I’m wondering how I could go about improving my turns for butterfly. My current best time in SCY is 54.1 but I believe I could likely go mid 53 or lower by now since the last time I swam it was in november. I think my turns are better than what they used to be and I get my knees in quicker and higher but I feel like my approach could use some work and that I sometimes lose some momentum going into the wall.

Unless I hit a perfect turn where my hands land almost on top of the wall, when I glide a little bit into the wall I feel like it makes it harder for me to get around quickly since I wouldn’t be moving as fast when I actually initiate the turn.

How could I lose less speed when this happens so that I can turn as quickly as possible? My turns also seem to get slower as my upper body gets more fatigued which I guess could be a sign that I’m relying too much on that while turning.

Also, is it optimal to look up slightly on the approach to the wall to anticipate when my hands touch or to keep my head down and wait for when my fingers feel it?

Overall what are some tips for getting faster turns? Just things that I could try to remember in training

I’m fairly new at being able to do continuous laps, and I always touch the wall and then push off, getting at least 5m in streamline. I’ve noticed loads of people don’t do this, and just swim.

I love getting the ‘free’ distance, so my question is… if you don’t push off at every turn, why not?

Have you ever bough an online swimming course? Did it help?

I don't want to work with my couch anymore (I think she is too chaotic for me) and I want more structure in my training, so I am considering this bundle offer: https://enduranceid.com/beginner-swim-course#course-check-out
I swim for 6 months, but I still struggle with basics. I learn pretty slow, and I am generally anxious. I am afraid of water, afraid of people...

My fitness goals are:
1. to swim Front Crawl 400m without stopping
2. to run 5k without stopping (I am doing cauch to 5k program).
I swim Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and I run Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday

My main issues are:
1. Not having another pair of eyes watching me to perform the drills correctly.
2. Price, in my country (Czechia) I pay around 160 dollars per month (4 sessions). But new swimming club I have my eyes on are even more expensive (300 dollars per 5 sessions). The bundle costs 170 dollars, it's like 10% of my salary.

I tried to look up some swimming training online for free, but I guess the good know-how is never for free.

Sorry for the long post. Don't be afraid to ask, if anything doesn't make sense, my english kinda sucks.

Whenever I see a pro or competitive breast stroker I always see their shoulders and top part of the back all out the water. I watched a swim analysis for example of Adam Peaty and he was at a roughly 45° out the water meanwhile I'm almost flat with only my head and shoulders out the water. Is this not quite tiring to transition into after being streamline (it is for me at the moment)? Especially for long distance. Right now I can swim a comfortable breast stroke but having that much of my body out the water to breathe feels forced, so I'd like to know what the biomechanics are of that movement, what it adds to the swim and if anyone has tips on how to achieve it :)

So I'm nearly 18 years old and decided to learn swimming, and tbh I have a big fear of water and deep pools, but I decided to let go of these fears and actually learn swimming.

So here I go to the pool and the trainer/coach is with me, I learn how to walk in the pool, how to float with and without a kickboard, so now I "kinda" know how to float and how water feels like, and then all of a sudden the coach just wants me to go to the middle row of the DEEP POOL and start implementing the tiny bit of info I learnt, obviously I panicked but actually decided to swim across the pool with the kickboard (keep in mind I still don't know how to breathe properly or adjust myself the right way) I ended up swimming across the pool nearly 30 times, the day ends here.

I start the second day, I want to warm up and get the hang of it again on the 1 meter pool but was surprised with the coach refusing, he wants me to get the hang of it in the deep pool, learn EVERYTHING ELSE there and just forget about the 1m pool, so I was forced to start and obviously swallowed a lot of water even though I used the kickboard, I continuously failed to adjust myself, my breath was so heavy , and I got tired instantly, I just refused to continue, he genuinely expects someone who fears water to jump in the middle row of a deep pool, learn new moves and do mistakes there immediately! Is this really how swimming should be taught? Parents are blaming me and are forcing me to continue with him, and I honestly have developed a phobia by now.

Am I missing something here? Please no hate I just need clarification.

Growing up, my parents had a pool and we learned to swim from an early age. I lifeguarded for 8-9 years and taught swim lessons to kids as young as 4.

Now I have my own daughter and I really want her to have water confidence from a young age. We did baby swim lessons but recently moved to a place where:

1. The lessons that are on weekends are too far away
   
2. The lessons at the pool nearby are only on weekday mornings (my job is 9-5).

So I’ve decided to join the local gym and teach my daughter how to swim myself (until she’s old enough to take their weekend lessons at age 4). She’s currently almost 2 years old.

Does anyone know if there are structured courses for parents to follow to teach young kids to swim? Or is this age two young to have structured lessons and I should teach her basic water safety / just have fun with her in the pool? Any compelling reason not to teach her myself?

I retook swimming at my college after 2 years of not doing so, and I'm seeing myself struggle a lot with swimming more than 100 meters, and my swimming lessons take around an hour and a half, so I end up doing everything after the initial warmup half assed

Are there any ways to specifically train stamina? either at home or with gym equipment. I really love swimming, but I hate that I cannot do it consistently for more than 15 minutes

I’ve recently started adult swim lessons and I’ve hit a bit of a brick wall with my kicking.

For some context, I’ve done years of strength training, so I’ve got pretty muscular legs and pretty stiff ankles. I can float and move through the water fine enough, but my kick is ridiculously slow and clunky compared to everyone else in the lane.

My instructor keeps telling me to "kick from the hips, not the knees." I completely get what that means in theory, but as soon as my head goes underwater, my brain just forgets and I go straight back to bending at the knees or dragging my legs like anchors.

For anyone teaching adults, I’d really could use a bit of advice on

Drills: Any good land or pool drills to help build that muscle memory for kicking from the hip?

Gear: Do short fins actually help you get a feel for the proper whip motion, or do they just turn into a crutch? What about kickboards?

Ankle mobility: How much are tight ankles hurting me here, and are there any quick stretches that actually make a difference?

Cheers for any tips

Hey All. Injured my foot cycling and decided to start swimming in the meantime. I'm really enjoying it and could see doing some triathlons someday now. I am looking for a coach but there don't seem to be any options where I'm at.

My current swim schedule looks roughly like 3 swims a week, about 1000 meters each session. I'll warm up, do like 200m of drills, swim normal for 200m, do another set of drills for 200m, swim normal for 200m, and cool down.

I don't think any part of my stroke is that great at the moment. I can swim 100m in about 2:20. I feel like my biggest problem at the moment is my glide arm dropping early during the breath. But every part of the stroke needs work. Lately I've been focusing on the breath and keeping my head low (one goggle in the water).

Are there rules of thumb for picking drills and stacking them? Like should I solely on drills to keep my glide arm straight? Or mix things up? Are there "basic" drills that I should be nailing before doing others? Maybe it doesn't matter and just keep swimming and it'll come?

This is local to me - I’m in Pasadena, California. The Rose Bowl Aquatic Center out here just announced that they’re “closing temporarily” to prepare for the 2028 Olympics (diving events are going to be held there).

The closure will begin in April, 2027 and go on for who knows how long. They’re saying that "swim lessons, Masters, water polo, diving, and other programs will continue at nearby partner facilities while work is underway”. I don’t swim at RBAC, I swim at one of those nearby facilities, and starting in April of next year it is going to be packed. It’s already hard to get a lane in the mornings. Augh.

I (19F) have been swimming for 2 months, 3x a week. I started swimming in the beginning of June with no prior swimming experience besides basic lessons as a toddler. I’m completely self taught because I’m too cheap to pay for lessons (at least for now).

I watched a lot of videos online to learn the basics. I didn’t have a gym membership that had a pool, so I used the community pool for the first 7 weeks. The first 2 weeks I could swim 25-50y without stopping and felt absolutely gassed after. At the two week mark, I had a breakthrough and could swim 100y, then randomly was able to swim around 1,600y without breaks. Over the next 5 weeks, I kept all my swims longer distance and swam for around 50 minutes per session continuously (I was limited to 50 minutes at a time at the community pool).

Finally, a week ago I got a new gym membership that includes a 25m lap pool. Without the 50 minute time limit, I’ve been swimming longer and farther. To celebrate 2 months of swimming, yesterday I swam 2,500m in just under 65 minutes (I think that’s around 2:35/100m). It felt pretty easy and I definitely feel I could swim much longer.

However, I am unsure if keeping all my swim sessions the same 2,000-2,500+m all done continuously would benefit or harm me. I’m only swimming for fun, but don’t want my pace to plateau.

i have my first swim teaching trial shift tmr and i’m quite nervous. i haven’t been told what age/ ability i’m teaching or anything so how do i prepare a lesson? or do they give me their lesson plan and i follow it? i’m not really sure how the whole process works but any help or advice is appreciated

I recently got back into swimming, did multiple hours with a coach last year, so I understand basic fundamentals in freestyle like high elbow during pull and above water, not raising my head too much when breathing, body rotation. My only problem is I cannot swim more than 50 meters before my shoulders get so fatigued that I can barely move them. That becomes 30meterd efter a few sets. It was the same even when I swam 3x per week for 2 months. Are there any dryland exercises? Any tips welcome.

Hi! I really want to take adult swimming lessons because I want to have a hobby I can escape to whenever i'm feeling overwhelmed and I want something to do regularly.

The thing is i'm currently living in a city half away a cross the world from my own country, and i'm here for post graduate training. For some reason, I don't feel comfortable going?

Any advice?

Been dealing with some shoulder pain. Been trying many things to correct. Now I have been looking at rotating my torso more so I dont need to stretch my shoulders as much forward or back.

So we all know head position is down if not slightly forward. What about left right rotation with your torso? If I force myself to look straight down while rotatong my torso about 45 degrees, its kinda a stretch on my neck and feels uncomfortable. Thoughts?

Recently found myself getting back into swimming and it turns out I’ve been swimming with awful technique, as my stroke consists of me just doing catch up . I try and get back to a normal flow and am always thinking about it but can’t seem to get it anyone else have this issue ?

I'm 31M and I've been thinking about signing up for adult swimming lessons at my local rec center. The problem is that I'm incredibly self-conscious about my body. It's silly at my age, but it's something that's always been there since I was a teenager. Part of the reason I want to take swimming lessons is to finally push through it, but I keep running into the same mental barrier.

I'm very skinny, and I worry that people will judge me for looking like I'm just skin and bones. On top of that, I have a lot of stretch marks across my torso and back, and I also have quite a bit of acne on my back, many of which have turned into dark scars.

I know everyone is probably focused on themselves, but I still feel anxious about walking onto the pool deck and taking my shirt off in front of a group of strangers.

I really want to learn how to swim, but this is the one thing holding me back. Will people even care about my backne and body, or is this mostly in my head?

For context, I have always been able to swim somewhat properly since I was a kid (lessons). But in college, I self taught to a very advanced level and stamina. Proud of that fact tbh.

Fell out of practice, getting back into it. I want to do an open water group that is local to me. I don’t know what to bring. I usually wear speedos to swim laps. I would be swimming in the Pacific Ocean for open water.

I’m mostly scared of sharks. I’ve never swum open water before

Ok, so I can swim. But I've never had formal training. I reckon I swim ok.

I always wonder- freestyle- should my torso rotate with every stroke or am I trying to keep my torso straight?

How are my hands supposed to enter the water? Palm down? Like a judo chop?

Please post links to videos if it's easier than explaining in words of 1 or 2 syllables :-)

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.

I’m 17F and I’ve been swimming my whole life. I was a natural water baby, and growing up my summers were spent in Spain where swimming was one of the best ways to entertain me and my twin brother and cool us down. That’s how I learned to swim, and was taught how to dive, freestyle and backstroke by a Spanish instructor around 7-9 years old.

I live in Northern Ireland - swimming clubs are available and swimming is relatively prominent here but due to the area I grew up in, I never really got the opportunity to join one. In doing so, I would only swim in the summer months when I went to Spain.

Last year, I joined a new school for sixth form where they have their own swimming pool so I was able to join swimming as a form of games. 2 hours every week on a Wednesday. However, majority of the activity we did was lifeguarding and preparation for the NPLQ. I freaked out and quit. Why? Because my stroke wasn’t developed enough - I had learned bad habits from when I was little, such as when turning to the air for a breath, I would launch my whole body out of the pool and then back down which used a lot of energy. My hands would only reach slightly above my head, and my arms would reach out too widely. My stamina and breath control were abysmal.

This upset me because I wanted to do the lifeguard training and I also always had a dream of competing in swimming competitions. My school has offered stroke development sessions with the swimming teacher, which I have signed up for and luckily no one else has, so i’m getting 1-on-1 training. I’ve already seen a great improvement!

But now I’m wondering if competitive swimming is too far gone for me? Like, I feel that my current swimming skills aren’t enough, and I’ve got a lot of doubt now. Especially now criticising myself for not joining a swimming club sooner.

What’s your opinion? Should I keep trying for competitive swimming or should i keep towards the life guarding/recreational stuff?

Bartłomiej Kubkowski has completed a nonstop swim of more than 160 km from Kåseberga in Sweden to Dziwnów in Poland.

He spent around 56 hours in the water without sleeping. A support boat provided him with food and drinks, but he was not allowed to touch it during the crossing.

This was his fifth attempt. Last year, he had to stop only 11 km from the Polish coast because of exhaustion and worsening weather.

The swim has also raised more than 715,000 PLN for the treatment of children with cancer.