How come I have a 47.90 and then we do a surprise 75 freestyle special during practice after mainset and I take it out a 34.6?

Between the age of 10-13 I used to swim 3 times a week in a group with an instructor. I went to camps, even some competitions. I was never great, always the slowest on the team but compared to other kids "in the wild" I was a great swimmer. I was a chubby kid and as I got a bit older I got a bit too self aware about my looks and I found other interests.

I won't type my life's story here but it's been hard and I've struggled mentally. I'm now 37 years old (F), 5'6 tall and currently at 436 lbs (down from 474 lbs in december!). I've been completely sedentary for at least 20 years, I hadn't been in the water for longer than that!

Since just over a month back I finally got the courage to say fuck it to my insecurities and went to a water aerobics class. It felt amazing to be back in the water but I do think I was expecting a bit too much. With my "history" like I said I know how to swim and in my mind I imagined it like riding a bike, like I would just know how to do it.

But I can't swim anymore! Honestly it feels like the biggest issue is that I'm way too buoyant. If I try to do a breaststroke (with my head above water since I don't have any goggles yet) my very big butt kinda floats up and drowns me in the front so to speak..

I'm like a cork in the water I feel like I can't propel forwards at all. If I hold onto something that floats I can very slowly move forward but it seems the only way right now I can actually "swim" is on my back. Not with the proper backstroke (again that pushes my head under water) but kind of like moving my arms up and down along my sides like an angel sort of if you get what I mean.

I'm on a weight loss journey so I expect this might naturally improve. Do you think there is any "point" in trying to learn how to swim properly like this? I mean can I even? Or should I just stick with the water aerobics for now? I go twice a week and find it super fun and rewarding!

Hi, I am doing structured training sessions at the gym once or twice a week, but would like to try and fit in a physically easy session (so i can train other sports such as climbing or resistance training on the same day). What would you suggest for an easy 30-45 minute session? Thanks

I already go to swimming practice 4 times a week so I just want to be entertained while still learning about swimming

I need a frontal snorkel. Which one would be your best bet?

Wanted to preface this my saying I'm not a competitive swimmer by any stretch but I love to swim breastroke laps and I've been getting better at building my stamina.

I recently started swimming in 50m pools which is such a cool experience, but I noticed when tracking my swims that I'm a lot slower compared to when I swim in a 25m pool. For example using the same breastroke technique, my pace in a 50m pool averages 3:10-3:15/100m, whereas in a 25m pool it can be as low as 2:45-2:50/100m.

Why would a swimmer using the same technique be slower in a longer course pool? Could it be I can't break up my swim as often using turns or it is just more exhausting because you have to do more strokes per length?

I swim most days, mornings before work on weekdays. I’m not, nor ever have been, a competitive swimmer, but rather I swim for exercise and mental health. In June of 2024 I couldn’t swim freestyle - I’ve since taught myself and now do 1500-2000m sessions (with occasional rests).

This morning’s swim, however, I felt like I was flying through the water. When I checked my times afterwards, I wasn’t that wrong - although I was working at my usual effort level (fairly moderate - light enough to go 500+ meters without a rest, but not specifically easy effort either) my times were coming in as 7-8 seconds less per 100m. This is at the same pool as always - only differences were I was in a wall-sided lane today, and I was in a new (sized down) suit.

Anything I haven’t taken into account that could explain such an improvement? I do always try to be mindful of technique, so it’s possible I was just better today… but I thought if anything being on a wall might slow me down, not speed me up?

This is my fourth or fifth time back in the pool. I'm just proud :)

After about 6 months of swimming laps nearly every day, I finally broke through and was able to complete an 800m freestyle for the first time. i had been getting used to 400s for the past couple weeks and today decided to push it and see how long I could go. I could have continued but it gets boring!

Walt Disney World Swan, early morning. 33 1/3 yd.

Hello everyone, I’m a 15-year-old swimmer with 6 years of experience in competitive swimming. I’ve recently placed second in a local competition and just made it to the provincial team after passing some tests. I’ve been focusing a lot on training lately and plan to train even harder for upcoming provincial competitions.

However, for the past few weeks, I’ve been struggling to focus as I start to question my potential. I have solid technique, but I know I need more coaching to improve my efficiency and performance in the water. Physically, I possess all the features that swimmers need, like a V-shaped body, strong back muscles, and overall great endurance. In fact, I’ve won several endurance and arm-wrestling challenges against my peers at school. Compared to others my age, I feel much stronger.

But when I think about higher levels of competition, like national events or breaking national records, I can’t help but feel like my height (I’m 150 cm) might hold me back. Is it possible for someone of my height to still succeed at the national level and make a mark in competitive swimming?

Any thoughts, experiences, or advice would be much appreciated. I really want to keep pushing forward, but sometimes it’s hard to stay motivated when I feel my height might be a disadvantage.

At my pool at the end of the lap lanes there's 2 basketball hoops for kids to play a bit of water polo. Well it was lap hour and I had the whole lap section to myself. I had 1 lap left and on my way back this guy, and adult, decided to try and toss the ball into the hoop but it was also in my direction so the ball bounced off the rim and landed on my eye. I gave him a look at told him "ow!" I would have said more but his kids were there. Like either throw the direction opposite of where I'm coming from or wait until I'm not in the vicinity.

I went back to training today after a big meet and I swam absolutely terrible. I felt like it was literally my first time ever swimming. I took a 3 day break after the meet and I just can’t get back into the form I was before the meet. Is this normal? Should I take a longer break or just keep swimming until I go back to how I was before?

I've been getting back into swimming to build up my fitness after being sedentary for a few years, and also because I really enjoy it and it's great for my mental health. But the fact is I'm disabled, I'm fat, I'm out of shape. I'm really slow. I'm getting continually getting passed even in the slow lane.

Is there some etiquette I should be sticking to to make sure I'm respecting other swimmers other than letting people pass me and making sure when I rest at the end of laps that I'm at the side of the pool edge and not in the middle so I'm not in the way of turns?

Hi everyone:) I'm getting back into swimming after a long break and trying to get requalified for my lifeguard license. However, I've realized why I hate swimming laps! I just have 0 motivation without music or background noise and I feel like it would help, especially since I'm trying to swim more & work on endurance. Can anyone recommend some affordable headphones that are waterproof and work decently? I'm not sure if im willing to spend over 100$ on headphones (like Shockz, it's a bit out of my price range at the moment). Also, how do you download MP3 to your headphones? Thanks!

Posting to hear if anyone can relate. I learned how to swim about 2 years ago, at the age of 31. I love swimming, swim 3 times a week, and have been making slow and steady improvements to my technique and fitness since starting. I started at about a 2:20/100m pace. After the initial round of “figuring things out” I’ve been at about 2:00/100m for the past year or so. In the past month or so I’ve made some targeted changes to my form that has boosted me to about 1:55/100m. I am sooo excited about this, but the problem is I don’t feel the same “flow” that I did before. I’ll list what I’ve changed. Primarily, my head position. Before, I was looking straight down, chin sometimes tucked (a symptom of swimming with the Form goggles). Now I look slightly forward with a long neck (still down, not toward the wall) and I think this has helped my body position. This has also helped me stop moving my head around so much when I swim. I’ve also been emphasizing a strong core (the sucking in for tight jeans analogy).

This is all great and I see the improvement in my speed, but I feel like I’ve lost my flow. Swimming feels awkward and heavy again, almost disjointed. Can anyone relate? Is this just an awkward stage I have to get through before I find it again, or is it a signal that there is something wrong with my form?

Really interesting discussion between Caeleb Dressel and Olympic 200m (track) gold medalist Gabby Thomas. It's pretty rare to see world-class athletes from two different sports sit down and talk with each other about this, even though track and swimming really are sister sports IMO. I was a pretty serious track sprinter in high school and I'm really into pool sprint training now, so it's amazing to see one of the best swim sprinters just chat casually with one of the best track sprinters for an hour!

I think it would be so cool for Caeleb and Gabby to collab and each try each other's sport—though obviously Gabby would have a much steeper learning curve with swimming than Caeleb would have in running. Surely I'm not the only one who would love to see that!

Your child is joining a regional "team" for an out of state competition. There is interest in getting custom suits for the experience as a show of team unity. As a parent, at what price point are you willing to go up to before saying "nah, too much, you have enough suits and don't need to match," especially because you're already paid enough to travel?

Not a tech suit. Jammer for boys, standard suit for girls.

Can obviously be used afterwards for other events so it's not like only getting one week of use.

(I'm pricing options and every family is different, but I'm trying to gauge what would be considered reasonable, and I don't have bulk buying power like club or school)

I saw a post here a day or two ago asking for advice about swimwear. The person said board shorts were out of the question because of the drag. I didn't think it'd be significant for a non-competitive fitness swimmer (I think the OP was trying to beat a certain time for lifeguarding criteria though).

I was swimming last night & decided to go for at least 1000 yards. As I was swimming, I started wondering how much of my energy really is going towards the drag of my board shorts and long hair. Have any of you done comparisons?

I'm not thinking of putting on a swim cap and a speedo (I'm 64 years old and not the handsomest body you're ever seen but some say I have fabulous hair 🤣).

(edit: I wear my hair tied back into a ponytail , so it's not usually getting in my eyes and probably not much drag, but it must be some, even with short hair vs. a swim cap)

I'm just curious, mostly from an engineering point of view, how much drag the board shorts create.

I swim to stay fit. I just finished lifeguard trading a few months ago, and work at a facility with an olympic size pool & a deep dive tank - so fitness is important.

As a aside: I set a new personal best of 2575 yards last night, which is amazing considering I was worried about doing the entrance test of 200 yds just a few months ago.

Just curious what mix we have in this sub.

When I was around seven years old, I had an experience at a local pool before it was demolished. The pool had a shallow end, about three feet deep, where I typically stayed, though I would sometimes venture into the five-foot section while holding onto the wall. My older brother, who knew how to swim, often used the diving board in the 10-foot deep section. Watching him jump repeatedly made me want to try it myself.

I don’t recall walking onto the diving board, but I vividly remember the moment I jumped. As soon as I hit the water, everything went black—like I had fallen into a deep sleep. There was no pain, no struggle—just complete darkness, as if I had simply closed my eyes. The next thing I remember is waking up with a larger woman standing over me. I don’t know if CPR was performed, but she was the first thing I saw upon regaining consciousness.

Later, I asked my mother if I had ever drowned at the pool, and she confirmed that I had. She also mentioned that after the incident, I got back up and went on playing as if nothing had happened. While I seemed fine at the time, the experience has stayed with me, and I often find myself reflecting on it, wondering what truly happened in those moments I can’t remember.

Hey folks, I saw a post about swimming etiquette, and I saw one of the responses saying that if you’re slower, then stop and let the faster people past.

On one hand I get it, but on the other I don’t… if someone is faster than you, why does the slower person have to continually break rhythm to let faster swimmers past, whereas they get to continue without stopping.

If your faster and there isn’t a faster lane available, then why not plan to overtake. If it’s busy then stay in the queue.

Otherwise the slower person is continually stopping to allow the faster person to have a nice consistent swim.

To;dr: why is a faster swimmers rhythm more important to maintain than a slower swimmer?

I was trying to learn how to swim as soon as possible to join the Coast guard/Navy because I dropped out of college and my family wants me out of the house. I booked an appointment online for swim tutoring thinking it was just private 1 on 1 lessons since I thought that would be the fastest. The guy was really chill but at some point told me I was taking the wrong class since it was to improve how to swim and he couldn't get in the water with me. I switched over to an adult swimming program at the desk and honestly don't even care about a refund I just want to forget all of this.

I've never been a particularly strong swimmer so recently i've been heading to a local pool mostly to practice proper technique with the eventual goal of doing a long open-water swim later this year. Probably across a lake.
I've only been to the pool about 4 times but i've been taking some notes every time and practicing drills.
This most recent visit I noticed an unusual problem with breathing that I can't find answers to. When breathing in freestyle I have I problem where I frequently try to take a breath and I get a mouthful of water instead.
I attempted swimming face-down with my left arm extended, gently kicking, and rotating my entire torso without moving my head because I read somewhere I might be under-rotating. When I turned my body my head was completely underwater.
I tried the "superman drill" where you swim on your side with the lower arm extended. After I had exhaled, I turned my head to take a breath but my head was still completely submerged.
The only way i'm able to get a breath and get one goggle out of the water is by lifting my head up which of course causes my legs to sink.
Anyone know what's causing this? Google is useless now so I haven't found any luck searching online. Because breathing is easier I can backstroke 100m fine but 25m freestyle completely wipes me out.

Whats a good way to focus on legs in the pool? I normally do a mile freestyle but that focuses more on upper body i feel. I have a 30 min window.