Swimming

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  • tedioustrainingap
    tedioustrainingap Posts: 78 Member
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    Emily3907 wrote: »
    I would love to start swimming for exercise. I just got back from the lake and actually got in the water for the first time in about 12 years. It was so much fun and I forgot how much I loved being in the water (I grew up with a pool in the backyard). However, at the moment, I do not have access to a pool. Where do you all go to swim? Your local YMCA?

    Also, since it has been so long, my swimming skills could use a little work, but I can still swim. I am just worried about doing laps and disturbing others around me with my splashing. I am no graceful dolphin in the water.....LOL. I am just not familiar with the "etiquette" in a lap pool.

    I swim at a local holiday resort, which offers monthly/ six monthly/ annual passes to locals. Out of season, I'm often the only person in the pool! I occasionally go to other pools, depending where I am that day (I nearly always have a swimsuit in the car ready) and I'd say you have no need to worry as far as etiquette is concerned. Use the same common sense and decency as you would on land and you'll be fine :). In a few weeks, I've gone from managing half a length, to 60 - 90+ minutes of non stop lengths, five days a week. With practice it will all come back to you and above all, have fun!
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,196 Member
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    The problem is that SO many people lack common sense and decency! Not to mention that a lot of people just seem to lose their minds around pools, for whatever reason. I swim in a pool where there is no lifeguard, so I see all kinds of crazy stuff. I also live in a community where a lot of people are from a culture where swimming is not a normal, daily activity, so it's a lot of excitement and many people have no idea how to behave. Pool etiquette is obvious if you have grown up swimming...but if you are new to the pool, not so much.

    I totally notice splashing because it interrupts the serenity of my swim. Good swimmers do not need to splash. If you are splashing, you probably need to work on your technique...unless you are doing the butterfly!
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,196 Member
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    sofaking6 wrote: »
    I miss swimming SO MUCH (ruined my shoulder with competitive backstroke and butterfly). Here would be my advice:

    -Switch up the workouts. Don't just swim back and forth for an hour (unless you like it, in which case totally do that) but do some laps, some sprints, some different strokes, etc to keep your mind busy.
    -KICK. It is possible to swim "easy" and not burn a ton of calories, and the way to do that is to not use your feet. Remember the kick is as important as the stroke and it's what burns the most calories. Grabbing a kickboard and working with it will burn way more calories than just pulling yourself down the pool freestyle will.
    -Hydrate. Swimming is lovely because you don't feel sweaty, but that doesn't mean you aren't sweating! Stop and take water breaks.

    As for etiquette, if you have questions just ask. Try to stay in your lane - "drifters" are a pain in the butt but nobody notices splashers :)

    I have a pair of Zoomers lap swim fins. These are short fins, different than the ones designed for snorkeling or diving. I found them on amazon.com for around $20.

    They are great because they really work your thigh muscles and remind you to keep moving your legs.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    Start swimming and watch the pounds melt away. Feel your muscles as they tone up.

    It works the whole body, is easy on the joints, doesn't make you feel hot and sweaty and allows me use muscles in ways I simply couldn't on land. Nothing burns more calories than swimming, either.

    It's fantastic exercise and comprises most of mine.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    The problem is that SO many people lack common sense and decency! Not to mention that a lot of people just seem to lose their minds around pools, for whatever reason. I swim in a pool where there is no lifeguard, so I see all kinds of crazy stuff. I also live in a community where a lot of people are from a culture where swimming is not a normal, daily activity, so it's a lot of excitement and many people have no idea how to behave. Pool etiquette is obvious if you have grown up swimming...but if you are new to the pool, not so much.

    I totally notice splashing because it interrupts the serenity of my swim. Good swimmers do not need to splash. If you are splashing, you probably need to work on your technique...unless you are doing the butterfly!
    It's not possible to do it right without some splashing. If you're doing it right, there's going to be some splashing.

    Watch Olympic swimmers - best swimmers in the world, at the top of their game. You can hardly see them sometimes due to all the splashing.

    Ask a swim coach, they'll tell you.

    Swimming well requires splashing!
  • Naener
    Naener Posts: 167 Member
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    always ask to share a lane, just jumping in and all the sudden AHHH! theres a body in my lane, is not fun... usually, if the lanes are all in use, ill wait till someone thats close to my speed and style stops for a breather, and ill ask if i can share.

    people who KNOW how to share lanes, do so just like driving on the streets, always keep on the right of the guide line on the floor of the pool. not everyone knows how to do this however, so sometimes its easier just to stay on one half of the lane and let them have the other half.

    if youre sharing and you feel someone touch your foot or maybe even pull on it/your toe, its polite so move over and slow down to let them pass on the left of you.
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,196 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Kalikel wrote: »
    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    The problem is that SO many people lack common sense and decency! Not to mention that a lot of people just seem to lose their minds around pools, for whatever reason. I swim in a pool where there is no lifeguard, so I see all kinds of crazy stuff. I also live in a community where a lot of people are from a culture where swimming is not a normal, daily activity, so it's a lot of excitement and many people have no idea how to behave. Pool etiquette is obvious if you have grown up swimming...but if you are new to the pool, not so much.

    I totally notice splashing because it interrupts the serenity of my swim. Good swimmers do not need to splash. If you are splashing, you probably need to work on your technique...unless you are doing the butterfly!
    It's not possible to do it right without some splashing. If you're doing it right, there's going to be some splashing.

    Watch Olympic swimmers - best swimmers in the world, at the top of their game. You can hardly see them sometimes due to all the splashing.

    Ask a swim coach, they'll tell you.

    Swimming well requires splashing!

    I'm guessing none of us are swimming in Olympic races. :)

    Most of the time, splashing is just wasted effort/inelegant technique.
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,196 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Naener wrote: »
    always ask to share a lane, just jumping in and all the sudden AHHH! theres a body in my lane, is not fun...

    I actually break this one all the time. If someone is hogging the whole lane and refuses to make eye contact, I'm not going to wait forever to let them know that I am getting in "their" lane. I often jump in and wait at the end so that they can see I am there before I start swimming.

    Swimming on one side or circle swimming, even in an otherwise empty lane, keeps this from being an issue.

    Pull on my toe and we will have a problem. There is no reason to ever touch another swimmer.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    The problem is that SO many people lack common sense and decency! Not to mention that a lot of people just seem to lose their minds around pools, for whatever reason. I swim in a pool where there is no lifeguard, so I see all kinds of crazy stuff. I also live in a community where a lot of people are from a culture where swimming is not a normal, daily activity, so it's a lot of excitement and many people have no idea how to behave. Pool etiquette is obvious if you have grown up swimming...but if you are new to the pool, not so much.

    I totally notice splashing because it interrupts the serenity of my swim. Good swimmers do not need to splash. If you are splashing, you probably need to work on your technique...unless you are doing the butterfly!
    It's not possible to do it right without some splashing. If you're doing it right, there's going to be some splashing.

    Watch Olympic swimmers - best swimmers in the world, at the top of their game. You can hardly see them sometimes due to all the splashing.

    Ask a swim coach, they'll tell you.

    Swimming well requires splashing!

    I'm guessing none of us are swimming in Olympic races. :)

    Most of the time, splashing is just wasted effort/inelegant technique.

    That's just not true.

    We may not swim as fast and splash as much as Olympians when they compete, but when they swim slowly, using correct technique, they're still splashing.

    You cannot keep your body up in the water and move all four limbs in and out of it at the surface without splashing. I'm not sure how you even think it could be done without splashing.

    Ask any coach or any real swimmer and they'll tell you: if you want to swim well, you're going to have to splash.

    I'm not going to continue this and have some dumb fight. If you want to insist that swimming well can be done without splashing, I won't argue it.

    But if you investigate, you'll find that everyone who swims is splashing.
  • thereshegoesagain
    thereshegoesagain Posts: 1,056 Member
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    After a 30+ year break, I rediscovered my love of swimming about 3 years ago. At 248lbs I could only do a couple of laps before stopping to breath. I joined the children's swim team in order to have access to the pool, but don't have to swim in the lanes with them and can do my own program.

    In my pool it takes 66 laps to make a mile. When I first started, I would swim however I could to get back and forth for half a mile but would lose track of how many laps I had swam. So I put a plastic dice at the end of my lane and would use that to keep count by turning it every 4 laps.

    Now I typically do 10 laps frestyle (with some sprints thrown in ), 10 laps using hand paddles with no legs and 10 laps using a kickboard alternating flutter kicks and breast stroke kicks, and repeat until I have my goal distance completed, usually a mile and a half. Now that it's so hot out, I often swim in the morning and again in the late afternoon for a mile each time.

    Last summer they had a swim-a-thon to raise money for the team, which I signed up for. I was the only adult and had 40 years on the kids but I swam 3 miles nonstop and raised $1,000.

    I love swiming. It makes me feel strong and alive!
  • BWBTrish
    BWBTrish Posts: 2,817 Member
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    <<< has almost every day the pool on her own as long as i go before noon.

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  • x4kk
    x4kk Posts: 1 Member
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    Once you get your technique down a bit better, you can use HIIT as you swim. Swimming fast and hard feels great. Also, butterfly stroke is a great workout.

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