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Build up
UG77
Posts: 206 Member
I'm new at swimming for fitness and I can't help but wondering if I'm doing some things wrong.
Currently I'm rotating between freestyle, breaststroke, and sidestroke just so I can keep in motion. The two are just kind of rest/recovery strokes while I get myself under control after a freestyle lap.
My form on freestyle really starts to flag as I get deeper into my hour and the more I exert myself. At the beginning of the lap I am generally pretty good about keeping control of myself and pacing my exertions. This lets me keep my breathing under control so that I'm able to exhale slowly and only come up for air every other stroke. Inevitably somewhere after the turn around I lose the control and am coming up for air every stroke. At this point it's a downward spiral until I get back to the wall and get a few deep gulping breaths in me.
This is my second week swimming, and I know it's going to take time. I have a background as a distance runner so I know it is a progression. I just want to double check and make sure my thinking on the process is sound.
Is what I'm currently doing going to work or do I need to just focus on freestyle laps and take breaks as needed? Is form more important than motion? If my form is suffering because I am not able to control my breathing is it better to take a break and get it back under control or is it better to just keep going and make distance?
My primary goal and concern is weight reduction, fitness and health. But I am horrible at losing weight for the sake of losing weight so my long term objective is to get myself fit enough so that triathlons are something I can get into instead of something I'm almost embarrassed to talk about out loud. I know that with running if you just train to run slowly and steady all you're ever going to do is be able to run slow. I know it's too early for me to be thinking about swimming quickly but I want to avoid adopting any bad habits that I'm later going to have to work to correct.
Currently I'm rotating between freestyle, breaststroke, and sidestroke just so I can keep in motion. The two are just kind of rest/recovery strokes while I get myself under control after a freestyle lap.
My form on freestyle really starts to flag as I get deeper into my hour and the more I exert myself. At the beginning of the lap I am generally pretty good about keeping control of myself and pacing my exertions. This lets me keep my breathing under control so that I'm able to exhale slowly and only come up for air every other stroke. Inevitably somewhere after the turn around I lose the control and am coming up for air every stroke. At this point it's a downward spiral until I get back to the wall and get a few deep gulping breaths in me.
This is my second week swimming, and I know it's going to take time. I have a background as a distance runner so I know it is a progression. I just want to double check and make sure my thinking on the process is sound.
Is what I'm currently doing going to work or do I need to just focus on freestyle laps and take breaks as needed? Is form more important than motion? If my form is suffering because I am not able to control my breathing is it better to take a break and get it back under control or is it better to just keep going and make distance?
My primary goal and concern is weight reduction, fitness and health. But I am horrible at losing weight for the sake of losing weight so my long term objective is to get myself fit enough so that triathlons are something I can get into instead of something I'm almost embarrassed to talk about out loud. I know that with running if you just train to run slowly and steady all you're ever going to do is be able to run slow. I know it's too early for me to be thinking about swimming quickly but I want to avoid adopting any bad habits that I'm later going to have to work to correct.
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I'd actually recommend some lessons from a qualified coach.
I know running does have some skills associated with it, but swimming is more like ballet or martial arts in its requirement for proprioceptive* abilities. You'll notice the serious swimmers drill constantly on body position, stroke, form, head position, kick timing and so on.
And yes, to get fast in swimming, you absolutely do have to do interval training. No doubt at all. (One of the reasons I am so slow is that I do like the steady state stuff over distance!)
Swimming is much, much harder than non-swimmers realize. Yes, yes, yes, actual physical fitness is important, but I can tell you right now, skill has more to do with it.
*The ability to sense stimuli arising within the body regarding position, motion, and equilibrium.0 -
In addition to Noel's suggestions, I personally found the Zero to 1650 regimen to be very helpful at building my initial endurance in the pool when I started nearly a year ago.
I'm certain my technique can use some coaching, but getting to the point of being able to swim a mile without stopping kind of forces some efficiency. I found myself taking longer strokes, keeping my head down, and better regulating breathing while working through that six week program.
On a somewhat related note, I often swim next to a guy that is quite fit, but has pretty uneven form. He only ever does 25y sprints. I'm nowhere near as fit as him out of the pool, but can swim faster and longer.0 -
Form IS important. Not only are you winding yourself, if your form isn't good, you can start doing some serious shoulder damage.0
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Not surprisingly, there is some really good advice from this group!
Yes, form is the most important thing and it's hard to concentrate on when you are tired. Even experienced swimmers can say that. But one goes hand in hand with the other. The more efficient your form, the less you struggle.
If you can get some lessons, you really should. I so wish I had. I was lucky enough to have some free coaching at first from a lady who swam next to me for a while, but I will forever trying to be breaking some bad habits. I swam with Masters for a while and that helped but most of my habits were set by then. And work with swimmers if you can rather than triathletes because the tri people always seem to look at the swimming part as something to be endured to get on to the running and biking!
I'm not an expert but I think your plan is as good as any. Breaking up the type of strokes you use so you get a chance to catch your breath works for lots of people. At the least, I think it will keep you from giving up.
Good luck and good swimming!0 -
Thanks to all for the feedback and the link @nuffer.
I hadn't given any consideration to seeking out some type of coaching but it makes sense. It is definitely something I'm going to think about and look for local options once I have built up enough endurance to feel like I'm not wasting the coach's time or my own.0 -
I'm the odd man out here. For me, I just started pushing myself a little further each week. After I got to a mile, adding miles was pretty easy. I have never used a coach other than YouTube.
What really helped my efficiency (strokes per length) was a 90 second video on the catch up drill. That alone cut my strokes per length from 24/25 to 18/19.
I found other videos that further helped improve my freestyle technique.
I now swim at least 4 miles a day. Little by little improving my pace.
YouTube is a great source for swim technique lesson.
As far as endurance, just think of it as one more lap. When you think you can't do any more, rest for 20 seconds and do one more lap than you did the week before. Anyone can do one more lap.
My longest single swim so far is 10km. I have set a goal of doing a 10 mile swim (352 laps in my YMCA pool).0 -
@UG77 I also just started!! I'm with you, there's a Masters class on Fridays at my pool but I want to get my endurance up before I start doing coaching. Right now I do 60 minutes (about a mile) 3x a week and I'm hoping to bump that up to 4x a week in March. I should probably be doing more frequent 30 minute sessions but I find I'm not really fully warmed up until 30 minutes in and I just enjoy being in the water so much that 30 minutes just isn't enough time for me!!! I'm gonna end up being one of those 2 hour a day people I swear.
I've been doing 100 yards of kickboard (front and back kicks) and 100 yards of pulls to warm up and then 30 minutes of freestyle swimming mostly front crawl, then 100 yards of easy breast stroke and 100 yards of easy kickboard to cool down. When my form starts getting sloppy, I switch to 100 yards of another stroke to work some different muscles and then do 50 yards of kick board to focus on my kick technique, and then 50 yards of pulls to focus on my stroke technique. Then I go back into doing front crawl until I get sloppy again. If I'm feeling really winded I'll do 100 yards of back kickboard (I can't do backstroke right now due to some shoulder pain).
As a new fitness/lap swimmer, I'd argue pulls have been the best thing at helping me with my arm technique. Flutter kick is pretty intuitive but if you're not really maximizing your arm reach and body rotation, you're gonna waste a lot of energy. Pulls help you to really notice if you're doing something wrong because you'll just be flailing in the water and not able to do anything.
In my case though I've been swimming since before I could walk and had a ton of lessons as a kid so it's kind of like riding a bike for me. I watch YouTube videos like @fishgutzy recommends as well and that's been helping me to focus on things to pay attention to.
A couple of things that helped me: 1) breathing on alternate sides, 2) really reaching with my arms almost from the hips when doing my front crawl strokes, and 3) focusing on keeping my feet and ankles really loose and flappy when flutter kicking0 -
I have googled away, AND taken lessons... Swimming is technical, and injury quite easy. Lessons win it for me if you can. Someone watching and answering your questions really helps. But I still Google too...
As for building endurance. You seem to have a good instinct already.0
This discussion has been closed.