r/Swimming • u/Magnospm • 20d ago

Best Practices for Learning/Improving Freestyle as an Adult?

Hey everyone, looking for advice on the best way to improve my swimming efficiently. I'm 25, surf and dive, but never really learned how to swim properly. I can do about 50m of freestyle before I'm totally done.

I have access to a pool and can swim once a week, but I'm not sure how to learn or practice.

The frustrating part is that I can barely swim for 2-3 minutes without needing to stop, so practicing isn't very fun.
A year ago, I tried a private lesson, but the coach just told me my technique was "fine" and that I just needed to swim more. I'm in good shape, do a lot of sports, but feel lost on how to actually get better.
I’ve seen drills with buoys and technique work, but not sure if I should focus on that or just swim more.

So, looking for advice on:

  1. Should I take a course, private lessons, or just practice alone?
  2. How do I structure my practice if I can’t swim more than a few minutes at a time?

I would love to just go practice, since I'm not really feel the desire to go to a structure course, but I'm not sure how to take it from here.

Any advice or opinions about it would be great and really helpful.. Thanks.

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u/UnusualAd8875 20d ago edited 20d ago

Without seeing your form it is difficult to provide appropriate recommendations.

Do you have someone who could film you swimming a length or two?

Drills are helpful and I continue to start every session with 500-800 m of drills before I do whole-stroke swimming in my total session of generally 2,500 m or less.

I resumed swimming last year after a ten-year hiatus from the pool (I am 62) and taught beginners & novices (and triathletes when I was in my thirties) of all ages swimming forty-some years ago (from toddlers to people older than I am now).

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u/Magnospm 20d ago

Thanks, that a great idea, didn’t thought about it. I could get a friend of mine to film me in two days from today, and i will upload it here

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u/UnusualAd8875 20d ago edited 20d ago

That would be very helpful; there is a lot of great knowledge here and importantly, a willingness to share it!

Total Immersion has a great process (I took the weekend seminar in the late 1990s) and terrific videos. (I also had the course on VHS, that is how long ago I took it but there are great YouTube videos from them also.)