Learning to swim after 40

i can swim ok, not good at the proper breathing or anything, but i can do laps and thread water in the deep end

when i started back swimming i was 218 lbs and so unfit, and felt so discouraged, but it does get easier, stick with it :flowerforyou:

i hate exercising, but i love to swim, was great for toning my thighs! lol :drinker:

You CAN do it. I am a swimmer, and I used to give lessons through parks and rec - so I (hope) I know what I'm talking about :laugh:

Swimming is not always intuitive, and you might get slower before you get faster/better - and that's ok!

Give yourself 6 months to become conditioned to the water, and you will see that your muscles start to adapt to the new movements you are making.

Size has very little to do with swimming ability (speed, maybe, but not ability.) I swim every morning and there are women of all sizes in the pool, swimming 50-100 laps.

Don't give up - enjoy the water, push yourself to do a little more than you did the previous day and it will slowly unfold and before you know it, you'll be racking up yardage like nobody's business

Yes.

I'm 55, and fat as a hog.

I started swimming maybe a couple of months ago, and I was a complete idiot. But I stayed with it.

I know generally how to swim from when I was a kid, but I was never particularly good at it even then.

In any case, I made one decision -- I was going to swim the crawl ONLY, and aim for distance, no matter how slow it had to be.

When you swim the crawl you can breath once every three strokes, or every stroke. For out of breath 55 year old blimps such as myself, one breath each stroke is best, because you get more air. I breathe only on my right side, although I know you can breath on both sides if you know what you're doing.

In any case, I started swimming one lap, taking a breather, swimming another lap, etc. About 3 weeks ago I managed to swim 4 laps, then one minute rest, then another 4 laps. Little by little I worked my way up to 1/4 mile, then a 1/2 mile, and then a mile, 4 laps at a time. This is 44 laps in the pool at my gym.

But last night I had a breakthrough. I swam 1/4 mile (11 laps) without stopping at all. Then, believe it or not, I rested a minute, and swam 33 laps, or 3/4 mile, without stopping at all. I just suddenly hit a point where I could essentially go on forever. The breathing was finally catching up with the exertion for the first time. Granted, I was not breaking any speed records, but to sustain that effort without stopping was huge for me.

So, bottom line, stay with it, don't give up, push a little harder each time, don't race, try to get a rhythm going, and at some point it will just get easier for no reason at all. My next goal will be a full mile without stopping, I can't wait to try it!

--Ron

I can relate! I'm 41 and TERRIFIED of the water. Absolutely terrified! I planned on taking swim lessons this summer but honestly, I don't know where the summer went. I want to at least be able to go down the slides at an amusement park or water park. We went in February to The Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, MO and I went down a slide that everyone to include the workers said that it wasn't likely that my boat would turn over. Well guess what??? It turned over and yes, I fell in and came up choking, spitting and sputtering. And terrified. I want to be able to get into at least 3 foot of water and not be shaking and scared to death. Good job on taking the swim lessons! I still hope to take them myself. Maybe that would be a good winter time thing to do and then when summer comes, I'll be ready for the water. Keep up the good work!!!