/swim/ general

Swam since I was 4. 18 now. I do mixed martial arts now as a sport, and my cardio is better than 99% of dudes in the gym. I can outpace wrestlers, even.

But I feel myself getting worse. I want to get back into the water. used to look like a god....

>>42003768
>tfw was a chubby kid my entire life
I never used to look good. I did win a few medals in local competitions though, despite my fat.

>>42003684
Are you looking to build cardiovascular fitness or just improve your swimming in general?

If the latter, just do half a mile/mile of each stroke per session and then add in a few drills like kick-only and pull-only parts to your session to work on balancing your body out.

Something like this: 1x800m/1500m front crawl, 200m/400 individual medley, 2x100m kick, 2x100m pull. Add on what you want to work on and just stick at it.

Technique is everything, so I'd work at building that particularly.

>>42003793
Honestly I'm mostly looking to build cardiovascular fitness. I'm not looking to compete or anything, but swimming is such a good fucking sport for overall fitness.

19 here, just started swimming this week and try and go as hard as possible. Do a lot of 50m sprints. When I go back to uni this September I want to join the swim team, but at the moment I am so shit and always end up choking on water

>>42004124
No one is good in the beginning; I was struggling with some technique even eight years in. Have you looked up videos for proper technique? They could help you with what you should think about when you're in the water.

Also even though sprints are good, it's much easier to do improper swimming because you're mostly thinking about going fast. Try swim for 200-400m at a time and always think about what you're doing. Then, slowly up the pace until you realize you're doing much better at 50m sprints just because your technique is much better.

>>42003793
I can't possibly do more than 6x50m front crawl, and that with alot of pauses. I feel like I'm running out of breath or I don't breathe properly. Any advice?

>>42003684
Used to be able to swim a mile daily in high school. Man I'd love to get back to that level of fitness. And now I'm motivated to do so.

>>42004162
I haven't actually been looking at videos, just trying to copy good swimmers in the pool. Are there any channels you'd recommend? Thanks for the rest of the advice, I will do that

File: 1498962478493.jpg (82KB, 597x396px) Image search: [Google]

82KB, 597x396px

>>42003684
Swam for 7 years and now I get chronic bursitis in both shoulders. Feels bad man

>>42004178
I haven't myself learned through videos (I learned from a coach shouting at me from the side) so I don't have much to recommend, although I'd search for stuff on youtube and look up different channels-
Speedo has their own channel which seems to have a few videos on technique. Remember to look up what specifics you want to learn (eg. Beginner Swimming videos won't do much if you want to learn crawl breathing technique).

Also while copying good swimmers can be good, you might misinterpret what they do, or not take into account that you might need different things than them. For example their lung capacity might be really good, but copying how often they breathe will just cause you to drown yourself.

My biggest tip is related to what I said before; Look up different parts of swim techniques. I was always shit at the crawl kick, because I had a strong chest and arms which carried me quite a bit when I was active. But swimming consist of a few things that should be working s(w)imultaneously, and you might have to see what you're good at and what you might want to improve.

I so desperately wish to be a swimmer, or good at swimming, but I sink like a rock. I have, essentially, zero buoyancy. I can't float on my back without my legs sinking, I can't hold onto the side of the pool and extend outward without my legs sinking. What gives?

>>42003684
Swimmer of 10 years, started middle school, now 22. I used to swim 6-7 times a week, 2-3 hours a day, now im at 3 days a week, 30 min a day

My workouts are all short distance/fast/sprint pace. Never swim anything above an 100.

Swimming is a great way to stretch those muscles and get in just enough cardio to keep your heart healthy. Don't over-do cardio though because it'll kill your gains.

>>42004325
Go completely limp in the pool, don't move a muscle. Just keep air in your lungs (normal amount).
You'll float.

>>42003803
I just go and swim front crawl non-stop for an hour. Basically, the pool equivalent of going out for a run. I start with an easy pace, but speed up a bit towards the end. I do ~3.5km in one hour, depends on how fast I feel like going. For general cardio training, I'd think this is a pretty good workout.

>>42003803
I like to do interval training (I think that's what it's called), where you sprint as hard as you can for as long as you can and then immediately return to a slow pace until your heart rate lowers to normal, and then repeat. Really works great at getting your heart in good shape.

>>42004169
Work on your cardio, using methods like above. Honestly, the best way to improve is just to keep on pushing yourself. You should be tasting blood in your mouth and feeling hot even in the water. Obviously don't go so hard you kill yourself, but to make real progress you need to push to your limit.

>>42003792

My buddy and I were fat fucks in HS but were more or less undefeated in our league. We went to diff HSs and always knew "that fat shit from this-other-school is at this meet"

Then we were on the same team in college it owned.

Will just leave this here since I wanted to start a swim general last year but chose to not since /fit/ was full of generals.


Welcome to /swim/, exclusively for the discussion of swim related items, including training, technique, competition at the swim meet or triathalon. Keep the insults and shitposting to a minimum, and no bully.

> edition

Post progress, lap times, videos, or anything else swim related.

>If you are new to swimming please read the sticky first before asking questions: http://pastebin.com/Au7YQS4d