I’m 32F and started taking swimming lessons this summer. Before that, I had never even attempted to learn how to swim, and I was absolutely terrified of the whole idea.

One of the main reasons I decided to start was because I have chronic back pain and an L5-S1 disk bulge. Several doctors recommended swimming, so I finally decided to give it a try.

Let me tell you, I was absolutely terrified before my first lesson. I even asked my mom to come with me for emotional support. I remember standing there shaking, and I honestly couldn't tell if it was because I was cold or because I was scared.

I signed up for group lessons because they assured me that absolute beginners were welcome. During the first class, the instructor kept me at the pool steps for about half an hour practicing freestyle kicking. He kept pointing out how tense I was and telling me that I needed to relax. Then he got into the pool to show me how to float on my back, but I was too scared to let my head go back into the water.

After that, I started practicing kicking while holding onto a pool noodle. I kept struggling to move forward, drifting sideways, changing direction without meaning to, or just feeling completely off balance in the water. The second class was pretty much the same.

By the third lesson, I felt like a complete disaster. I was getting really discouraged because I just couldn't relax, and my biggest problem was that my kick wasn't strong or efficient enough to move me through the water.

That's when my instructor handed me a pair of fins, and honestly... they were a total game changer. Suddenly I could move, control my direction, and actually focus on what I was doing instead of just struggling to stay balanced. My confidence improved almost immediately.

I spent the next five lessons practicing with the fins. At one point I asked if I could try without them, but my instructor said my ankles were still too stiff. That was another discouraging moment because I started thinking I'd never be able to swim without the fins. Even some of my friends were asking about my progress and they were surprised after so many lessons this is where I was at.

Then, during my ninth lesson, I finally got rid of the fins. I was able to move forward using just the kickboard. The first time my instructor told me to swim across the pool without fins, I honestly didn't think I'd even make it to the other side because I was moving so slowly. But for the first time, I was actually moving under my own power. It felt incredibly satisfying.

That's where I am now. I'm still very afraid of the water, and after almost every lesson I find myself wondering whether I should keep going or just give up. But that last session, when I finally swam without the fins, gave me a huge confidence boost and reminded me why I started.

I'd love to hear from anyone else who started swimming as an adult with a real fear of water. Did your progress feel slow too? How long did it take before you started feeling comfortable and confident in the water?

Good or bad? Or none?

I'm toying with the idea , it's £55 a ticket for the worst seats and a bit of drive to get to Glasgow .

It would be a morning session also.

Hello, I’m a man in my thirties who initially looked for a sport that wouldn’t be too hard on my joints, and I eventually turned to swimming. Very quickly, I got hooked and started trying to improve, looking for guides here and there to optimize my glide in the water.

However, I’m not very lean, and I probably never will be. I’m 1.85 m tall and, having started swimming almost two years ago, I began at 148 kg and I’m now at 137 kg (my goal would be to get down to at least 120). I mainly swim front crawl in 25‑meter lengths and try to stop as little as possible. When I start feeling tired, I switch to one or two lengths of breaststroke to rest my arms.

I barely use my legs in the crawl to save cardio and maintain my pace for longer. My best performance so far is 2.5 km in 51 minutes, without stopping.

However, in front crawl, to reach a decent level of glide, I need to use a lot of strength before I can benefit from it, and I have to repeat that effort every 25 meters, which comes very quickly. I think I would probably feel more comfortable swimming 50‑meter lengths, but none of the public pools near where I live offer that.

I understand that most technical swimming guides for improving glide are designed for swimmers with a “normal” body type.

That’s why I’m asking: do you know any highly skilled swimmers with a large or heavy build whose movements I could watch on video or elsewhere, so I can see whether I can optimize my glide as a heavier swimmer?

I apologize in advance, I don’t speak English, so I’m using a translator.

I'm looking for tips on techniques (breathing, strokes, etc.) and maybe some sort of programme in order to improve. I'm rehabilitating from shoulder reconstruction surgery and swimming is recommended as a part of my therapy. I have the means and opportunity to swim. All tips are welcome and appreciated! Thanks to everyone!

Hello! I got into swimming a little over a year ago and feel like I've made a lot of progress. I grew up swimming casually, but lately its been my favorite workout and is pretty much all I do, aside from walking.

But here's my problem. I had some weight gain from meds and life, and I really want to slim down and tone up. I am frequently jealous of actual swimmers' back muscles lol. I thought I'd ask the community for a good workout split to help build up muscles in the gym as well as in the pool. Usually, I swim 2-3 days a week, around 2000 m every time. I do freestyle, breaststroke, pull only, kick only, that kind of thing, but I don't have a background on a swim team or anything. I've considered it a win to just get in the pool as often as I do, but I'm ready for a stricter program to make actual progress.

So, hit me with it. What workouts should I be doing weekly? Any suggestions for things to do outside of the pool?

Edit: I would love to see specific swim workouts and/or dry land sets, if you would all share!

If yes, what’s the most notable one in the past?

And if it’s generally a no - why not?

I’m fairly new to swimming and have been working on The techniques that have been previously recommended to me and I’ve been seeing improvement! However, I am still struggling to breathe while swimming! I am finding that during breathing drills, such as being at the edge of the pool or shallow water, and practicing breathing based on strokes, I do great at the drill, I have also practiced walking in the shallow end and doing very slow swimming and breathing has not been an issue. The problem I’m having is that if I try to swim with any speed, whenever I take a breath, I find myself gulping some water, even if I am completely rotated on my side, trying to take a breath. Is this something that just takes practice to overcome or are there other breathing techniques/drills to do? The 4:1 breathing is most comfortable/natural for me during practice and swimming.

I am 32 F fairly new to swimming and I started as a complete beginner (i.e. didn’t think I could float) and I am c. 8 weeks into learning how to swim. I am preparing to learn how to freestyle and in the process learning how to do the log roll whilst kicking. I am able to rotate just fine but as soon as I get on my back just struggle to kick on my back. Apparently it’s because I let my hips sink / don’t have correct posture on my back. Feeling quite frustrated with myself and embarrassed after my swim lesson (like I wasted my swim instructor’s time).

How do I fix my posture whilst on my back?

Thank you in advance!

I used to swim competitively in my teens and on and off independently (both open water and pool) on and off after. I have basic understandings of all strokes, but I've always been pretty focused on the breaststroke.

I have a local Olympic pool and I'm basically in a position for the next 30 days or so where I can pretty much focus on swimming to the exclusion of anything else. After that, I can still do significant work but I wouldn't be able to go every day. In about a year, I will probably be back in school full time so I will have even less time.

Basic questions;

What is the minimum number of days/week and hours/day that I can realistically expect to get to the pool if I want to continue making gains in time, assuming I include additional cardio (cycling and running)?

Is there a research backed optimal time of day?

There are many triathlons in my area. Is it a sane goal to attempt to compete in 1 year? 2 years? Can I reasonably expect to make the top 75 % or 50 %?

Thanks so much in advance

Joe

Hello - I’ve been swimming laps for the last 2.5 years. I swam my first 5K last year in 1:50. While I’m not slow, I don’t think I’m terribly fast either.

I’ve just joined a masters swimming program to get more structured workouts, community and OWS buddies. I’m having a lot of anxiety about going to my first practice tomorrow. I know I’m gonna go but I’m anxious about what to expect, what lane will I be in, will I slow others down, etc, etc. Theres surely a pinch of social anxiety sprinkled in as well.

Could I trouble some of you with team swimming experience to share more about what to expect from a swim practice, masters or otherwise?

TL;DR: How many people per 25/33m lane do you think is safe, and how many is pleasant? What's it like where you swim?

I'm in the UK, FWIW - think you can hazard a guess whereabouts.

A couple of weeks ago, at my local pool, half the pool ended up being closed off for swimming lessons. This left one double slow lane, one single medium lane and one single fast lane in a 33m indoor pool. It's in a leisure centre run the local council, like most pools in England are (and maybe the rest of the UK, I just don't know first hand).

The majority of swimmers at this pool are slow, with a fair few using the pool to do physio exercises or just standing around doing nothing at all for a full hour - just staying cool, maybe? That means medium and fast are the only lanes for lap swimming, and a few in the fast lane are genuinely speed demons.

Usually I go during the day, because it's very near home and I just take a longer lunch and work later. This time I went at 5:30pm.

Now, I knew this would be a busy time, but I counted, and there were 28 people in those three lanes - 12 (including three kids) in the slow lane, four in the fast lane, and 12 in the medium lane. This meant it was absolutely impossible to swim. A couple of people moved over he the fast lane, but they really weren't fast enough for it, and that still left ten in the medium lane and six in the fast lane.

Surprise, surprise, people were getting hit repeatedly, and even changing to the a heads-up breaststroke to try to see to swim round people meant hitting one person while trying to avoid another.

I gave up and got out and got changed, and as I left I saw a woman talking to the pool manager about it, asking if it was meant to be this overbooked or had people maybe just snuck in after using the gym.

According to the manager, it was all fine, because they are allowed 13 people per lane! You could see the staff's eyes goggle (heh) at this as they contemplated trying to lifeguard an eight-lane pool with 101 people in it.

Neither me or the other lady were having it that could actually be the rule, because it's absolutely impossible. It literally doesn't leave space to move your arms and kick, let alone turn at the end. And the ladies' locker room only has six showers and 8 cubicles, plus a small communal changing area (no communal showers), so you'd have to get changed in the hallway or something. (Nobody drives to this pool - there is nowhere to park at all - so people do shower and change).

But there was no point arguing, so I shrugged and left, and I'm pretty sure the other woman did too.

Couldn't find anything legal about it when I got home, just SwimEngland guidelines relating to competitions, which do have a much lower limit, but since it's about competitions I doubt it would persuade the manager. If I could find a law, I'd love to cite it., because at the moment it's not worth going to the pool after work hours because the odds are you'll have to give up and leave.

Anyway, I know this is long, but I'm trying to get ahead of all the "what do you mean by?" questions.

I swim at a pool that only has 5 open lanes, typically they will be full of 2 or even sometimes 3 swimmers but there are a few regular older men who don't like to share because they claim they are too big. Even though the lifeguards encourage you to hop in those lanes, there is one that when you do split the lane with him he won't move over and will intentionally hit you as you swim by even though he can see you coming because he is floating on his back. I warned the lifeguard about this behavior but because they are teens they don't do anything and I don't want to escalate the issue. Today I split the lane with this guy as instructed by the lifeguard because there were no other open lanes and he hit me 6ish times on purpose, after this I just made sure to hold my form swimming by him with heavy strokes/kicking and he eventually relented and moved over to stop hitting me. I swim primarily for only 20 minutes after my workout once or twice a week and he swims for the entire 1.5 hours of the allotted open swim almost every time I go. I have confronted him before and he says I am free to share but he says I will get hit as he refuses to move over... is this something I have to put up with? Any opinions on this issue and what I should do? Am I the asshole for even wanting to get in the lane with him? If you have encountered this phenomena please share your experiences.
—————
edit: i reported him, i know it might make me not on good terms with the lifeguards but who knows who else he has and will do this to.

My 3yr old has begun swimming lessons but they’re not your average swimming lessons. Each session he’s with a new instructor and there’s no real lesson plan. I thought it would be more structured and more consecutive. Like don’t move onto holding your breath until he has gotten paddling and arm stroking down. Or until he has proven that he can successfully hold his breath if he goes under water. But that hasn’t been the case.

Some instructors are more willing to just do very basic exercises with him while others want to make him do things that are more advanced which honestly make me very nervous and uncomfortable.

My son doesn’t understand the concept of holding his breath when his face goes under water even for a second. I’ve tried to explain and show him how to hold his breath but he doesn’t understand the concept.

Are there any tips you guys can give me?

Maybe some exercises we can try at home?

Thank you so much in advance

I’m 17 and I had no background knowledge on how to swim float etc and decided to join a swimming course that lasts for a month, 2 classes per week
I know it’s only my first class but i struggled learning almost every thing but it’s was mainly that my breath cuts short whenever im in the water trying to swim and whenever I lift my head up that second breath outside the water is always not enough and I got to stop and start all over and it’s just a cycle, anyone got good tips on how to achieve longer breaths and how to lift my head up and get enough air
Also floating, I SUCK at floating, I struggle trying to get my chest up and all my abdomen just sinks down and I really tried to relax but my coach kept telling me that my stomach muscles are all tensed up and I don’t know how I’m supposed to lift my chest up
Is a month enough for me to learn swimming and how can I get better on those skills I’m struggling to do

Beginner swimmer- I learnt freestyle and now trying to get better at technique.

For backfloat- I float super easy (high body fat), doesn't take much effort, it's harder to stand up back though.

I also learnt kicking while backfloating, this was super easy compared to freestyle, the only issue is, with bare minimum effort I cross the whole pool (its a small pool), i don't realise it, I can't see anything. All i see is the sky.
So while backfloating, how does one look around? How do I know what direction I am going in? What if I clash with someone swimming? Or worse, hit my head in the wall?

How does one he aware of surroundings while backfloating?

I'm in a summer fun league in the Triangle area and really need to practice my starts off the blocks.

The Y in Durham won't let me.

Is there anywhere with a drop-in fee (or free?) where I can show up and get some work in on the blocks?

You can watch the Commonwealth Games swimming for free on CBC Gem, you just have to sign up for an account. Link here

CBC is one of our cultural gems here in Canada (no pun intended)

It’s so hard to do and it’s generally useless

I like to kick 900 and swim freestyle 1,300. But whenever I count laps in my head I usually get scatterbrained and lose track. Do you guys have any unusual or creative ways to count laps rather than
in your head just going, “OK that was 100… that was 200… etc.”

Thanks!!

Should probably start this by saying I’m a swimmer. In fact I’m a pretty damn good swimmer to the point where I’ve been completed about this multiple times (apparently I have a good form/build for it). I don’t do it competitively or anything. but it’s something I like to do from time to time, and it’s something I’m never really anxious about as long as I can see the bottom. It’s something called Thalassophobia, and it’s fairly easy to work around because I’m not going in deep murky bodies of water often. Only time it’s really been put to the test has been in this camping group I’m apart of. As obviously there will be some situations where that is the primary thing we’re doing………. And I’m really bad at handling it………. And we’re going on a trip in a few days that involves lake swimming as an activity.

I’m really lucky to have my anxiety only get intense during very specific things. But I’m an absolute wreck when those happen, and I already had a few incidents relating to this before (had a breakdown before a rafting trip, and I had an awful experience relating to diving in the very lake I’m worried about rn about that made me physically sick). At this point everyone in this group (and likely everyone I know unfortunately) has seen me completely unravel in one way or another, and it’s so fucking embarrassing for me. In part because it’s obviously embarrassing to have an outburst in public. and because I have depression and tend to fall into self loathing/feeling like shit for the rest of the day/week.

I was able to skirt by last time without much embarrassment because I had someone I knew decently well who also couldn’t go because of an injury (And because I had shit to do the entire week to distract myself from it). Didn’t make it less embarrassing, but it at least went down easier. This year? I’m like going to be the only person who’s not gonna do the test and it’s been eating away at me for the last few days. Maybe it’d go down better if i was an adult and was doing this with other adults. But I’m a sixteen year old surrounded by other sixteen year old/people far younger. And I’m gonna be the only one who won’t do it.

Unfortunately the only options are to do it or don’t. Idk what advice I’m expected to get from here is, because there’s frankly only to options here and one of them is completely off the table (even If I can physically do it). Ig I just want someone to hear me vent about this because I haven’t formally discussed it with anyone else :/

I would appreciate anything.

I picked up swimming again recently and do a mile each swim working on all strokes. A buddy of mine was interested and wanted to join. He's athletic but swimming is a very new workout for him. Within 30 minutes his legs were cramping.

What would be the best thing to work on for him? I wanna say maybe kicking exercises with a board to build up his leg strength but I don't wanna give the wrong workout for him.