadly, you’ve described me a year ago! Out of breath, sinky legs, the lot! A 6-month det to the Falklands with a 33m free-to-use pool 100m from my room did the job though! It was tough at times to get in the pool, but I really enjoy it now and knock out a mile of continuous crawl in 45 mins, so not quick but at least competent!

As others have said, it’s all technique and positioning. Get some lessons for sure, I had no idea of all the (many) things I was doing wrong! Slow down, head up, stretch and glide (fixes the sinking legs!), and you’ll click at some point.

I had it as my goal for the Falklands trip as I wanted a low-impact cardio option as Father Time marches on, also Mrs fancies a triathlon and swimming was my weakest of the 3 by miles.

I went through this.

Swimming is 95% technique.  You're out of breath because you're workign too hard and you're working too hard because your technique is inefficient.

What I did was think about efficiency, watch youtube videos and try and do single lengths with as few strokes as possible.  This made a big difference.  I also breathe every other stroke, rather than every three or four as I was taught as a kid.

Also, when I did 200m running intervals it made it a lot easier to not get out of breath swimming....

I'd say concentrate on getting your legs up i.e. not trailing them, staying low in the water and rolling your body.  If you stay low and just breathe to the side in the wake of your head, you'll be able to do long lazy strokes, do far fewer of them, and therefore not get out of breath.

Oh and kicking doesn't make you go forwards much, it's mostly to keep your legs up.

To get your legs up by the way, you need to get your head down.  And to keep your head down you need to be able to breath to the side in the wake of your head.  This is all on youtube in slowmo.

I've tried numerous times over the years to learn front crawl but I just can't seem do it. I can do breast stroke perfecty fine though and swim a mile 3 times a week. Would love to learn the front crawl to mix things up a bit and be a bit less boring but maybe somethings aren't meant to be.

For me it’s more “delayed drowning” than true swimming.

Well, I’m just about to get in the pool.

Swimming in a pool hard?

DD – get in the **** sea!

😢

Anything’s hard if you’re shit at it Debz. Kinda like you find it trying to be funny. 😉

Hope you drown

Good to see a proper I'm rubbish thread on swimming

The last one some one said they were 55 minutes for 1500m and some one said they were lieing as no one is that slow

I one hit the dizzy heights of 1500m in 35 min

Now I'm pleased with 800m in 20 minutes. I only really swim outdoors. Which means I continue to be crap but really enjoy it

<span style="color: #444444; background-color: #eeeeee;">The last one some one said they were 55 minutes for 1500m and some one said they were lieing as no one is that slow</span>

yep, I was the slow one 🙂

as other say, technique is everything, Swimsmooth and  Art of Swimming youtube pieces help a lot, though nothing compared to a few sessions with a coach.

I have managed 6k this week, 2 x 1500m ones at lunchtimes and a 3k on Sunday when weather was too pish to ride.

You're all wrong, it's 99% technique and 1% fitness*

*says mrsmonkfinger, who is a qualified swim teacher among other things.

jeezus, I cannae work this new fangled site...... 🙁

the technique thing that gives the biggest benefit is the pointing arm

start off with both arms straight forward, biceps by your ears. Pull with one arm but keep the other one pointing forward. DON'T MOVE IT until the pulling arm comes right back round and then swap

as the pulling arm elbow starts to bend to lift back to the top, that's when to breathe

the rest is pacing and practice and good luck 🙂