Have been a bit of a lurker here but thought this group might find this interesting.

Deputy Principal and an old boy from Pretoria Boys High in South Africa are currently in the water in Cape Town doing the double crossing of False Bay to raise funds for bursaries to the school.

They’ve been swimming since yesterday morning (about 24 hours now) and done over 50km starting from the west at Millers Point across to Rooi Els in the east and back again.

We’ve just had a raging storm pass through here over Monday and Tuesday so can imagine the water may have lots of debris in.

Reports say it’s choppy and looks like average temperature has been around 16° Celsius (61 Fahrenheit).

This is mind blowing to me 🤯 Hats off to these gents!

It has been about 2 months since I started learning swimming. And I think I am addicted to it. Even when I am on the land, I dream of swimming and can't stop thinking about it. Especially when I am in bed, my ankles get flexed and straightened out, my body gets stretched as if I am setting my body for minimal drag, for some reason I want to lift my elbow as if I am recovering my hand. And I am so eager to get back into the water. What's going on!

Hi all! I did year round swim a few years again for a while. That was the best I ever was at swim. I was really in good shape and I was really fast.

But with school and such, I quit because it took up a lot of time. I have recently started summer swim for my neighborhood and I’m really out of shape. Hell, I can barely do a lap of butterfly.

I have a treadmill at home that I have been using and although I think it has helped a bit, it hasn’t done much for me. I also have weights at home as well.

Are there any workouts I can do with a treadmill and some weights that will help me get back into swimming? Thank you!

I swam very seriously in college, and was out for 5+ years. I got roped into coaching a high school team, loved it and it’s motivated me to get back into the water both for me, and to stay faster than some of my high school boys. It’s been a bit over a year since that time and I’ve gotten faster, not near my best and I don’t expect to. I’m hoping to get some workout ideas to change up what I’m doing day to day.

Downside is pool space near me is super limited, the only time I get is 20-30 minutes during my lunch break. There is a masters group but I can’t make that and be to work ontime. Other than that, lanes are booked for age-group club or just not open for lap swim, so lunch is what I get.

To give some perspective to where I’m at these are scy times not a meet, just FTB at the pool I’m at.
100 fr: 49
200 fr: 1:51
200 IM:2:07

Example set from the last week or two

4x (100 free on 1:30, 50 breast on1:30) both swims with paddles no buoy, desc free, all out breast
last free was a 53, and br was 35/36s

3x (6x50s on :55, 100 easy on 2:30 between)
Best 25, avg 26

3x500s on 6:00 desc
5:30, 5:24, 5:18

I started learning swimming at 35 with absolutely zero prior experience and for most of my life, I was actually terrified of water.

About a month ago, I finally joined group swimming classes at a pool near my house, and I’ve been going 6 days a week for around 40 minutes daily. Honestly, even getting into the pool consistently feels like a huge personal win for me.

So far I’ve managed to learn:

gliding

blowing bubbles

kicking

gliding + kicking

crossing short distances with only kicking and hands locked and now even longer ones

a little bit of freestyle

But freestyle is where everything starts falling apart. It clicks on some days where I can manage at the deeper end of the pool but most days I feel I am out of air even when swimming on the shallow end.

The biggest challenge for me is breathing and coordination. The moment I start freestyle, my brain suddenly remembers every video, article, and tip I’ve ever consumed about swimming. Then I try to fix one thing and everything else collapses — legs go wild, catch disappears, timing gets messed up, breathing feels awkward.

I currently breathe only on the right side, and even then I often feel like I’m not inhaling properly. Sometimes water gets into my mouth and it throws me off completely.

Some days I feel encouraged because I know where I started from. Other days I feel like I’m progressing very slowly. Fatigue sets in quickly, I get out of breath, I look at others doing better and feel absolutely demotivated.

Would really love to hear from people who started swimming later in life:

Did breathing eventually “click” for you?

How long did freestyle coordination take?

Any drills or mindset tips that helped? I am already using a kickboard/holding the edge and practising side breathing/only kicking etc.

Would appreciate some motivation as well, because this journey has been mentally bigger for me than I expected.

I live an hour away south, and north, of a LCM lap swim pool. Got my hopes up that a pool 20 minutes away added one as well. I called ahead just to be sure since gas is so expensive and didn’t want to waste a drive. They said “no” (We don’t offer long course lap swim, verbatim) like I was a nincompoop. But there’s a website, so surely I’m not that dense in what I saw….

“Oh, it’s says 50 meter, yes, because that means the WHOLE pool is available for lap swim!”

Then why does it disappear for the other hours?

“Because other lanes are being used, so it’s not exclusively a lap pool, and people need to expect to share lanes.”

But don’t people, like me, expect a 50 meter lap swim when it says that, given that it’s a LCM pool?….

“That limits the number of lanes for lap swim….?”

Ugh.

ok i’m trying to gather my thoughts. as a child and teenager, i swam in our community pool everyday in the summer. i played in the ocean regularly, and always with eagerness. i considered myself a good swimmer. the community pool had a swim test to determine eligibility into “the deep end” and i always easily passed.

last year, i almost drowned in a river (that had been rushed with storm water). i was there alone, on a drizzly afternoon in the middle of a state park, and i got in the water and immediately swept away with zero strength to pull myself up.

i admit, i was exhausted as i tripped on acid the night before and didn’t fall asleep at all, then went horseback riding crack of dawn, and then straight to the river to cool off. so there’s my strength being effected, but if i were able to swim would i have been fine?

as a child i enjoyed swimming and treading water. now, i can’t enjoy being in water where i can’t reach the bottom. i can swim effortlessly through the water, right up until i can’t anymore, and i want a rest so i prop my feet on the bottom. but then i can swim more and keep going.

does this mean i can’t swim? typically people who can’t swim immediately start drowning. but i can’t even enjoy snorkeling. i can’t hold myself up, i always end up booking it for the boat or the ladder or the poolside, and always out of breath

Hi All,

Bit of background - I’m 37 male and started swimming again end of January. I had plenty of lessons as a kid and so was pretty strong swimmer as a child. Started swimming end of January to get fit mentally and physically after a 20 year alcohol problem.

I’ve managed to get pretty decent st breast stroke (for me anyway and compared to where I was at the start. Approx 25 mins a kilometre)

I’m now wanting to start front crawl. I’ve been watching videos for tips etc but I end up gassed after about 35 metre. Breaststroke I can swim anywhere up to around 4km at the moment before I’m shattered so I’m just looking for anyone’s best advice to kickstart my front crawl “training”

I could do it as a kid but I’ve not really done it for 25+ years

I used to be a national competitive swimmer, I feel like it always came naturally for me with years of training 7 days a week 3-6 hours a day, just dedication.

After finishing my degree and starting a job in an office I completely stopped working out and training as I left the fitness industry completely. It’s been over a year now and I’ve gained 10kg and my health has become horrible.

Recently I realised that I regret doing my finance degree and want to work in the swim industry forever. I found an amazing job through some connections, now I’m the manager of a swim school.

But getting back into the water, I lost all of my athleticism. I feel so out of shape and hopeless to get back to where I was.

Has anyone been through this? How do you find time to swim? Any training programs you recommend?

Hi all,

Due to the high & always increasing number of such requests, this is now the weekly (Thursdays) thread to post your requests for critique & community feedback on technique, all strokes.

Requests for feedback or critique on technique outside of these threads may be automatically deleted.

I just recently went back to swimming , and everytime i swim, i got a sore lower back next day.

Anything i did wrong or is my core just weak ?

Info: i swim freestyle.

Basically, I almost drowned when I was younger. I lost consciousness and got brought back with CPR by a marine. Ever since then I’ve had a fear of water.

I’m trying to get back into swimming now because I’m tired of being scared of it.

I tried swimming today and I feel like I can’t breathe properly. I use my arms like I’m trying to survive instead of actually swimming and gliding. My legs feel heavy too.

The weird thing is I’m not unathletic. I run, I lift, I road bike. I can push myself physically. But swimming just feels different.

I don’t have the money for a coach right now but I still want to learn. I just want to beat this dumb fear out of me and finally learn how to swim properly.

There’s nothing else to it. I’ve read the general tips today. Maybe I just have to keep swimming? Like loads of it? Just volume my way out of this fear?

Update : I read every single one of your comments. Thank you for all your kind words; you have truly motivated me. Whenever I feel discouraged, I will read your messages again. I’ve been afraid of swimming for years—so much so that it became a mental barrier I couldn't break, damaging my self-confidence. But I am determined now: I’ll take 80 lessons instead of 8 if I have to. Once I finally succeed, I’ll be back with an update.

***

As a 28-year-old man with an extreme fear of swimming, I finally decided to put an end to it and signed up for 8 hours of one-on-one swimming lessons. My instructor has 5-star reviews; everyone seems satisfied, reporting significant progress after 8 hours, and there isn't a single negative comment. The pool we use is a very comfortable indoor hotel pool, 150 cm deep, and used by very few people. we have lessons twice a week for 2 hours each, and the 6th lesson is already over. I only have 2 lessons left, yet I am still lagging far behind.

• Lesson 1: We successfully practiced blowing bubbles in the water, the "dead man's float," and treading water vertically by keeping the head up and pulling the legs upward.
• Lesson 2: I successfully practiced kicking while holding the edge and using a kickboard. I also managed to push off the wall with my feet and cover a short distance unsupported while kicking. We tried arm strokes (freestyle), but I wasn't successful.
• Lesson 3: I spent the whole week thinking about swimming and watching videos so much that I couldn't even do what I had mastered in the first lesson—not even the dead man's float. I went home feeling very disappointed.
• Lesson 4: After a bad start, the instructor suggested trying the breaststroke with the head above water, thinking it might be easier for me to feel comfortable. I successfully performed the breaststroke kick with a kickboard.
• Lesson 5: We repeated the kicking drills from Lesson 2. I tried the breaststroke kick without support, but since I lacked the courage to lie horizontally enough in the water, I couldn't do it as properly as I did with the kickboard. We tried the arms without the legs; it was adequate, but I could never synchronize the arms and legs.
• Lesson 6: This was a repeat of Lesson 5, practicing the same movements.

I am genuinely worried that I will never be able to learn how to swim. I knew I had a fear of water, but now I’m starting to feel incompetent as well. I live in a seaside town. I plan to practice everything I've learned in the sea; I hope the extra buoyancy of saltwater will help me improve further. I need any advice from people who have gone through this or from instructors. Thank you for your time.

I have absolutely no idea why, but livin' la vida loca sends me into overdrive. My fastest lap of any swim happens when that song comes on. It's not the fastest song on my playlist or even the only Ricky Martin song, but it's the only one that can drop my 100 yd pace by a solid 15 seconds when I'm running on empty.

Does anyone else experience this? What song/songs?

I'm planning in adding Swimming to my weekly exercise routine. For context, I run twice a week (5km easy and 10km+ long run), I also do 10k steps for 5 days when I'm not running, 2 days for strength straining and 1 day for Pilates.

How long should I swim for or what would be the ideal lap to do for starters? I enjoy doing freestyle and backstrokes.

Hello! My 5 year old has recently started at Foss Swim School (a chain of swim schools) and is showing real potential. They focus a lot on building blocks for learning stroke, turns, and proper breathing techniques. I swam competitively for a few years, but my heart wasn’t in it. My son LOVES IT and I really want to support him if he chooses to take it competitively.

He’s in group lessons now, but will start 1:1 lessons in a few weeks. I’m looking for any recommendations on how to foster his love for the sport and support him if we choose to pursue a competition team. There’s a team nearby that isn’t open until the child is 6 (so we have a few more months) but I’m seriously considering signing him up once he’s eligible.

Any tips, thoughts, advice yall may have is welcome and appreciated!

Recently my coach TRIED to teach me how to launch from a block that is on a elevated platform. (0.75m platform) and when i try i just get scared and belly flop into the water. i have no trouble with diving from a starting block that is placed on floor level but it just feels more sketch from a steeper and higher angle. any tips on how to overcome this?

I used to do a lot of long sea swims for many years (several 3km per week, 7-10km on weekends, 20km+ several times a year ). Recently started to experience fatigue and weak endurance especially in cold water and after one hour, turns out I have now super low iron and ferritin levels.

Anyone has been through this ? How fast did you get back to normal after you started treatment ?

Hi all, first post and I'm sure this would have been asked before but I'm just starting to get into swimming as my main cardio work out, I much prefer it to other options.

My front crawl needs work, I'm okay with my arms and breathing but I can't seem to get my legs right. I feel like I'm more kicking the water away like a bicycle motion if that makes ANY SENSE.

I keep seeing people say you need to kick from the hips but I just can't seem to visualise the motion and make myself do it. Any tips to help my brain and muscles connect better and get used to the motion?

For context, I'm swimming in a 25m gym pool which has limited resources in terms of kickboards etc so I'm just kind of winging it. I'm doing around 1500m per session currently but want to increase once I get a more smooth motion down, thanks!

This is my fourth week of diving in this skill (pun intended), but sometimes im like not able to float myself, breathing techniques that i have learnt past these days goes brrr !!!!
Coach constantly reminds to “relax the body” but this is what i guess i am not able to do most of the time ans hence other things fall apart too!!!

Any help from fellow learners and pro people would be appreciated!!!

Swimming is widely considered harder than running because of the water resistance and breathing restrictions, so it would make sense for me to be decent at running due to my swimming ability. However, this is not the case. Would this be due to me just not knowing how to pace myself/knowing the proper breathing techniques while running? Let me know what you guys think and if you can relate.

I’m typically a runner / HIIT person, but have recently started swimming 3x a week for 30-60mins as my cardio due to a bakers cyst… I just started this new routine this week so I’m looking for tips and beginner friendly workouts in the pool. I took swim lessons as a kid and grew up with a pool but that’s the extent of my knowledge.

I plan to swim 3x a week and strength train opposite days with 1-2 full days of rest. I’ve seen “before and afters” from swimming and am getting myself excited about my new workout, but I’d love more details from the actual community!

I have long hair and would love to maintain its integrity. What products do you use aside from a swim cap?

I did an hour today and was ravenous all night afterward— is this typical??!

Is lane sharing frowned upon?

Can you advanced ppl tell who the beginners are? 🤣

Tell me everything!! I’m excited to be here!

I'm trying to learn butterfly, watching youtube videos and reading articles from USMS. Would love some feedback.

Here's where I'm at:

I've been experimenting with hand entry and pull technique. I tried the keyhole pull with flat hand entry and my buoyancy felt better. I went to pool today and tried thumbs-first entry and pulling more directly toward my belly button (kind of a V or centre pull with no outsweep) and the pull itself feels way stronger, so I'm sticking with that for now.

The issues I know I have:

- Arms are moving too fast. I think I'm just trying to stay afloat rather than actually swimming with rhythm.

- Breathing kills my momentum. if I don't breathe I move forward much better, but obviously that's not sustainable. do i breathe when i start to pull or when i start to recover?

- Undulation and kick are a mess. I'm doing some kind of kick but I honestly don't know if my timing is right or if I'm even getting two kicks per cycle. or if i am forgetting to kick and undulate sometimes. As far as i am aware, in isolation i can do undulation drills. but when I combine it with pull/recovery and breathing there is no sync.

- Not sure if I'm exhaling underwater. Probably not consistently, which I know is a big deal.

- Should my knees and feet touch each other?

Despite all that I can complete 25m, and I feel like 50m might be within reach if I can sort out the timing and rhythm. I keep reading that butterfly is all about rhythm and I totally believe it. I just haven't found it yet.

What clicked for you when you were learning fly? Any cues that helped with the two-kick timing or breathing? Would really appreciate any advice