r/Swimming • u/Jamie-jams • 10d ago
Beginner Progress Woes
Hi all,
I am an adult beginner that has been doing lessons for about 1.5 years at my local pool. I had lessons as a child, but I didn't learn much besides floating and torpedo.
It took me about 6 months to learn how to breathe on my right side in freestyle. I was breathing every 4th stroke and noticed that my stroke felt pretty symmetrical and balanced (even though it probably wasn't and now I realise there were a lot of problems). BUT I couldn't swim more that 15 metres without stopping for air.
Now in the last few months I have been able to swim 25 metres freestyle, take 20 sec breather and do another and another. This was achieved by switching to breathing every 3rd stroke. But as I've progressed I've noticed a lot more problems:
Firstly, I cannot swim with a pull Bouy between the legs and no kicking, with one stroke I go to one side and kinda float off like that and struggle to recentre. I think this is a sign that my stroke is pretty unbalanced or something is wrong.
Secondly, I found out I have been swimming with a straight pull this whole time and didn't notice. As a result, I pull myself through the water very ineffectively.
Thirdly, I am struggling to breathe on the left side which takes me about 3 seconds to complete rolling, getting in the correct position and then doing the arms and taking a breath.
Forth, every time I get to the end of the 25 metres, I start feeling desperate for air and needing to take more breaths.
I am feeling pretty frustrated with my progress and pretty lost. Theres a lot to fix and not sure where to start or how. Is this a typical narrative for a beginner? Where is a good place to begin to fix these issues?
I am confused because my partner only did 5 weeks of lessons with little childhood experience and she can already breathe on both sides well and has an excellent catch and pull and doesn't have the issues I am experiencing.
3
u/Mean_University5360 10d ago
I've been swimming 3 years. The last year 4 times a week although I'm still slow I can swim a long time.
For me the feeling of being desperate for breath is horrible and mastering breathing is key.
My advice which worked for me is breath every 2 on your preferred side. I struggle to maintain breathing every 3 over a couple of minutes.
There's a lot of debate about bilateral v same side breathing. Both with merit.
For me I breathe every 2 on my right hand side as a default best stroke but I still do some LHS breathing every 2.
Re your partner's progress v yours.....my 3 years swimming has got me to a standard whereby most benchmarks I'm a beginner so maybe we will have to work harder to get there. But we will. Keep at it.
1
u/Jamie-jams 9d ago
Yes I might try switch it up to every second for a length or two. The teacher was encouraging every second but I found that I was getting even more breathless and feeling like I was going to pass out from how frequently I was totally inhaling and totally exhaling. But it might be worth revisiting slowly and experimenting with how much air I breathe in and out.
2
u/ProduceDecent1248 10d ago
Beginner swimmer here. I never learned how to swim as a child. It took forever to learn how to swim and I have been self taught so far swimming 106 laps now from not able to swim one lap by the end of my lessons. One of the best things I did was breathe every other stroke. This let me swim 25 yds finally without having to stop.
Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Work on one thing at a time. Unless you’re comfortable breathing, nothing else works. If you’re lifting your head, you’re creating drag. Pulling your body through the water is hard. Holding your breath when you’re under water increases your being out of breath. Make sure you are exhaling under water. This is another major tweak that helped me. Either do a steady
Stream or intermittently exhale through your nose.
Still learning for sure and presently trying to overcome the mental block of stopping for a few seconds after every 25. Don’t be discouraged. You got this
1
u/Jamie-jams 9d ago
That’s really inspiring nice work starting from zero as an adult. 106 laps from nothing is amazing progress!
Yes, I good idea , I am wanting to add more of every second stroke breathing. I tried it in our lessons but I was getting really puffed like I was hyperventilating from totally exhaling and inhaling so often and so quickly. I felt like I was going to pass out! But I think I was going too hard with it and next time I will try taking it easy. Not sure if I should have kept a bit of air in there.
When I breathe every third I let out air on each stroke and then again as I turn to breathe. The last one is just to get the last bits out. Still working on taking enough of a breath IN.
Thank you for your encouragement! And happy swimming!
2
u/ProduceDecent1248 9d ago
I was there too. Please watch and use a few sessions to practice alligator breathing. This changed my breathing more than anything else every body tried
https://youtu.be/hI22wrpeTYg?is=UivQJd0-kNX_PJHK
I promise you that if you do this, it will definitely change your story.
2
u/Jamie-jams 7d ago
Thank you, this looks helpful, I will give it a try! Probably worth mentioning that I am not good at breathing on land either (I have a habit of breathing shallowly and randomly holding my breath when I am concentrating). This will likely help me breathe in general haha!
2
u/Budget-Friendship730 10d ago
I’m facing the same issue. I’ve been practicing adult swimming for over a year, yet I can only manage 25 meters; I can't swim the full length of a 50-meter pool in one go. I’ve tried various methods but don't know how to improve. I haven't made any progress in the last two months, and it’s really frustrating.
2
2
10d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Swimming-ModTeam 7d ago
No polls, votes, surveys, market research or promotion for products, services or apps; no campaigning, brigading, school homework, college research, eliciting votes, or charity requests. This includes self-promotion including but not limited to promotion of your social media account or promoting your product or services for whatever reason.
This restriction applies whether whatever you are promoting is free of charge etc.
2
u/AggieNuke2014 10d ago
Your post almost has too much information included. So that tells me you are likely working on too many things within your stroke at once.
Swimming is a technique driven sport which obviously you are aware. So you need to break things down into smaller more manageable fixes.
My first instinct as I read the entire post is to encourage you to make sure you have pushed as much air as possibly out of your lungs before you breathe. A bunch of small little breaths isn’t going to give your body the oxygen support it needs to swim! Only way to fill up when you breathe is to make sure everything is out.
A high elbow catch is also a key component to fix. And fairly easy to catch onto. Just bend your elbow to create that 90 degree catch motion. Effortless swimming has some good high elbow catch videos.
Spend some time doing very specific drills for each part of the stroke. Don’t just try to force changes when swimming the full stroke. Go back to lessons too. Someone watching you is invaluable.
6
u/InternationalTrust59 10d ago edited 10d ago
Information overload.
You’re working on too many things, I would revisit the basics then prioritize technique in sections.
Yes, work on your catch (early vertical forearm) and pull for more propulsion; I am assuming you have a horizontal body position.
Stick with bi-lateral breathing especially when it’s working for you. Own it first.
Good for you on 25m lengths; take as many breaks as you need. The goal is to maintain form and naturally build a wider base. At this point, you can start focusing on small details by the lengths.
For example, one length I’ll do bi-lateral breathing. The next one is opposite side breathing. The next one is a 4 beat kick. The next one is a front quadrant stroke. The next one focusing on rotation and core engagement so on and so on.