How do I find a worthwhile swim coach? What would a good coach do? I want to swim long distance/endurance.
I took lessons from my local pool, but they didn't help me with my form. $160 just for her to tell me to practice more.
I even bought Total immersion, but it hasn't helped much, it's a lot of filler.
Oh, and I'm not a total beginner. I breathe on both sides, exhale pretty good and can do flip turns. I just get totally exhausted past 5-10 consecutive laps.
Try swimming for longer
I get headaches/ exhausted muscles and I can feel my form fall apart.
How many strokes should it take for a 5'8 guy to get across a 25m pool with "endurance" form?
You need a training plan. You don't necessarily need a coach. Although your best bet would be to find a local competitive swimming club that has an open (18 and over) age team as you'd be paying to use the pool regardless, you can very easily do it yourself.
If you want to improve your endurance, the best thing to do is a short rest set. Aerobic endurance is what you're looking for. 1500m varied warmup, then go into 30x100m. Without knowing how fast you can do it I'd suggest going off 1:30 per 100m to begin with. You should be able to swim it getting about 10 seconds rest without blowing smoke out your arse in the first few. If it's too hard, increase the rest to 1:40 or even more. If it's easy, decrease it to 1:25 or less.
Do this three times a week, with two sessions for general recovery. AbAbAxx. There you go. Guaranteed you'll make noticible gains within a month, likely even less time.
Source: I currently go just over 1:55 200m bk
gimme some noob advice op.
How do I do that thing where I move my arms 3 times, breathe out on one side and do it again on the other? How do I time it right by just
moving my head? fuck do I do with my legs?
I wanna get swimmin for cardio's sake and to learn to do it better
You need something to do in the pool, not just aimlessly swim laps. Find a program or make up your own.
who is this fluid druid?
Search Google. "Distance swimming program." It's your fault the swim instructor didn't help you with form. If you pay for something then demand what you payed for or get your money back.
Could you explain what AbAbAxxx means?
Like 7 days in a week, the set I just gave you is A. Recovery set is b.
>Monday A
>Tuesday b
>Wednesday A
>etc
Weekend is x, they are your days off.
Gotcha...Thanks. that's a super awkward thing to google
No problem.
You definitely should try get your money back from that 'coach'. If you don't want to join a club (and again I recommend you do) then try find another coach who can give you a session on front crawl technique. Technique is everything in swimming. Everything.
Also keep in mind that the times I gave you are just a guide. If you can't do 1:30, or 1:45, go 2:00. Or slower. But keep the time consistent (i.e. 2:00 the entire set). You should be pushing yourself the entire time but you shouldn't be going flat out from the start, if you get what I mean. You should finish every set feeling that you just made it and you couldn't do another 100m.
>fuck do I do with my legs?
Kick
>move my arms 3 times, breathe out on one side and do it again on the other? How do I time it right by just
>moving my head?
Don't breathe out over the water shen you turn, breath out at every other time. Otherwise you won't have time to take a good breath. Count your strokes. As soon as your shoulder roll crosses halfway on 3's, turn your head and breathe in. Might have to use a kickboard to get a feel for where your mouth should be.
Interval training, do 6x100s (4 laps) on a 2:30 minute interval or something similar. Then you can add reps or reduce interval time to progressively improve. Bring a waterproof watch if your pool doesn't have a clock (most do).
But also strength training is immensely important to improving swim speed. I don't know your goals but if you want to get fast as opposed to just swimming for cardio you have to be strong.
>You definitely should try get your money back from that 'coach'.
It was offered by my gym, which I otherwise really like. the services are run pretty cut-throat businesslike though, i'm 99% sure my money is gone. The lessons were months ago anyway.
I don't wanna join a club b/c I don't think i could keep up. A thoracic spine injury kept me outta working out for 3 years, now doc says swimming is the only cardio I can do. My core/arms are real strong from PT now, but I get winded super easy.
>Technique is everything in swimming. Everything.
I know. That's why I don't wanna brute-force it and develop bad habits. I wanna find a coach to help with technique even if I gotta pay a lot. I just don't want to waste time/money with a shmuck who doesn't know good form.
>core/arms are real strong from PT now
Also legs, i do squats and lunges.
Natalie coughlin
You don't have to play a lot. $160 is about the normal price. Go to a local YMCA and look into private swim lessons. That should be the price for about 6 hours. You'll probably et a teenager who at the very least competed on their high school swim team. Tell them you can swim laps on your own, but you want them to critique your form down to the nitty gritty. Tell them to bring over their coworkers to critique you as well.
Stop reading these replies and look up Master's swim clubs in your area on usaswimming.org
Former D1 swimmer. No one can give you advice over the Internet, I promise.
No one can give someone general advice on a program to help build endurance? I guess no one can give advice on a lifting program to get stronger, or a running program to run longer either. Hear that admins? Might as well delete /fit.
Lol. Stop.
What I'm saying is that swimming is more technique dependent than lifting. I never once said that someone couldn't recommend him a training program, but that training program will be useless with piss poor technique and I can tell by the way OP is talking about swimming that he's a beginner. He'll save himself a lot of time if he takes my advice.
But he's not training to be a D1 or otherwise elite athlete, I don't think. I'm sure many people have trained for triathlons without dropping thousands of dollars on a coach. If you have the money OP than by all means go for it. But there's decent coaches for about the money you've already paid that can get you where you want to be.
>former d1 swimmer
Current d1 swimmer, you're wrong.
What I suggested might cost him $50/month. For a good coach and entire team to keep him motivated. If he's an adult that cost shouldn't be an issue.
>good swim coach
Mine usually just yelled a lot and wrote hard practices for us. They're usually bald too
Nah
This.
Also I didn't know how to swim until a few months ago and I asked one of my buddies who I knew was a good swimmer to give me a quick lesson. One hour of that, then hours in the pool every day correcting my own form and I can easily swim a mile now. When I first started, even as I got the form down, I couldn't swim 100m without stopping.
A lot of it is just self correcting your technique and a lot of it is those muscles specific to swimming that need to be developed. You really gotta be patient with it. Try to do at least 500m per day until you get the hang of it, even if you can't do it all at once.
>self correcting your technique
Please elaborate.
My gym has a Master's team, but I asked the lifeguards and they said my form wasn't good enough to keep up with the team, that I wouldn't get in. When I went to the pool during masters, they all seemed SO much better than me that they'd just constantly be passing me. I'd be little better than a pool toy blocking the lane for everyone to swim around.
>I'm sure many people have trained for triathlons without dropping thousands of dollars on a coach
But where would I find one/know they're not scamming me?