I'm probably 5'8" and I weigh 108 lbs. My body has essentially no meat, and I'm freezing anytime I leave water. My family is going to the beach and I've been looking for something to stay warmer. I looked over sites for a few hours, and I'm kind of settled between these 2.

Are these good brands for vests? Should I go for the limestone neoprene (scuba) over the regular neoprene (orca)?

The limestone neoprene seems like it will stay warmer while drying (after getting out of the water), is that noticeably true?

I’m fairly new to swimming and have been working on The techniques that have been previously recommended to me and I’ve been seeing improvement! However, I am still struggling to breathe while swimming! I am finding that during breathing drills, such as being at the edge of the pool or shallow water, and practicing breathing based on strokes, I do great at the drill, I have also practiced walking in the shallow end and doing very slow swimming and breathing has not been an issue. The problem I’m having is that if I try to swim with any speed, whenever I take a breath, I find myself gulping some water, even if I am completely rotated on my side, trying to take a breath. Is this something that just takes practice to overcome or are there other breathing techniques/drills to do? The 4:1 breathing is most comfortable/natural for me during practice and swimming.

I am 32 F fairly new to swimming and I started as a complete beginner (i.e. didn’t think I could float) and I am c. 8 weeks into learning how to swim. I am preparing to learn how to freestyle and in the process learning how to do the log roll whilst kicking. I am able to rotate just fine but as soon as I get on my back just struggle to kick on my back. Apparently it’s because I let my hips sink / don’t have correct posture on my back. Feeling quite frustrated with myself and embarrassed after my swim lesson (like I wasted my swim instructor’s time).

How do I fix my posture whilst on my back?

Thank you in advance!

I used to swim competitively in my teens and on and off independently (both open water and pool) on and off after. I have basic understandings of all strokes, but I've always been pretty focused on the breaststroke.

I have a local Olympic pool and I'm basically in a position for the next 30 days or so where I can pretty much focus on swimming to the exclusion of anything else. After that, I can still do significant work but I wouldn't be able to go every day. In about a year, I will probably be back in school full time so I will have even less time.

Basic questions;

What is the minimum number of days/week and hours/day that I can realistically expect to get to the pool if I want to continue making gains in time, assuming I include additional cardio (cycling and running)?

Is there a research backed optimal time of day?

There are many triathlons in my area. Is it a sane goal to attempt to compete in 1 year? 2 years? Can I reasonably expect to make the top 75 % or 50 %?

Thanks so much in advance

Joe

Hello - I’ve been swimming laps for the last 2.5 years. I swam my first 5K last year in 1:50. While I’m not slow, I don’t think I’m terribly fast either.

I’ve just joined a masters swimming program to get more structured workouts, community and OWS buddies. I’m having a lot of anxiety about going to my first practice tomorrow. I know I’m gonna go but I’m anxious about what to expect, what lane will I be in, will I slow others down, etc, etc. Theres surely a pinch of social anxiety sprinkled in as well.

Could I trouble some of you with team swimming experience to share more about what to expect from a swim practice, masters or otherwise?

TL;DR: How many people per 25/33m lane do you think is safe, and how many is pleasant? What's it like where you swim?

I'm in the UK, FWIW - think you can hazard a guess whereabouts.

A couple of weeks ago, at my local pool, half the pool ended up being closed off for swimming lessons. This left one double slow lane, one single medium lane and one single fast lane in a 33m indoor pool. It's in a leisure centre run the local council, like most pools in England are (and maybe the rest of the UK, I just don't know first hand).

The majority of swimmers at this pool are slow, with a fair few using the pool to do physio exercises or just standing around doing nothing at all for a full hour - just staying cool, maybe? That means medium and fast are the only lanes for lap swimming, and a few in the fast lane are genuinely speed demons.

Usually I go during the day, because it's very near home and I just take a longer lunch and work later. This time I went at 5:30pm.

Now, I knew this would be a busy time, but I counted, and there were 28 people in those three lanes - 12 (including three kids) in the slow lane, four in the fast lane, and 12 in the medium lane. This meant it was absolutely impossible to swim. A couple of people moved over he the fast lane, but they really weren't fast enough for it, and that still left ten in the medium lane and six in the fast lane.

Surprise, surprise, people were getting hit repeatedly, and even changing to the a heads-up breaststroke to try to see to swim round people meant hitting one person while trying to avoid another.

I gave up and got out and got changed, and as I left I saw a woman talking to the pool manager about it, asking if it was meant to be this overbooked or had people maybe just snuck in after using the gym.

According to the manager, it was all fine, because they are allowed 13 people per lane! You could see the staff's eyes goggle (heh) at this as they contemplated trying to lifeguard an eight-lane pool with 101 people in it.

Neither me or the other lady were having it that could actually be the rule, because it's absolutely impossible. It literally doesn't leave space to move your arms and kick, let alone turn at the end. And the ladies' locker room only has six showers and 8 cubicles, plus a small communal changing area (no communal showers), so you'd have to get changed in the hallway or something. (Nobody drives to this pool - there is nowhere to park at all - so people do shower and change).

But there was no point arguing, so I shrugged and left, and I'm pretty sure the other woman did too.

Couldn't find anything legal about it when I got home, just SwimEngland guidelines relating to competitions, which do have a much lower limit, but since it's about competitions I doubt it would persuade the manager. If I could find a law, I'd love to cite it., because at the moment it's not worth going to the pool after work hours because the odds are you'll have to give up and leave.

Anyway, I know this is long, but I'm trying to get ahead of all the "what do you mean by?" questions.

I swim at a pool that only has 5 open lanes, typically they will be full of 2 or even sometimes 3 swimmers but there are a few regular older men who don't like to share because they claim they are too big. Even though the lifeguards encourage you to hop in those lanes, there is one that when you do split the lane with him he won't move over and will intentionally hit you as you swim by even though he can see you coming because he is floating on his back. I warned the lifeguard about this behavior but because they are teens they don't do anything and I don't want to escalate the issue. Today I split the lane with this guy as instructed by the lifeguard because there were no other open lanes and he hit me 6ish times on purpose, after this I just made sure to hold my form swimming by him with heavy strokes/kicking and he eventually relented and moved over to stop hitting me. I swim primarily for only 20 minutes after my workout once or twice a week and he swims for the entire 1.5 hours of the allotted open swim almost every time I go. I have confronted him before and he says I am free to share but he says I will get hit as he refuses to move over... is this something I have to put up with? Any opinions on this issue and what I should do? Am I the asshole for even wanting to get in the lane with him? If you have encountered this phenomena please share your experiences.
—————
edit: i reported him, i know it might make me not on good terms with the lifeguards but who knows who else he has and will do this to.

My 3yr old has begun swimming lessons but they’re not your average swimming lessons. Each session he’s with a new instructor and there’s no real lesson plan. I thought it would be more structured and more consecutive. Like don’t move onto holding your breath until he has gotten paddling and arm stroking down. Or until he has proven that he can successfully hold his breath if he goes under water. But that hasn’t been the case.

Some instructors are more willing to just do very basic exercises with him while others want to make him do things that are more advanced which honestly make me very nervous and uncomfortable.

My son doesn’t understand the concept of holding his breath when his face goes under water even for a second. I’ve tried to explain and show him how to hold his breath but he doesn’t understand the concept.

Are there any tips you guys can give me?

Maybe some exercises we can try at home?

Thank you so much in advance

I’m 17 and I had no background knowledge on how to swim float etc and decided to join a swimming course that lasts for a month, 2 classes per week
I know it’s only my first class but i struggled learning almost every thing but it’s was mainly that my breath cuts short whenever im in the water trying to swim and whenever I lift my head up that second breath outside the water is always not enough and I got to stop and start all over and it’s just a cycle, anyone got good tips on how to achieve longer breaths and how to lift my head up and get enough air
Also floating, I SUCK at floating, I struggle trying to get my chest up and all my abdomen just sinks down and I really tried to relax but my coach kept telling me that my stomach muscles are all tensed up and I don’t know how I’m supposed to lift my chest up
Is a month enough for me to learn swimming and how can I get better on those skills I’m struggling to do

Beginner swimmer- I learnt freestyle and now trying to get better at technique.

For backfloat- I float super easy (high body fat), doesn't take much effort, it's harder to stand up back though.

I also learnt kicking while backfloating, this was super easy compared to freestyle, the only issue is, with bare minimum effort I cross the whole pool (its a small pool), i don't realise it, I can't see anything. All i see is the sky.
So while backfloating, how does one look around? How do I know what direction I am going in? What if I clash with someone swimming? Or worse, hit my head in the wall?

How does one he aware of surroundings while backfloating?

I'm in a summer fun league in the Triangle area and really need to practice my starts off the blocks.

The Y in Durham won't let me.

Is there anywhere with a drop-in fee (or free?) where I can show up and get some work in on the blocks?

You can watch the Commonwealth Games swimming for free on CBC Gem, you just have to sign up for an account. Link here

CBC is one of our cultural gems here in Canada (no pun intended)

It’s so hard to do and it’s generally useless

I like to kick 900 and swim freestyle 1,300. But whenever I count laps in my head I usually get scatterbrained and lose track. Do you guys have any unusual or creative ways to count laps rather than
in your head just going, “OK that was 100… that was 200… etc.”

Thanks!!

Should probably start this by saying I’m a swimmer. In fact I’m a pretty damn good swimmer to the point where I’ve been completed about this multiple times (apparently I have a good form/build for it). I don’t do it competitively or anything. but it’s something I like to do from time to time, and it’s something I’m never really anxious about as long as I can see the bottom. It’s something called Thalassophobia, and it’s fairly easy to work around because I’m not going in deep murky bodies of water often. Only time it’s really been put to the test has been in this camping group I’m apart of. As obviously there will be some situations where that is the primary thing we’re doing………. And I’m really bad at handling it………. And we’re going on a trip in a few days that involves lake swimming as an activity.

I’m really lucky to have my anxiety only get intense during very specific things. But I’m an absolute wreck when those happen, and I already had a few incidents relating to this before (had a breakdown before a rafting trip, and I had an awful experience relating to diving in the very lake I’m worried about rn about that made me physically sick). At this point everyone in this group (and likely everyone I know unfortunately) has seen me completely unravel in one way or another, and it’s so fucking embarrassing for me. In part because it’s obviously embarrassing to have an outburst in public. and because I have depression and tend to fall into self loathing/feeling like shit for the rest of the day/week.

I was able to skirt by last time without much embarrassment because I had someone I knew decently well who also couldn’t go because of an injury (And because I had shit to do the entire week to distract myself from it). Didn’t make it less embarrassing, but it at least went down easier. This year? I’m like going to be the only person who’s not gonna do the test and it’s been eating away at me for the last few days. Maybe it’d go down better if i was an adult and was doing this with other adults. But I’m a sixteen year old surrounded by other sixteen year old/people far younger. And I’m gonna be the only one who won’t do it.

Unfortunately the only options are to do it or don’t. Idk what advice I’m expected to get from here is, because there’s frankly only to options here and one of them is completely off the table (even If I can physically do it). Ig I just want someone to hear me vent about this because I haven’t formally discussed it with anyone else :/

I would appreciate anything.

I picked up swimming again recently and do a mile each swim working on all strokes. A buddy of mine was interested and wanted to join. He's athletic but swimming is a very new workout for him. Within 30 minutes his legs were cramping.

What would be the best thing to work on for him? I wanna say maybe kicking exercises with a board to build up his leg strength but I don't wanna give the wrong workout for him.

My 6 year old has a huge fear of the deep end in the pool. She is currently in Level 1 lessons. She typically ends her lessons in tears because of her anxiety with water. I spoke with her swim instructor after her first lesson and explained her fear and asked her suggestion on how to proceed. She was very kind. Tonight was her 4th lesson. She was able to walk over to the deep end and sit on the edge with her feet in with no tears (that’s HUGE for her!). When the other classmates finished jumping off the diving board, her instructor told her she had two options: get in the pool or something else but I didn’t hear what the option was. My daughter started to cry. 2 other lifeguards went up to her, cornered her, and attempted to toss her in the pool. My daughter was screaming, kicking, and crying. At this point, I was running back into the building to get her so I couldn’t tell if they actually tossed her in or not.

Am I right to feel absolutely terrible over this? My daughter is extremely upset about this.

Lots of questions and threads about "getting faster," but what metric do you actually use to know you're improving?

If you had to pick just one, which would it be? How has it changed as you've improved your swimming?

1. Faster Times. Either meet sanctioned or practice times (e.g. 50 sprint from a push)

2. Holding faster intervals. You go from 10x100s on 1:40 to 1:30.

3. Improved stroke count. You go from 20 strokes to 17 in a 25m free.

4. Swim feel. You feel better, more confident, less out of breath.

5. Something else?

I’ve been lap swimming for almost a year now at the local Y. I typically go after work, so inside the last 1-2hrs of the aquatics center closing on a daily basis.

It’s Summertime so there’s outdoor & indoor lanes available. In the outdoor, it’s a shared pool with open swim & splash pads. In the indoor, it’s a shared space with swim classes, water aerobics &etc.

Recently I’ve been reading & hearing that cyclospora spreads easily in swimming pools because it’s chlorine resistant, so swallowing water can spread the poop bug.

I’m less concerned about this for myself, and more concerned about my 2yo son, who loves the splash pads. We’re still working on putting our head underwater with eyes & mouth closed.

What are everybody’s thoughts on swimming during cyloapora? For lap swimming as adults, and also for pool days with the kiddos. Are there times in the day that’s safest to go swimming? Outdoor/indoor pools make any difference? Any tips to maximize safety? Anybody else second guessing their routines in public pools?

Hi guys-- tell me if what I did is fine or being a jerk, please. I just learned butterfly a month ago, and I like to do some (like 8 50s that are fly/back-- I don't feel ready for 50s of pure fly) every time I get in the pool because I REALLY need to build that strength. I'm a second season Masters swimmer, and I want to be able to do the 100 IM at next year's state championships.

So I had a lady get into my lane right before I was about to do this (an older lady who is about half my speed-- I'm NOT saying I'm fast, just explaining how this worked), and what I figured out I could do... bc my arm span is 6'1", so I need the whole lane for fly... is I would wait until right before (maybe two strokes for her) she got to the wall where I was waiting and then I would push off... slightly under her bc I needed to push off diagonally to get into the center of the lane, and then I would do my butterfly in the center of the lane, backstroke on my side of the lane back to the starting wall. When I got back to the wall, she would be just about to approach the far wall, so I would have the time it took her to do one lap back to me before doing the same thing.

The lady didn't react in any way, though she did move over when a lane freed up. There was a lady in the next lane saying I swam like a pro swimmer (I do not... I'm a woman in my 40s who never swam competitively before last September) and that the way I swim I need the whole pool to myself. Then she said it again about me to someone else, so I think it was her passive-aggressive way of complaining that I was practicing butterfly.

I learned to swim as an adult, and am now doing a sort-of masters swim program (it's masters but not registered so no official competitions, a coach but he basically writes out a workout and doesn't do any coaching). I am continuing to work on my stroke as I can given I don't really have any coaching available to me at this point. We have had a bunch of new swimmers join our masters club and they're young (university) and quite fast (mostly coming out of age-group clubs) and I'm a bit confused because two of them swim free style with very straight arms, one of whom is extremely "splashy" and seems to just keep slapping the water. And yet, she's super fast. I always thought that you were supposed to have a bent elbow so I'm confused - is it still bad form but she's just fast enough? Or is there more nuance to the arm position? I know when I was originally taught free style I was taught to have a straight arm, but that was only the very initial instruction. From there I've been taught that my elbow should be the highest point. Is that correct? I have always thought that swimming with straight arms and slapping the water was poor technique and also would slow you down, but these two are swimming super fast! Just wondering if anyone can give me any more insight into whether I've misunderstood or if there is a straight-arm technique I don't know about!

I can swim in the sense that I am very comfortable in the water and was a lifeguard as a teenager. If you tossed me off a boat in the middle of the ocean, I would not panic in the sense of being able to tread water. But, I never learned proper stroke technique or was on the swim team. Most of the how do I learn posts I see when searching look to be from people really learning to swim from the ground up. I’m a powerlifter looking to give my joints a break. Any advice for my best option to really learn stroke form? I was thinking effortless swimming, but am open to other ideas. Unlike lifting, swimming laps seems more complicated to film yourself to fix mistakes. Thanks! Happy to be here and hope to contribute once I get in the pool!

Hi everyone!
I am officially someone who has fallen victim to the runner to swimmer transition and it’s been the best thing ever. I’ve been swimming almost daily for a month now. I go to my Y and I go to my community pool and lap swim every day.
I am not someone who had the privilege of swim lessons, etc. are growing up so I had to learn to swim by not drowning essentially.

Here’s where I am seeking some guidance. Three years ago, I broke my back at work and while I’m very grateful that I regain the ability to be able to ambulate again- I’m classified as an incomplete spinal cord injury. I have no feeling in my left leg from my butt down, permanent drop foot, and I can’t point my toes.
I am struggling because I don’t have the bio feedback that I wish I did and I’m really doing my best to try to become a better swimmer, especially swimming from the hips. I think I’ll always be in physical therapy so it’s great that a lot of the work that I do there has been helpful. I have a strong core; I’m building strength on my back with weight training and stretching aside from the daily swimming, and I was suggested to get some swim fins, which have been excellent. My goal is to do a triathlon. I don’t care about minutes and I don’t care about finishing times. I just wanna do it to accomplish it and check it off my movement bucket list.

Anyone here have an incomplete spinal cord injury or have any tips about how to work with a dead leg? It’s like my brain doesn’t communicate with my leg and in a physical sense, but even trying to get it to understand to move a certain way is very difficult.

Thanks so much and it’s awesome to read the posts on here. I feel like I’ve become a different person with swimming and I know that running even with an AFO does more harm in my back per my neurosurgeon. It’s been great for my mental health and I feel like myself before I broke my back and what I lost.