Any swimmers want to give advice?

MrsG1994

:glasses: Hi Everyone, I have recently switched to swimming instead of running or walking due to a longstanding foot injury. I swam in a lake every summer of my entire childhood and learned all the strokes and took swimming lessons up through basic lifesaving. After that, however, I have never swam (swum?) for exercise (I am 41 years of age). I joined my YMCA last weekend and have since done 6 20-minute workouts of various strokes over 8 days. So far, so good. My only goal was to go as many days as I could, and continuously move for 20 minutes. What I am wondering from you is: Can I swim 20 minutes EVERY day? I would like to work out at least 6 days a week (stress relief) and I feel like I am listening to my body and so far, 5 days a week at 20 minutes wasn't too much. Should I add length to the workouts and how quickly? Any advice on making sure my form is correct? I would welcome any ideas, encouragement, or stories about swimming you would like to offer. Thanks, Janine

Keep_The_Laughter

Swimming for time and distance are both okay even for beginners, but It might be more beneficial to start with distance if you are not where you want to be in terms of endurance. If you choose to work on speed and timing, please nurture your shoulders/rotator cuffs and work on your kick. A strong consistent kick will help you keep the good form needed to keep those shoulders happy while doing any sort of sprint or speed interval (or just pulling through the water resistance in general).

Ultimately, to see serious lap time decreases, improve your stroke power and consistently burn calories at the higher end, you'll want to work on both distance and speed. If your YMCA has a masters program, you may be able to ask the staff directly for tips on meeting your speed and/or endurance goals. In the mean time here are quite a few easy to follow workouts for most swimmers. Perhaps you'll find a good fit.

http://www.100swimmingworkouts.com/

Best of luck!

ka97

I am soooooo far from an expert, but here's my 2 cents worth of opinion:
Yes you can swim every day. Swimming is a non-impact activity, so as far as wear and tear on the body, it's one of the safest things you can do. The down side to every day is going to be things like dry hair and skin. Also, doing the same thing everyday can lead to burnout, so listen to your body and take a day off or try to incorporate other forms of exercise if possible.
As far as swim workouts go - try searching for workout plans online. You might want to switch things up by focusing on distance one day, speed another day, push/pull drills another day. I don't know if there is "rule" as far as adding time/distance but I think as long as you are feeling good you should be able to add 5-10 minutes to your workouts each week. If you feel good at 20, maybe do a week at 30 minutes. If that still feels good, go 35 or 40 the next week, and so on.

Marcia315

As far as form, it's really hard to critique you without seeing your stroke. But here are a few basics,a s best I can explain then without demonstrating.

Crawl: rotate the body, don't turn the head completely to breathe. Finish your stroke, arm in straight above the shoulder pull back underwater in a slight s shape, keep,stoke going until stroke is finished and arm exits near upper thigh. Don't "cross over" your stroke when you put your hand in the water and out your hand in the water up above your head, put it in straight above your shoulder. You don't have to do a 6 beat kick, a 2 beat is fine. When you push off the wall, streamline, arms extended over your head, hands interlaced, biceps on your ears, squeeze your buns together.

Backstroke: same idea as crawl. Rotate the body. Arms straight, no crossing over. Finish stroke, hand exits near upper thigh.

Breaststroke: hands don't go below your boobs.

Use the kick board and do a few laps of dolphin kick. You will work your abs.

MrsG1994

Thanks guys! These are great.