I’m relatively new to swimming, and I’ve only done lap swimming 10-12 times now.
At first I was having difficultly because my legs were getting very tired . I did LOTS of laps just kicking with a paddle-board, and now I can swim without any specific muscles getting too tired. HOWEVER, my lungs clearly aren’t keeping up with my arms/legs/shoulders. I can only do two laps without gasping for air.
I’ve tried swimming slower, breather every two strokes, breathing every three strokes, but I can’t seem to find a way to go for longer than two laps. I’d like to do a triathlon in three weeks, but it requires a 500yard swim. I don’t care how slow I am, but I just want to do the distance. So far all my laps have been relatively fast because I feel uncomfortable slowing down .
Please let me know what I can do to get my lungs stronger so I can swim for longer distances.
If you’re running regularly, it’s probably not so much a lung strength issue as a technique issue. Don’t know exactly what your problem is without video, but a couple general thoughts:
In distance freestyle, about 10-15% of your propulsion comes from your legs. So to maximize effort/reward, think about keeping your kick fairly light and compact- good level body position and using your arm muscles right are what get you across the pool quickly and efficiently.
If you have to kick hard in order to keep your hips up in the water, you’ve got some screwy body position issues. The Total Immersion program has a lot of flaws when it comes to propulsion, but is actually quite good in terms of getting your body position more or less where it should be.
You need to work on that slowing down issue. It’s a sign that you’ve got some stroke issues going on if you can’t swim slow/low effort.
Are you gently exhaling when your face is in the water? If you’re trying to both exhale and inhale when your face is in the water, you’re frequently going to Have Issues with not breathing right because you’re trying to do so quick enough that it’s only shallow breaths.
I’m in the same boat. I’m not a swimmer at all. I just started last week, and I’ve been 4 times in the last 6 days, and it seems to be getting better. I’ve had pretty good success using a pull buoy. For me at least, it is helpful to see how it feels to be getting all of your propulsion from your arms. After swimming a few lengths with a pull buoy, I swim regularly, but try to use my legs as little as possible. I’ve also tried using a kick board for 100m, then swimming regularly, so that my legs are too tired to contribute much to the stroke. My $0.02
If your answer to this is “swim more” you are either an unhelpful idiot or an unhelpful moron.
You have a technique problem, more specifically a breathing problem. Start your exhale underwater (yeah it feels damn weird, just get used to it) and exhale as fully as possible. You want to get as much stale air (CO2) out of your lungs as possible, breathe every two for now until you get it (if you worry about being bilateral, just look to one side of the pool so you end up switching breathing sides every length). Try to relax as much as you can, you will reach a “freak out” point, but try to stay relaxed, know you can stop and stand anytime if you have to. If you can push past 300 yards, it will suddenly click.
Since you know how long it is taking you to get across the pool you are obviously not relaxing, screw that, don’t time crap except your breathing in your head for now. Make your strokes long and try to glide a bit. Don’t worry about little technique things until you can breathe. (One can be horribly inefficient and swim long distances as long as you breath somewhat properly…trust me, I know)
Swim more. Don’t worry about distance per session as much as days per week in the water. More time in the water=better feel for the water=more efficiency.
Technique is the best way to firstly get faster in the water and secondly expend less energy. That should be your number one focus!
You are going to have to slow down in order to meet your goal. If you are really swimming 1:28/100 yards (which is fast for swimming), then you are burning a lot of O2. You say you aren’t a natural swimmer, so to swim that fast, you are going to always be out of breath. I can swim that fast for 25 yard repeats in masters swim training sessions. It hurts like hell, and I am always left breathing as hard as I would be for full out wind sprints.
You are going to have to learn better body position and how to swim slower if you want to swim distance. Do you run your 10ks at your sprint pace? Probably not. Well you are trying to swim 500m at a 25yd sprint pace. That strategy won’t work for many people.
Once you have swam for a couple of years and have become an accomplished swimmer, 1:28/100s might be your speed. Right now, since you are new to swimming, it probably is not. I’ve been working on this swim thing for 2 years now quite regularly and my Olympic goal pace this season is 2:15/100. I can swim 2:45s all day long. I can swim 1:45/100, but I feel like my lungs will explode after a few minutes of that.
You are just swimming way beyond your natural abilities at this point. Your only hope for this upcoming triathlon is to take rest breaks, hold onto the wall after every other lap (if it’s a pool swim) or just learn to swim slower. Practice floating… learn to just float… then try swimming at what feels like too slow a pace. Practice swimming and rotating to breathe with the minimum amount of kicking possible. You can get this down pat in the time you have.
It is not at all unhelpful to suggest you swim more. Getting comfortable in the water is a big part of breathing properly and the only way to get comfortable in the water is to swim more. Swimming is a little different to running and cycling in terms of breathing because the timing of your breathing is largely dictated by your stroke. You cannot just breath whenever you like and however you like. This will start to feel less strange to you as swim more and being in the water starts to feel more natural to you. So, my suggestion to you is to swim more and to relax and enjoy your swimming.
Drop into one of the many fitness or coached classes available at almost every pool there is. Have someone with experience and knowledge help you rather than reading on a forum and than trying to emulate on your own. A coach (or a willing fellow swimmer) will get you huge improvements in a much faster time than just winging it on your own. It is pretty hard to correct/ improve something if you don’t know exactly what the problem is.
I’ve been a runner for 20 years. Hopped into the pool last June for the first time in my life looking to become a good enough swimmer to complete a Tri. My first swim I made it 3 laps, did a couple more sidestroke, and proceeded to go home feeling like I just ran 5 x 1200 Intervals on the track. I was completely gutted.
Fast forward to now I’m swimming about 10K yds / week. I just did 3300 yards today and am now fast enough to be quite competitive in a tri. Still dead slow compared to a good swimmer which I will probably never fix.
Swim more
Watch every youtube video you can
Listen to anyone that will watch you swim
Total Immersion did help me with body position
I like Swim Smooth as well
I’ve watched the Phelps “multi angle” youtube video 1000 times
It is not at all unhelpful to suggest you swim more. Getting comfortable in the water is a big part of breathing properly and the only way to get comfortable in the water is to swim more. Swimming is a little different to running and cycling in terms of breathing because the timing of your breathing is largely dictated by your stroke. You cannot just breath whenever you like and however you like. This will start to feel less strange to you as swim more and being in the water starts to feel more natural to you. So, my suggestion to you is to swim more and to relax and enjoy your swimming.
So if someone were a great cyclist but ran ran with a ball gag in their mouth, would you tell them to just run more and get comfortable with it because with time and learning how to breath around it, it will all get better? No, you would tell them to get the ball gag out of their mouth…and maybe ask them why they owned a ball gag. When someone who can run and cycle with any proficiency can’t swim because they are out of breath it is because they are doing it wrong and practicing it wrong over and over doesn’t really solve the problem. I had this same problem and heard “just swim more and you will get in swimming shape”. Bullshit, it didn’t take more laps (I tried that…got up to 300 suffocating yards), it took learning how to breathe properly. Yes, you have to be comfortable and relax, but if you are not getting oxygen, you simply can not relax.
You are afraid of the water deep down and as a result you are kicking way too much, the nervous kicks.
Those leg muscles use up a lot of oxygen, that’s why you are out of breath on 50 yards.
Come to Towson, MD and I’ll have you fixed up in two weeks easy. Unfortunately not many people know how to help you though. People who have been coaching for a long time don’t have experience with adult onset swimmers.
Check out conquerfear.com, it’s the most readily available thing that is the closest to what you need.
You are afraid of the water deep down and as a result you are kicking way too much, the nervous kicks.
Those leg muscles use up a lot of oxygen, that’s why you are out of breath on 50 yards.
Come to Towson, MD and I’ll have you fixed up in two weeks easy. Unfortunately not many people know how to help you though. People who have been coaching for a long time don’t have experience with adult onset swimmers.
Check out conquerfear.com, it’s the most readily available thing that is the closest to what you need.
The mind is a powerfull thing and while it can make you do amazing things it can also hold you back for no apparent reason.It is a shame that this part of coaching newbie swimmer/biker/runners is almost totally overlooked here on ST when people start trying to pick apart people training faults.I think you are only the third person I’ve seen allude to it during the five years I’ve been poking around here.
It is also one reason that online,cookie cutter training programs can be worthless to some.
I went swimming again today, and I was able to slow down a bit . It did help to forget the clock and the amount of laps I was doing.
I do have a more specific question: do you exhale the whole time your underwater, or just right before you come up for more air?
For example, lets say I’m breathing every three strokes. Right now I’m doing this:
stroke with right hand
stroke with left hand
stroke with right hand
stroke with left hand
stroke with right hand
stroke with left hand
Should I be exhaling the whole time I am underwater instead? How import is it to exhale as much of the oxygen as I can? Do I exhale with my nose or with my mouth?