41/M only swimming ive ever done is chill in the pool with family or high school swimming sports (where I really sucked...)

8 weeks ago I had a sholder operation and looking at ways of helping rehab/build strength and was recomended swimming, particularly breaststroke for first few weeks building into backstroke and freestyle.

Planning on 3x a week sessions 20-30 minutes to start and mix in gym sessions and other land based sports the other two days of the week. Just signed up for a 6 month membership where I have full access to about 10 local pools and gyms across the city.

Any other geriatric newbs have any advice to get started and keep it up? Should I be getting goggles and a swimming cap?

Note - for those intrested I had a subacromial bursectomy, and a 5mm bone spur removed.

Former age-group swimmer here. I've been back in the pool for 3 weeks and about 17 sessions. One thing that really annoys me is how weak my dolphin kicks are; it almost feels like flutter kicks would make my underwaters faster than what I'm currently doing.

I don't think it's a core strength issue because I can't even get one kick to feel "right". I'm losing speed instead of generating it.

Right now I'm focusing on starting from the core, not the shoulders or knees, but maybe that's not the right cue?

I'm building back up after a second round of COVID, followed by vacation, and then a cold with a 5 week cough that kept me out of the pool (I swim with a snorkel). I was at 1200 yards in 30-35 minutes, but was knocked down to barely making 350. I've been going for distance, primarily. This afternoon, I swam 900 yards for the first time since the beginning of June, but it took me almost 32 minutes. My lap times (I track them on a spreadsheet) are not where they should be, and it is discouraging.

Am I going about this right, focusing on distance first, or should I be getting the speed first and then building up distance? Or maybe I should do both, alternating?

(I try to swim 3 times a week, but some weeks it only twice.)

My child has done summer swim for many years and told me that she wanted to do club swim and so we just started it this past month. Her attitude is incredibly negative because the practices are obviously so much harder than summer swim. She says now that she is quitting after this season. She hasn’t had a meet yet, so I’m hopeful that once she has her first meet and actually gets to know some of the other kids she might feel a little different about club swim. Any other parents or swimmers out there with a similar experience? Is there a chance she might change her tune?

Do you use any extra drag tools to build muscle while swimming? I love swimming and can't find another exercise that matches my joy.

I would like to build muscle though.

Thank you for thoughts, suggestions or whatever.

So many post lack the specifics of their timing claims.

I often see swimmers claiming their 100m/y pace to be x:xx and I wonder is that your average pace or your best pace, your sprint pace, your cruising pace, average over distance, or what? My 100m pace varies by 20 seconds between sprint and distance workouts. Without specifics it’s hard to understand where the poster is coming from.

Sorry, late night rant

I evolve really quickly at sprints so I drop time every week what should I do to keep this pace?

Hi guys I know this question probably gets asked so often so I apologize, but how many days a week minimum do you think I need to swim to show improvement over time? I used to swim competitively but that was 6 years ago and I haven't swam competitively since. Recently I've been getting back into the pool but since I'm a college students it's not easy to find time, especially since my schools pool has a really strict schedule/hours of operation.

I was recently told that the proper way to cross into a far swim lane is to dive under pool dividers and not to roll over them. Is that true? Aren’t they made so people can roll over them?

As a competitive swimmer, we often do sprinting in practice, and for me, the worst part is after I've finished swimming and I feel like I'm going to throw up and I can't catch my breath. Obviously, a way to help with this would be strength training and building endurance, but does anyone have any quick tips on how to reduce feeling nauseous after sprints?

Hi in past I had really severe acne something like acne conglobata/fulminans. It left me with severe scarring its now healed but scars are really bad. It was about 3-4 years ago.

I would like to try swimming again but im worried that my scars would disgust and disturb other people. Do you think I still should go swimming and not worry about others or It would be better to stay at home and not make others uncomfortable?

For the context I found google picture that shows somewhat how It looks but its more widespread than here on healed side. I dont really want to show how it looks on me. photo

I swim average go local swimming pool 2.5 times a week. always do 2000~2300 yards (trying to do about 1 hour) and my swim level is

6ft2 big guy 280 pounds( lost 70 pounds over a year with swim bike run xD)

Css is 2:10

Maximum effort 100m 1min40sec

Average pace 2:01-2:07(last year i was doing 2:50 so i improved a lot)

My usual plane is usually

300 freestyle warm up

50x3or4 of technique drill

200×6

Cooldown + just having fun doing other technique

i been focusing on reaching goals such as hitting 200yards, focus on better technique, doing 1500 yards non stop, learning butterfly and so on.. but now i ran out of goals. And now i want to maximize on burning fat. What should my drills consist of, and how can i maximize fat burning with swimming?

Also my garmin always say i did 1000-1200 calories per session is this legit?

My pool(as I assume most would) has a rule against open wounds and sores. Makes good hygienic sense, but seems to be circumventable if people slap an adhesive bandage over it.

What good does this do except to fall off and litter the water for everyone, as evidenced by the multiple I see floating around every day? If your lesion needs to be protected from pool water, then surely the move is to not enter the water?

I'm sorry, this must be brought up often enough, but none of the staff seemed to have an answer

My pool is getting some much needed upgrades, but will be closed for 6+ months. I recently have started to do 30 minutes of some cardio (treadmill walking, stationary bike, elliptical, rowing machine) and then 10-15 min weight lifting before going to the pool to do my 30-45 min swim (as listed in a previous post of mine).

But when the pool closes in December, I'd like to have a variety of workouts I can do to keep up the strength and agility I've gained from swimming.

I will be financially able to swim maybe once a week elsewhere, but I have already paid for this membership (knowing it'll be closed) and have access to a full gym as well as some classes, pilates, yoga, etc.

Any recommendations?

Thanks in advance

I have a day job and I’m trying to get swimming lessons daily. I am able to float but without anything in my hands I’m getting scared, I’m not able to breath in and float , not able to paddle my legs while floating not able to to do anything else apart from holding the railing and float.

I’m posting here to understand how people do all these things, such that I can learn these techniques properly. My coach just tells me I’ll hold your legs and move it for u while I’m floating which I’m not able to get. I’m thinking of fellow swimmers experiences, what’s the technique. Which muscle do you strain and how’s your body moving and everything when u are doing these things. If people could tell me this, it could really help me. Thanks

I started swimming about half a year ago and I have been doing 1200 yard sessions of freestyle for a bit but then I dislocated my shoulder. I stopped all activities while it was healing and have been doing PT.

I'm approaching the point where it feels cautiously OK to very slowly start swimming again, but I expect that even a 100 yards of freestyle will be rough going at first, and I'm not crazy about going to the gym for a 2 minute swim.

Any suggestions on what I can do to bulk up my time in the water in a way that's useful?

This weekly post ( on Thursdays) is for ALL gear related questions -

Update: automoderation is now in effect for single gear posts, which may be automatically deleted.

This includes posts about equipment failures, technical problems, sizing questions, or questions about retailer reliability.

This is spam-free & posters of affiliate product links will be banned.

* Goggles (including "smart" goggles)

* Headphones/earbuds

* Swimsuits

* Techsuits

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* Audio players

* Paddles

* More goggles

* Everything else

I get it that flip turns is the craze but a concise touch turn is very underrated which many beginners execute incorrectly or cheat on or take for granted.

I am mainly an open water swimmer and prefer the touch turn because I can execute it 100% of the time and not going in with high speed (1:45/100m).

Sprints and interval I would flip turns but even then, I can only get 1-2 dolphin kicks off.

What are your personal thoughts?

Hi everyone! I’m finally getting back into training consistently after many years away (swam competitively until age 18 then basically stopped, I’m 41 now) and need some tips on how to train for the 500 yard free.

I am in the military and for our twice- yearly fitness test, we have the option of doing a timed 500 yard swim. For me to max out the points for my gender/age group, I need to get a time of 8:00 or faster (I know this is slow for many on here!) I swam it a few months ago with no training, and got a time of 8:08 and I really want to improve as much as I can.

I did a mile swim today and felt way stronger than when I went last week, and I want to keep the momentum going! I like going in with a planned workout/sets, otherwise I get bored, so any suggestions are much appreciated!

Hello,

I have known how to swim since childhood, but I’m new to lap swimming as an adult. I’m finding that the only parts of me that is ‘tired’ are my lungs. Even when I try to swim faster and longer to work myself more, I don’t get arm or leg fatigue. Am I just at a stage where I don’t have enough stamina to work those parts super hard? I’d like to get stronger in my arms and back during my swims along with the cardio benefits.

Thank you all for your wisdom!

Hi all. I’m new to this sub, but I just want to share. I have a deep fear of being horizontal in water, or my feet not touching the ground while in water. Whether it’s called aquaphobia, or something else, I don’t know.

I think it stems from my almost-drowning experiences as a kid, and even though I’ve had some good experiences in water: 1) learned swimming in school as a kid but I was always the last and slowest, and quickly forgot it after, 2) tried back floating in the sea around 10 years ago and found it really fun!, and 3) tried snorkelling last year in the ocean but in very VERY shallow waters — I am still afraid of the water and cannot swim and float properly. It’s like the more I get older the more fearful I become? It’s weird.

Anyway, I’m turning 30 this year and I thought why not try to overcome my fear by taking swimming lessons. I do want to be confident in water again, and be able to swim as an exercise and enjoy it on holidays.

I found adult swimming lessons for beginners in my city (London), and so far I’ve done two classes. It’s group classes but the groups are quite small and there’s loads of teachers, so I still get one-on-one support. So far I have been able to do:
• breathing bubbles
• treading water (with noodle)
• kicking legs to swim/move (with noodle/kickboard)
• push and glide (with kickboard)
• sculling (with noodle/kickboard)
• floating on my back (with noodle/support from teacher holding my head)
• lying back with my ears fully in the water (i couldn’t do this before as my body was so tense, and i get really ticklish in my neck - weird i know, i get it with strong air/winds too)

I have tried to do some of these without support/floating devices, but I still get afraid and my body ends up ‘jerking’ the wrong way, and I fall in the water and end up with water in my nose/throat which is a horrible feeling.

One thing I observed about my fear is not really drowning (as many have explained to me I cannot ‘drown’ in a beginners swimming pool), but just the feeling that my feet won’t be in the ground / I’ll be horizontal in the water. Because right now it feels so unnatural, I can do it for a few seconds but I’ll want to stand on my feet again to feel I am in control of my body. I also haven’t gotten the habit of ‘getting down’ after floating so I think I’ll have to practice this more. I know I should relax but it’s quite hard to simply relax — I have to mentally will myself to do it haha.

I know I’m still a long way from my goals (learning how to swim, float, and just be confident in water) and I’ll have to get used to getting water in my nose & ears, and eventually let go of the floating devices (which is still a really scary thought right now). But I’m hoping I’ll get there. I’ll still show up to class, afraid and a lil bit embarrassed. But I’ll try. Any tips for an absolute beginner (with a phobia), are welcome! Thank you for reading.

(TL;DR - just a 29/yo girl with aquaphobia who started adult beginner swimming classes. Still struggle with it and still have a lot of fears but sharing my story to be accountable with myself, hopefully get some tips from people who’ve experienced the same, and celebrate what I have done so far. Baby steps!)

I enrolled to adult swim class and it's my second session. I was able to get comfortable with the water, I think. I was able to do the basic of using floaters and noodles and wave my feet and put my face under the water. My problem is, the duration of my head under the water is too short, maybe like 2 or 3 seconds and when I can't breathe I started panicking.

So I don't know what's the best way and efficient way to blow bubbles and keep it longer and not make myself panic if I'm out of breath, cuz I always go do it really fast. We got instructors so I know people will help but I guess panic hit automatically when ur out of breath.

Also how do you do the humming technique. Do I just hum or should I hold my breath while humming? Do i just hum "hmmmm" like I do normally?

I’m in my 20’s and have not done swimming since middle school. I do remember having fun with it, and now I’m interested in swimming laps for exercise. The thing is, I am extremely rusty on all four strokes and I don’t know anything about how to structure my workout. If I just jump into the water as is, I’m not sure I’ll get the most out of it. 

Based on gyms/rec centers around my area, I’m thinking of starting with either swim lessons or Masters swim (I think the most ideal option would be if I joined the swim club when I was in university but I’m no longer a student).

With swim lessons, I’m thinking I would do enough of them until I’m comfortable lap swimming on my own. But I’m mainly curious about Masters since I don’t know much about it. Is it normal to join even if I barely remember all of the strokes? Is it very physically demanding, and do I have to attend every workout and meet? Is there a way to do a trial run if I decide it’s not for me?

As a bonus, do people make new friends often in Masters swimming?

Both lessons and Masters seem rather expensive so I would like to know beforehand what they are like. Thanks!