I am still working on my freestyle stroke. But lately, I've been getting sea sick. So much so, that Im having to stop after about 20 mins. It only happens with freestyle. I think it's the moving my head to the side to breath that is causing it. I feel perfectly fine when I do breast stroke. Does anyone else get this? What can I do to prevent it? I am wearing a swim cap which covers my ears. Though water does still get inside. I'd really appreciate any advice. Is it my technique? Would ear plugs solve this?

I swim 2-3 times per week for exercise. I have a knuckle tattoo I really want to have removed, but from what I've seen online, you're supposed to wait 6 weeks after a laser session to swim. I really don't want to set myself back for 6 weeks. I was thinking of using a waterproof hand cast cover, and maybe using tape to make sure it doesn't slide around as I swim.

If anyone here has had a tattoo removed, did you wait 6 weeks? Any creative solutions?

My kid started learning to swim at 4, they are now 8. The goal was to be safe and comfortable in the water. We quit the first swim school last year as we didn’t see much progress. The second swim school is pretty much the same, barely learning strokes or swimming full lapse. Now we are in our second month, at the third school and pretty happy with the progress.

My kid was actually invited to try out competitive swim today. Kid thought it was difficult, but don’t mind the challenge. As parents, who don’t swim, we were very impressed with what the kid did, they were slow but they tried their best and not giving up (the group started over the summer, so 2-3 months ahead).

My question is we don’t really care about competitive swim, but it is a good challenge to have. Kid has option to just take the lessons, but not much challenge there. At the moment, I’m thinking to have my kid do competitive swim for a year or two, then they can make up their mind to stay or not. We really don’t expect them to win in competition, just have fun learning. Competitive swimming requires more commitment though. Kid is new to strokes, but fast learner, coach said they would be fine with more training.

I’m just seeking advices to make the decision on doing competitive swimming or not.

Thank you.

Hello! I'm taking adult swimming lessons starting this week. They start at 6:30pm, which is an hour after I usually eat dinner.

My diet admittedly isn't the best. It's something I want to work on. I really want to set myself up for success with swimming, so I'm wondering what sort of food is good to eat before. Do I want high protein? Is it better to eat something light and then eat a heavker meal after?

Thank you so much!

Hi everyone!

I’d like to get into swimming for the first time. I’m 23 and, sport-wise, I’ve been doing calisthenics for about 2 years. I’d like to combine it with regular swimming sessions.

Which swimming stroke would you recommend learning first? I’m looking for something relatively simple that I can use for most of my workouts and just keep doing consistently.

Thanks everyone!

Newbie here. I feel like I don’t understand the breaststroke kick. Is propulsion supposed to come from adductors. when I snap my legs in the kick, it doesn’t feel like I am grabbing much water

I just started learning swimming, but I only have classes once a week. In the meantime, what are some good exercises to train my body to be better at swimming later?

I've swam three times this week, once indoors and twice outdoors! On all three swims, I've struggled with feeling really cold in the water, with shivering especially when I take a breather. I've never really experienced this before in my swimming journey so was curious as to know why this might be happening and also how to deal with it since I don't want this to impact my health!

My sessions usually involve consistent lap swimming front crawl, and I can spend upwards of an hour in the water at a time as I prefer longer sessions. I noticed the cold today made me feel like I could swim faster, averaging 2:25/100m across the two miles I swam.

Hello! I'd be grateful for advice regarding pace and the relationship between bodybuilding and swimming please. I am a 37yo male, weighing around 92kg, out of which aprox 65kg are muscle. I say this because my body type is broad and thick (think rugby player), not the slender body type ideal for fast swimming, and this is what I would like help with please.

My average pace is 2:00/100m, sometimes 1:58, others 2:00. I can sprint for a couple of laps at 1:20, and do usually 10 laps out of my usual 40 (1km) at around 1:40. I have been stuck at around this level for 2 years now.

Because I have been focused on lifting weights and building muscle (not ripped, but athletic), should I just accept these times as the best that my body type can achieve? Or is there still room for improvement?

A bit more context: I do not do flip turns, touch the wall and bounce. Do not use my legs much, just enough to help the arms when they get tired as they do most of the work, a bit like a secondary engine. I've swam since I was a kid and its my favourite sport, so I will keep it up even if these are my best times. Form wise, I would describe myself as a "graceful freight train" swimmer in that I displace a lot of water, without punching the water. My body is straight at the top of the water, with my shoulders and bum being above water most of the time.

Thank you!

Hi, I went for a fin training session today, and i had this good kind of thigh muscle ache, which got me wondering.

Where do you think are the optimal target muscles when swimming?

I usually experience upper arm and lat aches with front crawl. My backstroke sucks. And my inner arms (idk) ache with breaststroke.

And when i do dolphine kicks with fins, my thighs feel like they're going to burst.

Am i swimming with too much force? But the aches while painful feel so good after a workout.

Title. I swam a lot as a teen but now I'm mid 20s. For my past 3 workouts I swam 1k yards freestyle in about 20 minutes

Tbh I've forgotten how to push off wall for backstroke and can barely do butterfly

I don't know how to write my workouts. My coach used to write sheets with times. What should I use to guide my workout?

Someone posted swim dojo, not sure what else is good

I was on my schools swim team last year but did not rejoin this year because of bullying. But I really enjoy swimming and it helps me stay in shape, so i signed up for 1 hour swimming 2 days a week at my schools pool. Its only 4 lanes and there are tons if swim equipment to use also. The problem is I am pretty overweigjt, and was self conscious enough about swimming on the team. I dont know who else will be swimming there, or how many people signed up. I dont think there will be many students, it will probably mostly be adults, but i am still nervous to only wear a bathingsuit around strangers, especially since I am overweight and was basically busting out of the team suits last year. How do I overcome my fear?

I have been learning swimming from the past two months. However I tend to be gassed early.

I try to take breath every 2 strokes but once I finish a lap I need to take a break for 5-10 seconds and only then I can continue; and I can swim like that for only 12 laps. Please help me out.

Thanks in advance.

As the title says, whenever I try to swim 50 or 75m (in a 25m pool) i lose my breath really fast especially at the turns and I lose all cohesion in my stroke.

Today morning when I went to swim i realized that swimming is literally way more energy consuming than running, im a complete beginner and for fun I went to swim with my group then I realised how tough it is. It humbled me

I (41 M) started lessons 4 months ago as an absolute beginner. The instructor started us off with free style but I plateaued very early and have made zero progress in months. I cant get the hang of breathing and I still cant do a single length of the training pool.

Is this sort of plateau normal? Because the rest of my.class is progressing and have even started learning other strokes. Even the elderly couple who are pushing 70.

I must admit I'm at a point where I'm really over trying to learn to swim and leave my lessons in a bad mood

Bearing in mind the delayed 'sugar crash' are "energy" drinks, or "sports" drinks bad for performance at galas ?

I have always been wary of my lad having an "energy" drink (e.g. "Lucozade Energy") or sweets of any kind at a gala, but thought a sports drink (e.g. "Lucozade Sports") was OK. But looking at the ingredients of "Lucozade Sport" that has Glucose (a sugar....) as its number 2 ingredient (after water), just like "Lucozade Energy" !

I recently took up swimming and have always felt i was a "strong". But i admit i am limited in my view and was wondering what some good lap/distance times for the various strokes. Im not really curious about pro athlete levels, but what separates a beginner/intermediate/advanced swimmers? I can currently do a 1k in under 20mins and 1600m in about 32mins? Where do they sit in the spectrum of swimming proficiencies?

I (M, 32) am about to take up my first ever swimming lesson. I've always been afraid of the water (drowning fears from an early age) but I finally bit the bullet and decided I cannot go through life without learning this key skill.

I've attended countless holidays abroad in the swimming pool, staying strictly in the shallow end and watching others enjoy swimming around me. I don't want to do that anymore. So here I am.

Feeling extremely nervous. 3 days until my first lesson and I'd appreciate any advice you may have for a beginner!

Hi! I'm considering starting to practise swimming! My local gym has a pool and lanes, and I really want to get into swimming. I'm 25 and work from home, and i have some persistent back problems that make a lot of exercise really difficult. I think swimming would be great for me.

The issue is.. I have no idea what to do! I do know how to swim, and I learned how to freestyle as a kid, but I haven't done so in years. I'm worried i'll get there and make a fool of myself. Also, what gear do I absolutely need? Do I just hit the lane, so long as there's nobody in it? My first couple times I really want to take it slow and get a feel for swimming again, although I'm not sure if that's even necessarily allowed during lapswim times?

Thank you!

I’m a 45 yo woman who has never swam for exercise. I have a condition where I break out in hives when I do aggressive cardio, so I decided to try swimming. I LOVE it but I’m terrible at it. I can’t afford lessons right now so I’m sort of figuring it out as I go. I did backstroke the first day to get comfortable. The second day I mixed that with the kick-board. Has anyone else done this journey without a teacher? Any resources you’d recommend? I plan to swim 2-3 days a week from now on, mixing in weights and walking every day.

Hello everyone!!

I am new to this sub, I don't know if I provided enough info here, let me know if I didn't.

What are some common tips that you usually give for flip turns?

I took a year break and I've been back for 2 months but swimming for myself instead with a group and coach, I didn't have this issue before the break, I thought it would go away as I swim more but that's not the case.

I don't know if it's because I was scared of the pushup punishment from my coach so I just pull through the fact I am dying underwater or I was better back then but i feel like I am not getting better.

My issue I think is when I flip turn and push off of the wall i am pretty deep in the water so by the time I finish dolphin kicks and start doing the breakout I would be deadd

I am a pretty decent swimmer, my level is like high intermediate, I've been told just some small adjustments before I could become advanced

I know the short answer is to just swim more, but is there any particular thing that makes the progress more effective?

I started swimming at the start of the year having not swim much while growing up and it’s been the hardest sport I’ve ever done. That said, I’ve fallen in love with it. I have a coach now and I’ve improved dramatically every month, but the consistency is the hardest part.

I do a lot of drills as usually and it’s helped a lot, but when I put it all together, I go back and forth between good and bad technique every stroke. Like I’ll have a few great strokes where I’m streamlined, breathing relaxed, pulling well with my lats. Then I’ll let my forearm drop or breathe with my head up and lose all my speed for a few strokes before I mentally reset and have a few more good strokes.

I think this is the biggest thing preventing me from swimming more relaxed. Like if I just swim without breathing I can stay pretty relaxed since I only need to focus on pulling and kicking. Or if I do a breathing drill I can just focus on breathing. And of course once I get tired it also becomes difficult to maintain good technique.

What are some good ways to train consistency?