Better swimming for fitness?
March 18, 2021 12:55 PM Subscribe
I am doing a lot of swimming lately, and I would like some pointers or resources on how to improve at it.
In the past few months, I have been swimming regularly at my local pool in a 17m lane. My goal is primarily to get more fit -- stronger, better cardio, etc. I am very, very fat, and I mention this not because I want to lose weight -- I don't care about that in particular -- but because I believe it effects the mechanics of my swimming.
Constraints:
Workouts vary between 40 and 80 minutes, depending on what kind of timeslot I can get at the pool (limited covid reservations) and don't always have a lane for more than 10 minutes at a time. If I don't have a lane, I can still swim, but I might have to dodge other swimmers, so it has to be more attentive, heads up.
I can't borrow any equipment from the pool. I do have goggles, short fins and a kickboard. I would prefer not to buy anything large, as I don't actually live in this city outside of COVID time and I wouldn't be able to take it home, but a new swim watch would be fine, for example. I also have MP3 underwater headphones, so if there was a coaching recording to listen to while swimming I could do that.
Current habits:
I usually swim laps in groups of 4 -- three lengths front crawl and one backstroke. Mostly because this helps me keep count of laps, but also because I've swum laps off and on this way for years and it's just a habit. Sometimes I swim all front crawl because I need the visibility when I don't have my own lane and there are kids playing in the pool, I don't mind that but I don't like it as much.
I swim very slowly. 4 lengths of the 17m lane takes me about 2:30-2:45 with fins on and 3:00-3:30 without. But at that sort of pace, I can now just swim pretty much as long as I might want -- I have no problem keeping it up for the entire 80 minutes, without stopping to catch my breath or let my heart rate go down. This is a relatively recent development -- even a few months ago, I had to stop every 16 lengths or so. Without fins, I can speed up a little for some laps, but then I can only sustain that for a few laps before I have to stop and catch my breath / let my heart rate drop. With fins, I get too uncoordinated when I try to speed up and everything goes to hell.
I have a fitbit, but it doesn't count laps until after you get home from the pool, so it's kinda sorta useless, other than for keeping track of when my 10 minutes in the lane is up, I guess. I have a lap counter / timer back home that I didn't bring out here, but you have to push the button for every lap and half the time I forget or push it twice and turn it off or whatever. It is not my favourite.
Form and technique issues:
I have a fair amount of trouble coordinating arms and legs and knowing what to do with my legs exactly:
If I swim without fins on, kicking is counter-productive and I actually go slower than if I just use my arms. If I swim without fins on, using a kickboard, so no arms, I will literally travel backwards in the water. I think this might in some way be related to being fat, but I don't know. Maybe I have bad kicking technique? I have taken adult stroke improvement classes in the past, and the instructors were unable to detect a clear problem or help me fix it.
With fins on, I struggled with coordination between arms and legs. I don't know how to move them independently and keep up a rhythm, so I end up moving one arm stroke in the same time as one leg stroke, but with fins, a leg stroke takes so much longer than an arm stroke that I feel like my arm strokes aren't really doing anything to contribute. I do not know how to practice this so that I can get better at using my limbs more independently or in a better rhythm with each other. I have been using the kickboard with fins sometimes in the hopes of concentrating on and improving my kicking speed and form. I can use the kickboard without fins, too, but then I go backwards, as I mentioned.
My breathing is relatively good, and I am able to keep up a pretty regular pattern of breathing every fourth stroke when doing front crawl. This is also a somewhat more recent development, my breathing used to be much more of a mess. Because every fourth stroke is single-side breathing, I alternate from set to set in order to the strain even on both sides, but I don't know how much that actually matters. It helps count laps, tho!
I am very slow, as I mentioned, and I feel like I should be able to get faster. I don't need to actually be faster, since I'm just swimming for my own general fitness not trying to be competitive. I suppose it would be nice to get my no-fins 1500m time to under an hour so I could have the option to join my local Masters swim club but that feels a long way away. I also feel like going faster while still being able to breathe would indicate that I am improving my fitness.
How you can help:
Tips or tricks for techniques or training, especially if you have any ideas about my kicking backward problem
Recommend online training videos (mechanics or workouts) or audio programs I could take to the pool
Suggestions for workout formats, particularly ones that might take advantage of the 10 minutes I have in the lane at a time but still have ideas for what to do when I'm not in the lane
Suggestions to solve my going backward problem when I'm kicking or improve coordination generally
Equipment that might make my swimming better; it would have to be small for the short term, but I there is a beautiful pool (closed for COVID) in my apartment back home that I could get more equipment for later if necessary
In the past few months, I have been swimming regularly at my local pool in a 17m lane. My goal is primarily to get more fit -- stronger, better cardio, etc. I am very, very fat, and I mention this not because I want to lose weight -- I don't care about that in particular -- but because I believe it effects the mechanics of my swimming.
Constraints:
Workouts vary between 40 and 80 minutes, depending on what kind of timeslot I can get at the pool (limited covid reservations) and don't always have a lane for more than 10 minutes at a time. If I don't have a lane, I can still swim, but I might have to dodge other swimmers, so it has to be more attentive, heads up.
I can't borrow any equipment from the pool. I do have goggles, short fins and a kickboard. I would prefer not to buy anything large, as I don't actually live in this city outside of COVID time and I wouldn't be able to take it home, but a new swim watch would be fine, for example. I also have MP3 underwater headphones, so if there was a coaching recording to listen to while swimming I could do that.
Current habits:
I usually swim laps in groups of 4 -- three lengths front crawl and one backstroke. Mostly because this helps me keep count of laps, but also because I've swum laps off and on this way for years and it's just a habit. Sometimes I swim all front crawl because I need the visibility when I don't have my own lane and there are kids playing in the pool, I don't mind that but I don't like it as much.
I swim very slowly. 4 lengths of the 17m lane takes me about 2:30-2:45 with fins on and 3:00-3:30 without. But at that sort of pace, I can now just swim pretty much as long as I might want -- I have no problem keeping it up for the entire 80 minutes, without stopping to catch my breath or let my heart rate go down. This is a relatively recent development -- even a few months ago, I had to stop every 16 lengths or so. Without fins, I can speed up a little for some laps, but then I can only sustain that for a few laps before I have to stop and catch my breath / let my heart rate drop. With fins, I get too uncoordinated when I try to speed up and everything goes to hell.
I have a fitbit, but it doesn't count laps until after you get home from the pool, so it's kinda sorta useless, other than for keeping track of when my 10 minutes in the lane is up, I guess. I have a lap counter / timer back home that I didn't bring out here, but you have to push the button for every lap and half the time I forget or push it twice and turn it off or whatever. It is not my favourite.
Form and technique issues:
I have a fair amount of trouble coordinating arms and legs and knowing what to do with my legs exactly:
If I swim without fins on, kicking is counter-productive and I actually go slower than if I just use my arms. If I swim without fins on, using a kickboard, so no arms, I will literally travel backwards in the water. I think this might in some way be related to being fat, but I don't know. Maybe I have bad kicking technique? I have taken adult stroke improvement classes in the past, and the instructors were unable to detect a clear problem or help me fix it.
With fins on, I struggled with coordination between arms and legs. I don't know how to move them independently and keep up a rhythm, so I end up moving one arm stroke in the same time as one leg stroke, but with fins, a leg stroke takes so much longer than an arm stroke that I feel like my arm strokes aren't really doing anything to contribute. I do not know how to practice this so that I can get better at using my limbs more independently or in a better rhythm with each other. I have been using the kickboard with fins sometimes in the hopes of concentrating on and improving my kicking speed and form. I can use the kickboard without fins, too, but then I go backwards, as I mentioned.
My breathing is relatively good, and I am able to keep up a pretty regular pattern of breathing every fourth stroke when doing front crawl. This is also a somewhat more recent development, my breathing used to be much more of a mess. Because every fourth stroke is single-side breathing, I alternate from set to set in order to the strain even on both sides, but I don't know how much that actually matters. It helps count laps, tho!
I am very slow, as I mentioned, and I feel like I should be able to get faster. I don't need to actually be faster, since I'm just swimming for my own general fitness not trying to be competitive. I suppose it would be nice to get my no-fins 1500m time to under an hour so I could have the option to join my local Masters swim club but that feels a long way away. I also feel like going faster while still being able to breathe would indicate that I am improving my fitness.
How you can help:
Tips or tricks for techniques or training, especially if you have any ideas about my kicking backward problem
Recommend online training videos (mechanics or workouts) or audio programs I could take to the pool
Suggestions for workout formats, particularly ones that might take advantage of the 10 minutes I have in the lane at a time but still have ideas for what to do when I'm not in the lane
Suggestions to solve my going backward problem when I'm kicking or improve coordination generally
Equipment that might make my swimming better; it would have to be small for the short term, but I there is a beautiful pool (closed for COVID) in my apartment back home that I could get more equipment for later if necessary
I found a lot of benefit from the Total Immersion book.
It really helped me understand how my body is supposed to feel in the water, the hip drive for power, etc.
If you can get a friend (or stranger) to film you for a few laps on your phone, it really helps to see your technique from the outside and connect with what you think you're doing.
posted by jpeacock at 1:26 PM on March 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
It really helped me understand how my body is supposed to feel in the water, the hip drive for power, etc.
If you can get a friend (or stranger) to film you for a few laps on your phone, it really helps to see your technique from the outside and connect with what you think you're doing.
posted by jpeacock at 1:26 PM on March 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
Couple of suggestions -
Although it sounds weird that you could ever learn swimming from a book, I once spent a winter working through Total Immersion, and it was interesting, enjoyable and improved my technique. They break the stroke right down into small movements that you practice one step at a time, and build up into the full stroke. So you might want to forget about times for a while and work on the technical stuff, and then you'll be in a better position to work on your times/fitness later if that's what you want to do.
I can speed up a little for some laps, but then I can only sustain that for a few laps before I have to stop and catch my breath / let my heart rate drop.
This is kind of borrowed from running, but should work for swimming too. Try interval training. In order to get fitter/faster, you don't want to try going faster for a long, continuous period, or you'll tire quickly, as you've found out. You want to intersperse shorter intervals of intense effort into your regular effort. So - for example - make one lap in eight hard and fast, then revert to your regular effort for the other seven. Once you can do that OK, make it one in six hard, five regular. Then one in four. And so on.
At some point in the progression, stop and recalibrate what your regular and hard paces look like and go back a bit - maybe you drop back to 1:6 but your hard pace is harder and faster than the previous go-around.
Basically, to learn to go faster, you have to go faster. You can't keep it up for long, so do short, repeated stints of it.
posted by penguin pie at 1:33 PM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
Although it sounds weird that you could ever learn swimming from a book, I once spent a winter working through Total Immersion, and it was interesting, enjoyable and improved my technique. They break the stroke right down into small movements that you practice one step at a time, and build up into the full stroke. So you might want to forget about times for a while and work on the technical stuff, and then you'll be in a better position to work on your times/fitness later if that's what you want to do.
I can speed up a little for some laps, but then I can only sustain that for a few laps before I have to stop and catch my breath / let my heart rate drop.
This is kind of borrowed from running, but should work for swimming too. Try interval training. In order to get fitter/faster, you don't want to try going faster for a long, continuous period, or you'll tire quickly, as you've found out. You want to intersperse shorter intervals of intense effort into your regular effort. So - for example - make one lap in eight hard and fast, then revert to your regular effort for the other seven. Once you can do that OK, make it one in six hard, five regular. Then one in four. And so on.
At some point in the progression, stop and recalibrate what your regular and hard paces look like and go back a bit - maybe you drop back to 1:6 but your hard pace is harder and faster than the previous go-around.
Basically, to learn to go faster, you have to go faster. You can't keep it up for long, so do short, repeated stints of it.
posted by penguin pie at 1:33 PM on March 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
I swam for years with a good friend, and the best kicking technique she gave me was to think of your body as a fly rod, with the hips at the fulcrum; to get more power, kick from the hip, note knee or thigh.
I also learned that when you are swimming with arms and legs, the point of kicking is (generally) less for moving forward and more for keeping your body flatter in the water. The coordination stuff to work out is torso rotation, head position/movement and breathing - all with the arms. To that end, a pull buoy is useful. You tuck it between your legs, so they stay up, and can focus solely on stroke and breathing.
Good luck! I can’t wait to get back in the pool.
posted by dbmcd at 2:38 PM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
I also learned that when you are swimming with arms and legs, the point of kicking is (generally) less for moving forward and more for keeping your body flatter in the water. The coordination stuff to work out is torso rotation, head position/movement and breathing - all with the arms. To that end, a pull buoy is useful. You tuck it between your legs, so they stay up, and can focus solely on stroke and breathing.
Good luck! I can’t wait to get back in the pool.
posted by dbmcd at 2:38 PM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have one of these lap counters and I just adore it!
Keep in mind that during the crawl, kicking only contributes about 10% of the propulsion.
posted by SageTrail at 4:01 PM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
Keep in mind that during the crawl, kicking only contributes about 10% of the propulsion.
posted by SageTrail at 4:01 PM on March 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
it's great you've seen improvement and want more -- keep on it!
Yes to intervals, raises the average effort and also improves recovery. It is your recovery time, both inside a minute while swimming and in the day or two later after a session, that you want to improve, something that needs practising highly intense stints before recovering down at a sustainable pace.
Some other ideas:
Force yourself to breathe on 3 arm strokes during a crawl to even up your ability to breathe bilaterally, then breathe only on 5 or 7 arm strokes to hold a sustainable smooth crawl.
For timing, I like a breast stroke kick matched to the pull of front crawl arms.
Swap the fins for a pull buoy, shaped to fit between your thighs and stop you kicking or use a float. This raises your legs to reduce drag and let your arms do their work -- kicking isn't the efficient or powerful part of front crawl.
posted by k3ninho at 4:42 PM on March 18, 2021
Yes to intervals, raises the average effort and also improves recovery. It is your recovery time, both inside a minute while swimming and in the day or two later after a session, that you want to improve, something that needs practising highly intense stints before recovering down at a sustainable pace.
Some other ideas:
Force yourself to breathe on 3 arm strokes during a crawl to even up your ability to breathe bilaterally, then breathe only on 5 or 7 arm strokes to hold a sustainable smooth crawl.
For timing, I like a breast stroke kick matched to the pull of front crawl arms.
Swap the fins for a pull buoy, shaped to fit between your thighs and stop you kicking or use a float. This raises your legs to reduce drag and let your arms do their work -- kicking isn't the efficient or powerful part of front crawl.
posted by k3ninho at 4:42 PM on March 18, 2021
I hear you about the kicking and second the recommendation for a pull buoy. I am an excellent kicker myself but I get pretty winded and paradoxically can go much further doing the crawl without stopping if I don’t kick (and have a pull buoy). You don’t mention doing a breast stroke. It’s kind of awkward to learn but once I did, it’s my favorite stroke. It allows the most natural breathing and I can also manage to kick without getting too winded. I have some shoulder issues so I also find it to be a good alternative to the crawl and backstroke for a different shoulder motion. For learning and improving, I watched a lot of YouTube.... I’m a watcher tho - My style for most physical learning is to watch many times first and memorize visually and then play that memory in my head while I’m trying, so ymmv.
Regarding the lane sharing, does your pool not promote circle swimming? Before covid, lane sharing was routine but it didn’t interfere too much if everyone followed the system.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:29 PM on March 18, 2021
Regarding the lane sharing, does your pool not promote circle swimming? Before covid, lane sharing was routine but it didn’t interfere too much if everyone followed the system.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 6:29 PM on March 18, 2021
“Suggestions for workout formats, particularly ones that might take advantage of the 10 minutes I have in the lane at a time but still have ideas for what to do when I'm not in the lane...”
Treading is underrated. Solid eggbeater gives you just as much of a workout in the water, maybe even more, and gives you much more control over breath, pace, and intensity. Hands-out intensifies it, and you can raise or lower your arms depending on need. It’s not lane dependent, and you can go as hard or slow as you like. For a ten minute slot, eggbeater can’t be beat.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:36 PM on March 18, 2021
Treading is underrated. Solid eggbeater gives you just as much of a workout in the water, maybe even more, and gives you much more control over breath, pace, and intensity. Hands-out intensifies it, and you can raise or lower your arms depending on need. It’s not lane dependent, and you can go as hard or slow as you like. For a ten minute slot, eggbeater can’t be beat.
posted by Capt. Renault at 8:36 PM on March 18, 2021
Response by poster: Regarding the lane sharing, does your pool not promote circle swimming?
No sharing lanes except with members of your own household because of Covid. And not even that in the reserved lanes in the main pool - in there you book a lane all to yourself for the whole timeslot. I just swim in or beside the one lane they have roped off in the leisure pool, and the lane itself is first come first serve but limited to 10 minutes per person if anyone else is waiting. The rest of the time, I can still swim in the rest of the leisure pool, I just can't be certain I will have a straight shot lane from one end to the other.
Re: the fins. I really want to be working my legs more because they are a larger muscle group and because leg weakness is a major problem for me on dry land and fins allow that, but I can definitely alternate workouts where I use them with ones where I don't if not using them will help improve my swimming. I don't think a buoy is likely in the short term since it would be too big to bring home with me but I could get one when I am back in Ottawa if it makes sense. Though, the idea of fitting anything between my fat thighs is sort of laughable but they float plenty high enough out of the water without assistance so I can just ... not kick.
I can do a half-assed breast stroke but in a long ago swim lesson they told me that the legs for breast stroke had changed and I was doing them wrong and I didn't learn the new legs properly but no longer remember the old legs, either. I could probably learn them, though if I put some effort in. Do you have any favourite youtube channels for that sort of thing or do you just google the skill you are trying to learn? I learned to flip turn from YouTube years ago so I definitely think I could learn from videos.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:34 PM on March 18, 2021
No sharing lanes except with members of your own household because of Covid. And not even that in the reserved lanes in the main pool - in there you book a lane all to yourself for the whole timeslot. I just swim in or beside the one lane they have roped off in the leisure pool, and the lane itself is first come first serve but limited to 10 minutes per person if anyone else is waiting. The rest of the time, I can still swim in the rest of the leisure pool, I just can't be certain I will have a straight shot lane from one end to the other.
Re: the fins. I really want to be working my legs more because they are a larger muscle group and because leg weakness is a major problem for me on dry land and fins allow that, but I can definitely alternate workouts where I use them with ones where I don't if not using them will help improve my swimming. I don't think a buoy is likely in the short term since it would be too big to bring home with me but I could get one when I am back in Ottawa if it makes sense. Though, the idea of fitting anything between my fat thighs is sort of laughable but they float plenty high enough out of the water without assistance so I can just ... not kick.
I can do a half-assed breast stroke but in a long ago swim lesson they told me that the legs for breast stroke had changed and I was doing them wrong and I didn't learn the new legs properly but no longer remember the old legs, either. I could probably learn them, though if I put some effort in. Do you have any favourite youtube channels for that sort of thing or do you just google the skill you are trying to learn? I learned to flip turn from YouTube years ago so I definitely think I could learn from videos.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:34 PM on March 18, 2021
+1 on trying to get someone to film your swimming. It's very hard to tell what you're doing wrong without seeing it yourself. Is there a lifeguard on the deck while you're swimming? Usually lifeguards are swimmers themselves, and wouldn't mind giving pointers to people trying to improve their swimming. I suggest chatting them up and asking for casual pointers.
As for your kicking, if you are doing front crawl, you should be doing a flutter kick as opposed to one kick per stroke. You can look on YouTube for examples. When doing flutter kick, you want to move your leg from the hip, not the knee, and keep your ankles loose. Your heals should barely break the surface of the water. You can practice kicking by holding onto the wall and kicking, so you don't have to worry about whether you're moving or not. I'm guessing if your kicking improves with fins, the fins might be helping with the position of your feet and ankles. Try thinking about pointing your toes when you kick without fins. You don't want your feet in the same position they'd be in if you were walking.
If you can do a swimming workout for 40 - 80 minutes, that's great! Many people struggle to swim for that long. If you want to get serious about improving to the level of swimming with a masters team, you should start incorporating sets with intervals i.e. swim 4 laps without stopping 5 times, with 30 seconds rest in between or start the 4 lap set every 3 minutes. I think it's easier to start with timed rests and work up to intervals.
Good luck! Swimming is great exercise!
posted by DEiBnL13 at 9:48 PM on March 18, 2021
As for your kicking, if you are doing front crawl, you should be doing a flutter kick as opposed to one kick per stroke. You can look on YouTube for examples. When doing flutter kick, you want to move your leg from the hip, not the knee, and keep your ankles loose. Your heals should barely break the surface of the water. You can practice kicking by holding onto the wall and kicking, so you don't have to worry about whether you're moving or not. I'm guessing if your kicking improves with fins, the fins might be helping with the position of your feet and ankles. Try thinking about pointing your toes when you kick without fins. You don't want your feet in the same position they'd be in if you were walking.
If you can do a swimming workout for 40 - 80 minutes, that's great! Many people struggle to swim for that long. If you want to get serious about improving to the level of swimming with a masters team, you should start incorporating sets with intervals i.e. swim 4 laps without stopping 5 times, with 30 seconds rest in between or start the 4 lap set every 3 minutes. I think it's easier to start with timed rests and work up to intervals.
Good luck! Swimming is great exercise!
posted by DEiBnL13 at 9:48 PM on March 18, 2021
My process was:
• I booked some ongoing sessions with a coach who was good at motivating me and offering me some general tips on form, but who didn't really do a deep dive into technique
• I got a Moov tracker which promised personalized swim coaching but turned out to be not particularly useful
• I read Swim Smooth and watched YouTube videos of proper form.
• I took as much as I could from the books and videos on my own.
• My stroke improved somewhat, but I felt like I plateaued pretty quickly, so I booked a single session with a local Swim Smooth coach. Unlike my previous coach, he filmed me from several angles and really dived into the mechanics of my stroke, then offered me a personalized workout plan. A single session with him was more expensive than a single session with my previous coach -- but I got so much useful information that I only needed that single Swim Smooth session, and it ended up being more cost efficient in the long run.
Best use of time and money: the Swim Smooth coaching.
Worst use of money: the Moov tracker.
Bonus Tip: I had been breathing every three-strokes and I really struggled to make long swims without stopping. My Swim Smooth coach suggested I try breathing every other stroke. That one change made a huge difference in my stamina. You might try breathing every two strokes instead of every four, and see if that makes a difference.
If you don't want to pay for a session with a coach, the single most important thing I got out of the session was the videotape of my stroke. It turned out I was moving my body totally differently than I thought I was! So I second the advice of getting a friend to videotape you, if nothing else.
PS: Swim Smooth is the other big school of swimming instruction, along with Total Immersion, which folks recommended above. I think Swim Smooth vs Total Immersion is like Mac vs PC-- people insist there is ONE TRUE ANSWER!! but both choices are totally reasonable and you'll probably like whichever one you start off with. I read up and decided that Swim Smooth was more my cup of tea-- posts like this one on Reddit convinced me. I suspect I would have been just as happy if I had gone the Total Immersion route, but it's worth doing a little research to see if one approach speaks to you more than the other.
posted by yankeefog at 3:17 AM on March 19, 2021 [2 favorites]
• I booked some ongoing sessions with a coach who was good at motivating me and offering me some general tips on form, but who didn't really do a deep dive into technique
• I got a Moov tracker which promised personalized swim coaching but turned out to be not particularly useful
• I read Swim Smooth and watched YouTube videos of proper form.
• I took as much as I could from the books and videos on my own.
• My stroke improved somewhat, but I felt like I plateaued pretty quickly, so I booked a single session with a local Swim Smooth coach. Unlike my previous coach, he filmed me from several angles and really dived into the mechanics of my stroke, then offered me a personalized workout plan. A single session with him was more expensive than a single session with my previous coach -- but I got so much useful information that I only needed that single Swim Smooth session, and it ended up being more cost efficient in the long run.
Best use of time and money: the Swim Smooth coaching.
Worst use of money: the Moov tracker.
Bonus Tip: I had been breathing every three-strokes and I really struggled to make long swims without stopping. My Swim Smooth coach suggested I try breathing every other stroke. That one change made a huge difference in my stamina. You might try breathing every two strokes instead of every four, and see if that makes a difference.
If you don't want to pay for a session with a coach, the single most important thing I got out of the session was the videotape of my stroke. It turned out I was moving my body totally differently than I thought I was! So I second the advice of getting a friend to videotape you, if nothing else.
PS: Swim Smooth is the other big school of swimming instruction, along with Total Immersion, which folks recommended above. I think Swim Smooth vs Total Immersion is like Mac vs PC-- people insist there is ONE TRUE ANSWER!! but both choices are totally reasonable and you'll probably like whichever one you start off with. I read up and decided that Swim Smooth was more my cup of tea-- posts like this one on Reddit convinced me. I suspect I would have been just as happy if I had gone the Total Immersion route, but it's worth doing a little research to see if one approach speaks to you more than the other.
posted by yankeefog at 3:17 AM on March 19, 2021 [2 favorites]
I got some sessions with a swimming coach and it resulted in immediate improvement to my stroke. We would meet every 2-3 weeks and I’d work on whatever he showed me in the interim. After 4 sessions, we’d meet for a “touch-up” session every 6 weeks or so. Of course, that was in The Before….
Re: moving backwards while kicking – if you’re doing the standard scissor kick (i.e. your knees are not too bent), I wonder, if there is a problem with the movements of the rest of your body. Are you keeping everything really taut and stretched out? The board, when you’re holding it in front of you, should not be wobbling. Are you moving backwards when doing the backstroke?
As others have said – trick to getting faster and building stamina is alternating fast and slow laps. I particularly like the “Need for speed” workout here (mainly because it’s not 2.5 km!)
SwimCycleRunCoach videos on youtube have also been incredibly helpful in perfecting issues with my stroke.
Other thoughts - I started doing swimming drills, which might be helpful for you, as they make you think about how your body should feel in the water. Catch-up is interesting, as is bow-and-arrow. If you have waterproof MP3 player, I wonder, if playing a metronome beat might be helpful. I for sure would like to try one!
posted by Dotty at 6:45 AM on March 19, 2021
Re: moving backwards while kicking – if you’re doing the standard scissor kick (i.e. your knees are not too bent), I wonder, if there is a problem with the movements of the rest of your body. Are you keeping everything really taut and stretched out? The board, when you’re holding it in front of you, should not be wobbling. Are you moving backwards when doing the backstroke?
As others have said – trick to getting faster and building stamina is alternating fast and slow laps. I particularly like the “Need for speed” workout here (mainly because it’s not 2.5 km!)
SwimCycleRunCoach videos on youtube have also been incredibly helpful in perfecting issues with my stroke.
Other thoughts - I started doing swimming drills, which might be helpful for you, as they make you think about how your body should feel in the water. Catch-up is interesting, as is bow-and-arrow. If you have waterproof MP3 player, I wonder, if playing a metronome beat might be helpful. I for sure would like to try one!
posted by Dotty at 6:45 AM on March 19, 2021
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posted by kevinbelt at 1:11 PM on March 18, 2021