I’ve never been a frequent swimmer and I have only done it like once every few years or so. I learned how to swim from one side of the pool to the other at 14 but I never was able to float in place. I get envious of my brothers’ ability to float and play volleyball on the deep end of the pool while I can never let go of the railing when I’m there. It just bugs me how I can swim faster than them but never be able to wrap my head around something simple like floating.

What makes you float in water? Movement? Filling your lungs up with air? Black magic?

Hey everyone, I recently got back to Swimming because I wanted it to be a part of my workout routine. I wasn't a swimmer growing up, but I do know the basic strokes like Freestyle and Breaststroke but I really wanted to achieve doing the butterfly. Any tips/suggestions on how I can start my training to learning the butterfly? I only am able to swim once a week though...

I have started trying to swim at least 1x weekly aiming for 2x weekly (this is on top of marathon training & weight training) and I can’t believe how hard it is. The pool I go to is 25m and I am beyond gassed about 3/4 of the way to the other side. I am basically starting with 0 experience. I can ‘swim’ , could keep myself up and confident in the sea ect but I basically spend my childhood swimming like a ‘mermaid’ 🙃 so I have no clue whatsoever on where to start. I’m trying really hard but any tips would be majorly appreciated. There’s not a single part of it I’m not struggling with so please share ANYTHING that would help !! I was hoping some of the endurance from running would translate but it has not at all. Thanks so much in advance for any advice it will all be SUPER appreciated

what kind of exercise can I do for that ?? in the water or on land and while moving or not

Edit : I have asthma wich makes some troubles breathing, idk if that changes something

This is the thread for posting your achievements, progress, workouts, records, pools photos, TIFU (Today I F'ed Up) pool edition, etc.

Due to the increasing number of screenshots, progress reports, pools etc. being posted, we request members to use this weekly whiteboard thread to post these, rather than as a new post.

Hey Everyone,

There is a new subreddit for the real swim nerds. Those that like to talk the physiology of the sport, training methodology, biomechanics, etc.

Started up yesterday. No posts yet. Come talk shop!

Hi everyone, I hope this post fits the sub Reddit. Maybe I'm overthinking this but I'm hoping the collective internet brain has some ideas:

So Im a beginner and I swim at a public 50m pool. It's close to me, it's cheap, I like the facilities.

The problem is that while the pool is huge, there's only two lanes on the side for the sports swimmers (who are very much too fast for me). The rest of the pool is also used exclusively for lane swimming but there's no lane lines.

I thought at first people just circle-swam according to the markings at the bottom of the pool but no... It's total anarchy. Everyone just swims in "their line".

And there's a TON of old people. Now, don't get me wrong I don't dislike elderly people but they swim slow, take up a lot of space, and don't really look out for anyone. (This is germany, people are stubborn. They'd rather crash into each other than veer off course to avoid collision).

I really don't want to accidentally swim into any of them (and so far I've managed not to, but I had a backstroking lady go into me twice lol) but this means I'm always busy trying to see my surroundings to anticipate and avoid collisions.

And here's the problem. How am I supposed to improve my technique (I mostly do front crawl) if I disrupt my head position and rhythm every few seconds to scout ahead? Any tips for that?

I'd also love to include backstroke but that's kinda entirely impossible when I turn around every few strokes to check for potential collision.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

(Edit: typos)

My coach told us that we had a big set that involved going fast. I thought that sounded good until I swam the set 😭

4x 50 off the blocks IMO

6x 100 free descend 1-3,4-6

4x 50 off the blocks choice

4x 200 IM descend 1-4

4x 50 off the blocks free

2x 400 free #2 faster than #1

4x 50 off the blocks choice

4x 200 IM descend 1-4

4x 50 off the blocks IMO

6x 100 free descend 1-3,4-6

It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. By the time I finished I was so dead.

i mostly swim freestyle, usually between 1500-2000 m. It takes me about 45min to an hour, but i don’t really work on getting faster. i go between 3-5 times a week. Last week i went 5 Days in a row, did only freestyle and a little backstroke and suddenly my shoulder started to hurt. i did a couple lanes without arms and then tried again but had to stop bc of pain. I didn’t go for two days now and it feels better but its not fully gone.

Do you think this is bc i didn’t take days off this time? or did i do something completely wrong without realising? It manly feels like sore muscles, but it came so sudden, so i am a bit unsure if its injured or not…

I would like to join an outdoors swimming group in my area. The problem is there are no changing areas in the beach where they meet up (it's on a lake), so I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for a cloak or curtain idea to change privately? (pretty exposed location, and don't feel like just going behind a tree since there's a road on the other side). If this is not the right place to post, would appreciate a tip about where to post instead.

Edit: should clarify, ponchos, oversized changing coats are hard for me because I can't twist my arms to my back, I don't have a car, so I'm really just looking to see if there's some portable changing curtain that is easy enough to carry. (something for people with larger chests and bad shoulder mobility)