Swimming?
 

Is there anyone here who swims for exercise?

I'm not referring to water aerobics, but actual swimming (freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly)?

I have been swimming on and off for about 8 months now and I am wondering exactly WHEN I will be able to do more than 2 lengths of the pool without gasping for breath??

I absolutely love, Love, LOVE swimming because you feel weightless in the water, your feet, knees, hips and back do not ache, and you don't get all sweaty. Obviously I am getting a good aerobic workout because of being out of breath, but I am wondering when I can expect to get better conditioned so that I can swim several laps without dying!

i have the SAME question. My father has an inground pool and during the summer i go over and do my cardio while the kids play in the other half of the pool. I can do about the same as you and i am just exhausted. Its like 5 minutes of exercise. But yet i can go on the ellipitical at home for 30+ minutes....what is the deal? My friend was a swimmer in high school and she is heavier than me and can do lap after lap of swimming but can only do the ellipitical for about 3 minutes...just crazy really.
I am really of no help to you, just to say, i know how you feel. Right there with you sister.

Try alternating a breast stroke, side stroke, back stroke with a freestyle laps, it will give you a chance to catch your breath. You clould go to a mask and snorkle so you can breath when you want. but I prefer 1 to 1. It does take a little time but most of the swimmers I watch and swim with will alternate.

Hey Irish.. I know what you mean.. I had just finished my first marathon when I decided to jump in the pool and swim some laps... Cha! I felt like an old woman - who smokes!

For me the trick is relaxation. I last longer when I focus on relaxing and swimming slow and steady. :swim:I also rotate sets by swiming freestyle, then using a kick board, back to freestyle, breast, etc. so that I am still working but resting certain body parts...

Keep up the good work.

I'd say its one of two things if you can only swim two lengths and be out of breath. Either you are swimming too fast and need to set a comfortable pace to be able to swim further or you have a poor technique and are not breathing properly or it could be a combination of the two. Only you will know.

Kitty

OK, thanks everyone.

I DO alternate sets, but I still need about 20-30 seconds after every 2 lengths to catch my breath before I start again.

I feel like such a loser when I watch the 70+ year old men and ladies go for dozens of laps without stopping.

Ok so slow down, it is not a race! and see how that helps. AND I pesonally use my ipod in the water (all set up with waterproof headphones and case) so music will help set the pace for me rather than the person next to me.

Seriously, I am NOT going fast. I would say I am going at a leisurely pace. Breathing in the water is just DIFFERENT than breathing on an elliptical or a treadmill.

I take a breath every other stroke. My youngest daughter is a swimmer (she is the one who inspired me to begin swimming) and I watch her take a breath every 4 strokes, but I just can't last more than every other stroke.

I really don't think it's my technique or my speed; I just think it is my conditioning and I want to know how long I can plan on being out of breath?

L1445 more info on this waterproof Ipod equipment please!, where can I get it from?! I do about 60 lengths a week and it can get quite boring and I've been thinking it would be nice to have some music! I should have known it was possible !

And Irish I swim alot and I do breathe more heavily but I'm not OUT of breathe, but I swim with my head above the water so I'm constantly taking breaths. But I dont think it's anything to worry about, it's a definite sign that you're working well at least..

AGREE about the waterproof Ipod business!! Where can I get one???

When I do laps, I generally breathe every stroke or swim with my head about water, so I can breathe as I need to. Usually when I've gone without swimming for several months, I have to "start over" in terms of how fast I can swim, how many laps I can do and how many I can do without rests in between. But I count my laps, count how many I'm doing in a row, and count the breaks (counting how many seconds before I can head back). This way, I see my progress. Usually from swim to swim, I can add extra laps, or do more in a row, or rest less. By counting, I can see my progress.

The older swimmers have more endurance because they've been doing it longer. That's all. In college, I had a friend who was surprised and kind of bummed because I had more endurance swimming than she did, even though I easily weighed twice as much. She could outwalk me, but I could outswim her, but I was swimming almost every day, and sometimes even twice a day.

Go at a pace and take as many and as long a break as you need to for it to be doable and fun. The progress will come, and if you find a way to measure it, you will get to see it happening.

I bought a referb shuffle from apple, the shape has not changes in a while and I doubt it will for another little wile either, I think the new ones are under $75, but the referb was something around 40.

H2O audio sells what I think is the best set up. headphones and a case. They do make them for all kinds of ipods BUT if I lose a $40 shuffle it will hurt a lot less than my video Nano!

I will say that it is not supririor, BUT it wors fine and for me it is better than being lost in my own head for and hour! :)

Let me know what you think and shop around you may find a better price, but at the time I bought mine, it was cheeper off the home website.

I swam competitively since I was about 6 years old up until the end of high school. I think one really important thing that new swimmers overlook is technique. You might thing "swimming is swimming" but there's so many little things you can change in your stroke to make it much more effective so that you don't get as tired.

Is there somewhere that you can go for some swimming lessons dealing with technique? If you can't, at least try watching the really good swimmers at your pool for a bit. Watch how their elbows get very high and fingers go into the water at a shallow angle, very stretched out. You want to be doing as few strokes per lap as possible, making each stroke powerful propelling you forwards. Maybe you can find some videos explaining swimming technique online?

Good luck swimming! Its an awesome sport :)

You say you been swimming "on and off" for about 8 months? How consistently do you swim. Once a week? Once a month? To increase your endurance, you really have to be consistent about it. Once a week should be fine, but if you are swimming less than that, you'll probably find that it's hard to really build up your endurance.

How long do you swim at a time? If you're only swimming for 10 or 15 minutes, it's also going to be hard to build up your endurance. Try to swim for at least 30 minutes (with breaks between laps as needed) at least once a week, and you should find that your endurance increases pretty quickly.

It also sounds to me like it could be a technique problem. Are you being careful to only turn your head to the side--don't look forward and don't try to lift yourself out of the water. You also want to make sure you are breathing at the right point in your stroke (just as your elbow comes out of the water). Also, make sure you aren't trying to hold your breath. You want to be breathing out while your face is in the water and breathing in when you turn your head to the side. Breathe in, breathe out. It should be a natural rhythm and you shouldn't be holding your breath at any point.

Breathing every other stroke is fine. Unless you are swimming competitively, there's no reason to try to breathe less frequently than that. I swam competitively for years and we rarely breathed less frequently than that while practicing (breathing while racing was a different story).

Actually, it's not so crazy. Your friend might not be heavier than you in the water. Fat weighs less than water so it is buoyant; people with more body fat have an easier time floating.

My daughter has helped me with some technique. She pointed out that I was not breathing correctly and instructed me to sort of "roll" to the side to take a breath, rather than just lifting my head out. I am not sure about the timing of the breathing, though. I may have to look at that.

For a while I was swimming 3x/week and while I noticed that I was able to swim more lengths than I used to in a session, I still was not able to go more than 2 lengths without having to stop to breathe and recover.

I guess maybe I'm just worrying too much. I'll just concentrate on the fact that I'm getting aerobic exercise and not obsess anymore.

That really sounds to me like you aren't breathing properly. If you are holding your breath, that would explain why you can only go two laps before you need a rest. Concentrate on breathing out while your face is in the water; it should be as natural a rhythm as breathing during any other type of exercise. The only difference is that with swimming you breathe in through your mouth and out through your nose (with other exercise, you breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth).

Oh, I remember so well when I couldn't do more than 2 laps then collapse :lol: the trick was to finally relax, sloooooow down to a literal crawl and not to take such huge breaths every time I cam up for air...also just rolling your head and looking under your arm pit sort of when you come up for air...

When I first started swimming I took triathlon swimming lessons... I found this video of drills. The are very similar to the drills the instructor made us do.... I used to hate the 10x10 drill it's shown in the video. But it was a lot of fun ...

It does take time to get the breathing down though but once you get it, you get it, KWIM ;)

I am not holding my breath. I exhale when my face is the water and when my left arm is forward, then roll onto my right side, roll my face out of the water when my right arm is forward and take a breath. So I'm not holding my breath. My daughter (who swims competitively) has worked with me on my breathing technique and I really don't think I'm doing it improperly.

I just think it is because I am SO out of shape. But I'm going to continue to plug away. I just wanted some feedback on when I might expect to see some progress.

It could also be your training schedule. If you're not swimming at least twice a week, it may be very difficult to make, or at least see much progress. At least that is true for me.

I saw progress even if I swam only once or twice/week....

When I was younger, I could go two or even three weeks without swimming and not notice any loss in conditioning, but over the years that time frame has consistently decreased. Now, if I only go once a week, it seems that I don't get much better from workout to workout, but if I go twice a week, I can easily do more than the workout before. I've been away from it for most of the winter, so I know I will basically be starting over. My lung function has drastically improved though (asthma and allergies have virtually disappeared) since found out I'm allergic to NSAIDS and have stopped taking them), so maybe I'll see progress more quickly, because of the improved lung function.

I'm sure the maximum time between sessions is going to be very individual and reflects variables like age, general health, lung health and overall activity level. Surprisingly, though I haven't noticed that my body weight is nearly as much of a factor. Because of the weightlessness of the water, I can do a tremendously more strenuous workout than on land (Getting out of the water sometimes reveals how much of a workout, because in the water you don't feel yourself sweating).

The way you've described your breathing technique, it sounds like you aren't breathing at the right time. You don't want to actually roll to the side, you just want to turn your head to side. And, if you are turning to the right side to breathe, you should be turning your head when your right elbow is coming out of the water, not when your right arm is forward.

Ah, yep I bet that is it. When you roll, you waste alot of energy. It isn't just the breathing, the roll makes you less aerodynamic (or would that be aquadynamic). It requires more energy to swim, if you're rolling you're body to take a breath.

It's natural, even instinctive to turn your body along with your head. But when you turn only the head, you will move through the water more smoothly and easily (and quickly).

I found this website that shows the swimming strokes from the above and from under the water.

http://wellness.lattc.edu/real/strokes.html

When I'm getting tired, I notice that I tend to forget to turn only my head, or maybe it's just that the instinct to roll is stronger. Then I switch to the breast stroke.

Might be worth a try.

Hi, I'm a former competitive swimmer and I agree with those who mention technique. It's the key to swimming. If you improve it, you will find the whole thing easier and more enjoyable. I suggest a book, Total Immersion Swimming. If you follow the drills as they build on each other, I think you will find that it will ease you into a good technique and help with the breathing, especially. What your daughter says about rolling to breathe is covered by the book, in fact. I learned some things from it and I thought after 40 years of swimming there was nothing more I could do to improve!

It might also help to have someone watch you swim and give you pointers, maybe your daughter's swim coach or a connection could help here? I find that having someone work with you just a little sometimes helps you feel the changes right away, and you can cement them in your mind, instead of wondering, did I do that arm thing right or not?

As to endurance, it will come. Take it a step at a time and you will be surprised at your progress. I also find there are days when I feel just great in the water, and others where I am clunky and sluggish. This is after a lifetime of swimming, it still happens. Just focus on the fact that you are swimming and that you enjoy it, that's what I try to do on days when I wonder how I'm even moving up and down the pool!

I just love swimming. It is so different from all the impact exercises I do and has made a big difference in adding a whole body exercise to the mix. Plus I just like being in the water! Only place I feel graceful! Good luck with it!

Also, if you are breathing to the right when your right arm is forward, that's a really awkward point in your stroke to take a breath and you're going to have to work really hard to do it. I doubt that I could do more than a couple of laps like that and I'm a pretty experienced swimmer. If you breathe to the right, you want to be breathing when your left arm is forward and your right elbow is coming out of the water. That's a much more natural point for a breath and should be much easier.

Just wanted to let everyone know that Target has a waterproof MP3 player in its sale flyer this week. It is a 2G radio/MP3 player for $49.95.

I picked one up and I plan on trying it out tomorrow. I'll let you know how it works!

Yes...let us know! I have been thinking about getting one too!