I’m really struggling swimming. I can only swim 50-100 meters free style and I’m out of breath. I can swim without stopping but can only do freestyle for about that distance before having to change my stroke. Am I just being impatient I have swimmed in the past but never great. Really trying to get the swim down since I’m planning to do a half next year. Any help would be great.
Something you may not be aware of is the importance of exhalation. Of course there is probably some component of fitness involved in your fatigue, but holding on to your breath will slow down any swimmer over distance. As a bit of encouragement my dad is in his 70’s and he jumps in a swims a 1000 non-stop 3-4x a week. He just recently started swimming again after a 30 year layoff…you can do it! The reason he can do this is b/c he has fantastic rhythmic breathing just like he is walking down the sidewalk.
Post…A…Video
You are going to get a million and one responses and who knows if the response(s) you follow are the best ones since they are a shot in the dark right now.
Along with video describe age, current workouts, history of swimming as in club or university level, have you completed a sprint, oly tri yet, location to see if masters workouts are available?
Jumping right into the half? (I did against advice)
couple of things.
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you aren’t breathing.
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you aren’t relaxed.
for 1) make sure you are doing all your exhalation underwater, that way you have more time to breathe in while your face is out of the water. out through your nose, in through your mouth. you may want to do some face down kicking with a kickboard to get used to the roll.
- realize you aren’t going to sink. you want to work on eliminating tension in your muscles wherever they aren’t contributing to actual propulsion or stability.
Based on your description of where you are at, I would highly recommend getting some swimming lessons. You don’t need a “coach”, but a “teacher”. Sometimes they are the same person, sometimes not.
There’s technique and there’s fitness, and it sounds like you’re lacking in both at the moment. You’ll need to work at both of them concurrently in order to improve. Don’t stress too much about the fitness part just yet - I was a college swimmer and what you’ve described is exactly how I felt getting back in the pool after years of non-swimming!
If I were you I’d be patient and keep at it for a while. Once you can get through maybe 200 without feeling like you’re about to die, then maybe there’s a coach at your gym that you can work with a little bit. Posting a video here is great for fine-tuning, but it sounds like there’s more going on with you right now that needing a little advice about your form. Good luck!
Wherever you swim, hire a coach for a few lessons to help you master the breathing portion of your stroke. This is a very common problem that can be easily rectified with better technique.
Two simple things to check: 1) How much are you kicking? It consumes a ton of fuel while contributing little by way of propulsion. Aggressive kicking will spike your heart rate very quickly, making you feel breathless. Dial back on the legs as much as possible. 2) How frequently do you breathe? I usually suggest every two strokes, sometimes every three for those who swim at higher tempos. Breathing less frequently than that means you’re spending energy and not replacing it. Air is fuel. Get plenty of it. A good coach should be able to help you turn that around in very short order (1 or 2 lessons). Too much kicking with too little breathing nearly always factors into what you are describing.
I’m really struggling swimming. I can only swim 50-100 meters free style and I’m out of breath. I can swim without stopping but can only do freestyle for about that distance before having to change my stroke. Am I just being impatient I have swimmed in the past but never great. Really trying to get the swim down since I’m planning to do a half next year. Any help would be great.
I’ll second everything else that the others have said, but will add my own pearl of wisdom
If you can’t get much past 50 m straight through when doing free style, then stop trying to get past 50 m in one go.
swim 50 m, stop & get yourself together again, swim another 50 m, stop & recover, repeat, repeat, repeat.
one day quite soon, you’ll just decide to turn at 50 m and suddenly you’ll be at 100 m.
repeat the process at 100 m,and suddenly one day, you’ll turn at 100 m and get to 150 m
relax, breath, don’t kick to much, get a swim teacher to help.
baby step then little steps then slightly longer steps
Everybody has given some good advice. Some other things that might be eating your lunch, energy-wise:
- Kicking from the knee instead of the hip…make sure your leg is relatively straight. Kicking with a pronounced bend in the knee adds a ton of drag
- Head and body position…if you’re legs are low, then you will have a ton of drag to overcome. Kicking from the hips and a head position that is pretty much the same as when you are standing should help get you into a more neutral position
- Slow down your stroke…focus on extending your arm as far as possible and then starting your catch
And…get a video of yourself underwater, post it to youtube, and then ask your question again.
Spot