Beginners swimming etiquette

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herbgardinia
herbgardinia Posts: 5 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
On a related topic to my other post (Achilles tendinitis) any tips for beginning to swim for fitness?

Can swim but not for years and I know I’m very unfit. I’m not even sure I could do more than one lap at once!

I’m also scared of getting in the way of the experienced lane swimmers…

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  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,348 Member
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    I don’t know if swimming etiquette is the same everywhere, but here’s a few tips from the UK:
    1. Most pools have slow, medium and fast lanes. Always try to pick the one which suits you the best (ie don’t go in the slow lane if you’re fast even if there are less people in there)
    2. If you are tapped on the ankle during a swim, it usually means the person behind is faster than you and is politely requesting to go first at the next turn, so pause at the end and wave them on. Do the same if you keep catching the person in front.
    3. See what stroke people are doing ie if everyone is using front crawl up and breaststroke back, don’t reverse it as you’ll go too slow one way and too fast the other.
    4. Just be considerate with your stroke ie backstroke can make you wander around, breaststroke can be wide, butterfly is wide and causes a bow wave!

    My biggest issue when I used to swim regularly was people picking the wrong lanes. I’m a fast swimmer but I used to swap lanes when I was doing intentionally slow strokes, and fast swimmers jumping in the slow lane and hassling / terrifying the slow swimmers really annoyed me.

    Ultimately each pool has its own etiquette so you’ll just pick up the vibe when you go in. It is the BEST exercise (I can’t swim any more owing to injury and I miss it) so have fun and enjoy getting fit!
  • jst1986
    jst1986 Posts: 204 Member
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    I definitely agree with finding a pool with different speed lanes - if you find a pool with a slow lane then hit that and you won't feel too pressured to keep to speed. Also perhaps try and find out the quiet times.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Here's a nice primer on lane etiquette, and don't worry about being slow etc. We all started somewhere.

    https://centennialpool.ca/about-us/lane-etiquette/
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,922 Member
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    jst1986 wrote: »
    I definitely agree with finding a pool with different speed lanes - if you find a pool with a slow lane then hit that and you won't feel too pressured to keep to speed. Also perhaps try and find out the quiet times.

    Yes, I used to always go at off peak hours as I don't like to share a lane.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,922 Member
    edited September 2022
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    herbgardinia wrote: »
    On a related topic to my other post (Achilles tendinitis) any tips for beginning to swim for fitness?

    Can swim but not for years and I know I’m very unfit. I’m not even sure I could do more than one lap at once!

    I’m also scared of getting in the way of the experienced lane swimmers…

    Maybe an adult swim or water aerobics class would be good for easing you back into the water?
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,513 Member
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    Our gym pool has four lanes devoted to lap swimmers. You can go online to reserve an exclusive lane for thirty minutes.

    An equal area is reserved for aquafit classes and childrens’ lessons.

    Maybe a local pool has a similar setup?
  • springlering62
    springlering62 Posts: 7,513 Member
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    And PS don’t worry about it. We have all ages and sizes using the lanes, as well as several people using them for rehab purposes.
  • TicTacToo
    TicTacToo Posts: 76 Member
    edited September 2022
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    At my pool we tend to swim clockwise in the lanes (or drive on the left!)

    There's an app called My Swim Pro that is free to try and among many different training schedules includes a swimming version of the Couch to 5K idea... for swimming, that particular schedule is about improving your stamina to build from just getting into the water on Day 1 to being able to swim 1000m a few weeks later. There are quite a few motivational videos by My Swim Pro on YouTube too.

    I restarted swimming in a Masters group with a coach a few months ago. In my first session I swam 1km in an hour with LOTS of resting and gasping for breath inbetween laps... probably more resting and gasping than actual swimming TBH. I'm 70lbs heavier than when I used to swim regularly many years ago and I restarted with tiny arm muscles and a big belly that made getting through those laps really difficult! But in just a few months with a coach my technique has improved so I'm much more efficient, and my muscles have grown, and my belly has shrunk because swimming is an awesome cardio workout, so I now regularly swim 2km in each training session including various drills in each of the four strokes. The coach writes out a set list which includes a warm up, main set and cool down, often incorporating HIIT and endurance work... I've got much better much more rapidly working with a coach than I would have by myself. Also the other swimmers are really supportive (and nearly twice as fast as me, but I'm gradually catching up.)

    I hope you can find a training plan to suit you either online or IRL. All the best!
  • TicTacToo
    TicTacToo Posts: 76 Member
    edited September 2022
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    Oh, and a tip from me if you're doing backstroke... the first time you swim backstroke, count how many armstrokes you need from the overhead flags near the end of the pool to reach the wall itself. (For me it's 6 armstrokes without fins or 5 armstrokes with them.) Then when you're swimming backstroke fast and you see the overhead flags, remember to count armstrokes so you can stop in the nick of time instead of smacking your head fullspeed into a concrete wall. Ask me how I know :#

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