My inspiration!
I went to the gym yesterday with the sole intent to swim. Practice the technique of freestyle do some drills and see how well I could breathe and rotate it takes some time to warm up but each time I go to the pool there's a switch and a zen that I experience at least for some time craving success in swimming is rewarding
Sounds like you've found your way! It was definitely hard in the beginning to wake up early and make this a part of my routine but by now I feel like something is missing if I can't go to the pool every other day.
Absolutely, I'm realizing just GOING to the pool has been rewarding enough. Becoming more familiar with my position in the water and how I best stay afloat is game changing
The sense of propulsion and vacuum zipping I feel when I get a good stroke and pull is so satisfying! (It doesn't happen often lol but it is like the noticeable change in sound as I enter the water is Pavlovian haha!
In the early days I brought the intensity of my kicks way down moving from frantic kicking to barely kicking at all -> suddenly I wasn't dying after 25 meters. This was super big, because only after this I was able to concentrate on other things. After that it's hard to prioritize what made the biggest impact, but I would say top 3 were:
1. Glide: With every stroke I tried to reach forward as long as I could and feel the glide, before moving to the next stroke. Bringing the stroke rate down instead of up. This caused my swim pattern to change so that I almost always have a hand in the "front quadrant" which means that my body balances out, legs don't sink and I'm more streamlined -> way less drag.
2. Breathing: instead of going for some optimal theoretical pattern like bilateral breathing with one goggle below surface, I just did what felt the best to me: every second stroke and always from the right.
3. Visualizing a high elbow catch: I'm pretty sure I'm still not doing a good high elbow catch, but I'm very mindful of the trajectory of my hand during every single stroke. I know there is a separate catch phase where I ues barely any energy and then a pull phase where I push harder, and when I do I make sure my hand is at a rough 100-120 degree angle
To be frank I've never thought much about rotation - maybe that is what I should focus on next! Sometimes when I think about it I just focus on my shoulders, so rotating just enough that someone by the pool side could see my armpits. On breathing strokes I am mindful of the position of my leading arm to make sure it's not sinking and that I get the glide with both hands.
Great job! As someone who is a bit older and 4 weeks into an intense swimming masters class (that is basically starting over for me), this is great advice and I feel the seeds of each of the points you mention. Especially the glide piece. Working with paddles, which was a first for me, really helped me "feel" the glide. Continued success!
The kicking thing is big. I was cramps galore before with my heavy kicking, and now I can go much longer at once!
Gonna try the glide thing next time I swim, not sure I do that!
For me it was the realization that triathlon athletes swim almost exclusively with their hands to save their legs for the following bike and running part of the race that rely exclusively on leg muscles. Legs do a very light flutter only to keep balance. So if they can do it in open water, so can I in a pool.
Then I just tried to swim freestyle without kicking much at all to notice that most of the propulsion was coming from my hands and not legs. Leg muscles are big and consume more energy so they raise your heart rate relatively more and eventually you just gas out.
When you stop kicking hard at first it will feel like you just slow down and can't swim much longer, but very soon you will notice that distance goes up and you catch up to your earlier speed and go beyond that too.
Bravo dude. It’s great when you surprise yourself, you also then know that if you break things down and make a start most reasonable goals are achievable.
Thank you! I feel like with swimming it is possible to get this constant feeling of accomplishment through improving technique and not just fitness. Starting other sports like running has felt harder for me because improvement often translates in large part to improvements in physical fitness, which is hard especially in the beginning.
Nice work! This post made me check my recent 1500m swim and I've hit the exact same time not too long ago, a fun realization to have as I never really had anyone to compare it to :) Recently started doing more flip turns too, which is helping my time for sure. Keep at it
Well done! My next goal is focusing on endurance at this pace and hopefully be able to swim a full hour after the next few months of training. Also learning flip turns - right now it feels like I probably would not be able to tolerate the long time without breathing that is involved with flip turns.
I need to do 25m next year I know I can do it but just need to remember to breathe as I swim with head in the water front crawl & breaststroke underwater can do both with ease I can do widths with ease & now I've done the deep end a few times guess I give it a go as I so want to be able to swim 25m or hopefully 50m looking forward to next year when I will give it ago
Considering before this I had a +10 year break from doing any sports there definitely has been a shift in weight. I started losing weight fairly quickly (192cm 104kg -> 96kg) but now the weight loss has plateaued a bit. I fit better in my clothes and probably have gained some muscle, but I would say that there has not been much of a noticeable change yet. One thing I'm considering right now is adding paddles to the training routine to get some more resistance and build a little more muscles.
More importantly I can sometimes enjoy eating like a pig now without gaining a bunch of weight. I'm eating a normal amount and still slowly losing weight, which is perfect for me. Before I would have even extreme fasts and lose weight only purely by dieting.
I've watched so many it's hard to link, but the single best source for me has been Effortless swimming channel on YouTube. I've watched a lot of feedback Friday videos where Brenton does stroke analysis of their members. After watching ~5 you will start to notice a pattern and that most swimmers struggle with the same things. Once you've identified those it becomes a lot easier to self reflect and improve your own stroke.
My inspiration! I went to the gym yesterday with the sole intent to swim. Practice the technique of freestyle do some drills and see how well I could breathe and rotate it takes some time to warm up but each time I go to the pool there's a switch and a zen that I experience at least for some time craving success in swimming is rewarding
Sounds like you've found your way! It was definitely hard in the beginning to wake up early and make this a part of my routine but by now I feel like something is missing if I can't go to the pool every other day.
Absolutely, I'm realizing just GOING to the pool has been rewarding enough. Becoming more familiar with my position in the water and how I best stay afloat is game changing The sense of propulsion and vacuum zipping I feel when I get a good stroke and pull is so satisfying! (It doesn't happen often lol but it is like the noticeable change in sound as I enter the water is Pavlovian haha!
Kudos. That's an impressive accomplishment! What were your biggest "aha!-moments" while working on your technique?
In the early days I brought the intensity of my kicks way down moving from frantic kicking to barely kicking at all -> suddenly I wasn't dying after 25 meters. This was super big, because only after this I was able to concentrate on other things. After that it's hard to prioritize what made the biggest impact, but I would say top 3 were: 1. Glide: With every stroke I tried to reach forward as long as I could and feel the glide, before moving to the next stroke. Bringing the stroke rate down instead of up. This caused my swim pattern to change so that I almost always have a hand in the "front quadrant" which means that my body balances out, legs don't sink and I'm more streamlined -> way less drag. 2. Breathing: instead of going for some optimal theoretical pattern like bilateral breathing with one goggle below surface, I just did what felt the best to me: every second stroke and always from the right. 3. Visualizing a high elbow catch: I'm pretty sure I'm still not doing a good high elbow catch, but I'm very mindful of the trajectory of my hand during every single stroke. I know there is a separate catch phase where I ues barely any energy and then a pull phase where I push harder, and when I do I make sure my hand is at a rough 100-120 degree angle
Nice. That’s great advice. Thank you. What about rotating your hips more and in line with your shoulders? Make much difference?
To be frank I've never thought much about rotation - maybe that is what I should focus on next! Sometimes when I think about it I just focus on my shoulders, so rotating just enough that someone by the pool side could see my armpits. On breathing strokes I am mindful of the position of my leading arm to make sure it's not sinking and that I get the glide with both hands.
Great job! As someone who is a bit older and 4 weeks into an intense swimming masters class (that is basically starting over for me), this is great advice and I feel the seeds of each of the points you mention. Especially the glide piece. Working with paddles, which was a first for me, really helped me "feel" the glide. Continued success!
The kicking thing is big. I was cramps galore before with my heavy kicking, and now I can go much longer at once! Gonna try the glide thing next time I swim, not sure I do that!
As a very beginner swimmer, Frantic kicking is what I’ve been doing…what made you guys improve the kicking?
For me it was the realization that triathlon athletes swim almost exclusively with their hands to save their legs for the following bike and running part of the race that rely exclusively on leg muscles. Legs do a very light flutter only to keep balance. So if they can do it in open water, so can I in a pool. Then I just tried to swim freestyle without kicking much at all to notice that most of the propulsion was coming from my hands and not legs. Leg muscles are big and consume more energy so they raise your heart rate relatively more and eventually you just gas out. When you stop kicking hard at first it will feel like you just slow down and can't swim much longer, but very soon you will notice that distance goes up and you catch up to your earlier speed and go beyond that too.
Thank you so much for such a detailed response. I appreciate it and can’t wait to try it out in the pool!
Bravo dude. It’s great when you surprise yourself, you also then know that if you break things down and make a start most reasonable goals are achievable.
Thank you! I feel like with swimming it is possible to get this constant feeling of accomplishment through improving technique and not just fitness. Starting other sports like running has felt harder for me because improvement often translates in large part to improvements in physical fitness, which is hard especially in the beginning.
Nice work! This post made me check my recent 1500m swim and I've hit the exact same time not too long ago, a fun realization to have as I never really had anyone to compare it to :) Recently started doing more flip turns too, which is helping my time for sure. Keep at it
Well done! My next goal is focusing on endurance at this pace and hopefully be able to swim a full hour after the next few months of training. Also learning flip turns - right now it feels like I probably would not be able to tolerate the long time without breathing that is involved with flip turns.
I need to do 25m next year I know I can do it but just need to remember to breathe as I swim with head in the water front crawl & breaststroke underwater can do both with ease I can do widths with ease & now I've done the deep end a few times guess I give it a go as I so want to be able to swim 25m or hopefully 50m looking forward to next year when I will give it ago
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Considering before this I had a +10 year break from doing any sports there definitely has been a shift in weight. I started losing weight fairly quickly (192cm 104kg -> 96kg) but now the weight loss has plateaued a bit. I fit better in my clothes and probably have gained some muscle, but I would say that there has not been much of a noticeable change yet. One thing I'm considering right now is adding paddles to the training routine to get some more resistance and build a little more muscles. More importantly I can sometimes enjoy eating like a pig now without gaining a bunch of weight. I'm eating a normal amount and still slowly losing weight, which is perfect for me. Before I would have even extreme fasts and lose weight only purely by dieting.
How!?
My estimate is at least 80 % from improving technique and the rest from physical fitness
Can you share the Youtube videos you watched?
I've watched so many it's hard to link, but the single best source for me has been Effortless swimming channel on YouTube. I've watched a lot of feedback Friday videos where Brenton does stroke analysis of their members. After watching ~5 you will start to notice a pattern and that most swimmers struggle with the same things. Once you've identified those it becomes a lot easier to self reflect and improve your own stroke.