This question goes to actual swim coaches out there. Does anyone know if there are some free resources for coach-wannabees to study? I'm looking for proper material on how to build swim programs, periodization, scientific facts behind all that etc. I'm just a lowly amateur assistant coach, but I would get much more motivation if I would understand things better.

I've done sets for my groups, but mostly I just copy stuff from other coaches (and they probably copied them from other coaches). But it seems to be really difficult to find actual facts on things like "why and when to do 10x100". Our headcoach tends to fill the board with gazillion of different drills and odd sets, and I just sometimes wonder is it all really necessary...

It seems that there's no Reddit groups for coaches, which I think is surprising. It'd be nice to see if there are others struggling with the same problems, same odd or difficult athletes etc.

Folks:

I am trying to get into better shape, but not to try to race (not masters). IMy schedule currently has me do two lap swims each week (tue and thur) for about 1 1/4 hour with variety of back/crawl/and breast in 25 yard pool. I also do two times per week (monday and wednesday) weight training in the gym (both upper and lower body).

I wonder if this is enough? I really cannot afford to add another weight training session per week. Due to my schedule. It would be difficult to add another swimi or weight training per week.

In a crunch, I could try to add either another swim session or another weight session, but not both.

I am getting some flak from some of my own peers to try to add a third weight session per week.

I do imaging for sakes of my trimming up and increasing my enduance, it may be more prudent to try to add another swim session and forgo the third weight training. I am not interested to try to bulk out my muscles.

Thank you.

Mark

I was wondering if these stats seem normal. The calories and heart rate seem a bit high (I maxed 205 bpm).

I just got a Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 as a gift and have never used fitness watches before. This was a bit of a slower, shorter set (I usually do 3000m). Anyone have any experience using Samsung Health to verify this information is accurate?

What is everyone’s best time for backstroke? This is my main stroke and I’m just curious.

Looking to find a daktronics omnisport 2000e anyone have any ideas where to find one?

Hi!

Does anyone prefer the leaderback or Medalist or muscleback style of Speedo womans one piece bathers? If so, why?

Thank you!

I coach at a pool with very slippery sheer-metal walls, within a league that follows NFHS rules. We regularly have swimmers slip during backstroke starts, and NFHS rules prohibit using backstroke ledges. Theoretically touchpads would solve this issue since they have more traction, but they are also insanely expensive, and we don't actually need the electronic timing capability. Are there any affordable products out there that could provide extra traction without violating the no-ledge rule? I've tried flextape but it doesn't stick nearly as well as in the ads lol...
Also I read that there was an NFHS rule proposal a while ago which would allow swimmers to curl their toes over the edge - what became of that?

Edit: ideally it should be removable since I don't think the facility would approve permanent changes to the pool. Something in the vein of touchpads (just cheaper) would be perfect .

just switched from swim to water polo. my coach makes us do crazy long distant sets in mid/fast intervals to build our endurance. whenever i find myself getting tired in the middle of the pool i start having negative thoughts such as “oh you can’t do this” or “why can’t you go faster you little shit,” which makes my performance worse, obviously. it’s hard for me to mentally hype myself up—i guess have low-self esteem? i know if i pushed myself harder i’d be able to make those swim sets. do ya’ll have any tricks to distract yourself from how tired you’re getting/keep pushing towards the end? i’m in junior year of high school btw. thanks :)

Tomoro I have my first ever competition I will do 50 and 100 meters back any tips or advice?

Hey girls,

Something im struggling with and looking to get some advice on. How do you get a smooth bikini line? I feel like I am always pulling down my bathing suit to try to cover mine but I see some girls with smooth flawless ones. Any tips?

I learned that my form is still mediocre at best, breathing is hard, and a little bit of swim feels like ages. Did about a 45 minute freestyle “workout” with breaks every length and felt challenged.

I’m curious now how to track improvement outside of someone watching me saying “you did better!”

Is form/breathing technique something you have to just do often in order to get the hang of it? Do I risk forming bad habits without oversight..? I fear the answer is yes to both but I really want to try and work independently. Any advice would help!

Can someone experienced explain the freestyle hand entry. I’ve noticed a few swimming videos on social media where the swimmers hand enters index finger/thumb area first … all this time I’ve been entering in a spear like motion where my middle finger enters first( it’s the longest, im not flipping off the water).

Any description or links to good resources would be great

I (30f) went to a rec centre pool I hadn’t been to yet & there was a guy there who tried to strike up a flirty conversation with me. I wasn’t interested, so I just politely said ‘hi’ and went about my way.

I didn’t see him for a while, then he was sitting on a bench near the pool where I was practicing breathing. He was on his phone and it looked like it was pointed at me, but it was in such a way that it was plausible he might be on a video call given the position it was in and the fact he was talking.

Again, I went about my business figuring there was nothing to worry about, but then when I was done swimming and walking around the toddler pool and other one to get to the hot tub, he was standing in the toddler pool on a call. When he saw me, he promptly ended the call and came over to me, asking “can you…” and gestured to his phone where he had his folder for socials open. I said “no thanks” and kept walking. He said “no, no—not you, just for me” and gestured back to the pool, so I looked at what he was doing thinking he might be asking me to take a photo/video for him as he was opening Snapchat. Once it was open, the camera was facing him, but instead of flipping it and handing me the phone to do a photo/video of him, he leaned toward me so I was in the shot and reached for the circle to click the photo. I immediately moved out of frame & told him no. He tried to insist it was okay because it was for him but I said no as I kept walking away and he left me alone.

TLDR; a man was trying to take a selfie with himself and me at the pool despite me saying no and, in hindsight of other interactions, I’m not sure if he took more while I wasn’t looking. It’s on Snapchat, so it’s not saved for proof had I reported it (I know I should’ve, I was just taken by surprise, tired and hungry, so I left).

I don’t even know what I’m looking for with this post, I guess maybe some stories if this has happened to you and what you did about it? If you reported, what was the response you got, how did it play out?

I’m an xc and track distance runner so I have some background with endurance but I’ve never really done swimming before. I got interested in triathlon so that’s why I’m looking into swimming. Would it be similar to running in that a lot of it is low intensity but for long periods of time (like around an hour of lower effort swimming)? If it is very different than could I get some tips? Thanks

Hi! I’m very new to swimming- I got told it would be good for my joint pain and a good exercise all round. I’m autistic and love the water but I HATE the feeling of it going up my nose and down my throat. Today whilst doing some laps I saw a bunch of swim club swimmers using some king boards? (Not sure if that’s why they’re called- they were just foam pads to hold) and they all had goggles on, so basically I’m just asking if I should buy some goggles, kick board and something for my nose? I’m not very fast or very confident yet but I’m wanting to improve without straining my neck to keep my nose above water Thank you for reading :)

I swim a 31 second free for a 50, what can we estimate my 100 time will be considering muscles becoming tired as I progress

Just wanted to document it somewhere that I swam a sub 3 minute 200 yd free with back pain so open turns only 🎉🎉

-almost 39 yo female

I'm a pretty new swimmer (started 2 months ago, had a little over 20 sessions). I started training freestyle and backstroke mainly because they were easier to grasp for a newbie like me, recently started to get my head around breastroke by trying having a friend describe my technique, watch a bunch of videos about it and try stuff in the pool until it clicks.

Now I wanna start learning butterfly but I am feeling completely lost. Nothing makes sense; I can't find a rythm, I can't connect my kicks to my pull... Hell I can barely take 1 breath per attempt. Theoretically I know what I should be doing but when it comes to practice I feel overwhelmed and unable to progress.

I am looking for advice to help me understand the butterfly stroke and any help would be appreciated!

1. I can't breathe during freestyle from my left side, only from my right.

I've tried doing drills where you swim the entire length of the pool freestyle only with one arm and it works fine with the right one but I can never breathe from the left side properly and continue swimming. This is the major hurdle preventing me from 3rd-stroke freestyle.

2. My coach says my arms are still a bit stiff even though I've been swimming for 2 months.(He says it's because I used to workout in the gym)

I need help on what stretches to do to keep them more relaxed and make them move freely because the ones I do apparently aren't enough.

3. Also, my arms don't completely reach my waist during freestyle (can't extend them completely to the back before taking 'em out of the water); instead they come out of the water for the pull somewhere in between. Help me???

Thanking y'all in anticipation.

Best Regards, From Me

So I get really bad goggle eyes every time I swim. And they don’t go away. Like even if I swim first thing in the morning I’ll still have goggle marks that night and it looks like I have horrible bags under my eyes.

Does anyone have anything that helps? I tried Aqua Sphere goggles because I saw them recommended somewhere but if anything my goggle eyes are worse than ever 👀

I've been swimming for ~10 years but just started really digging into form in the past year or so. (a few pregnancies before that when working on form was just.... not a priority)

I think I've finally figured out how the high elbow catch works. Seeing my times drop to 1:50/100y and setting my sights on the elusive 1:40/100y. I've got some thoughts watching the video, but would love to hear from the excellent folks here on what you think I should be prioritizing with my technique work right now.

Many thanks!

https://youtu.be/psC5wqFxCJg

Good evening, everyone.

Lately, my throat has been drying out a lot while I swim freestyle and breathe through my mouth. It gets so dry that I can't catch my breath, and I often have to stop to drink water or keep swallowing to relieve it. Has this happened to anyone else?

Thank you in advance.

I've only been swimming about 5 years now starting from having never swam before. Did my first ever lap in a pool after the age of 40. In that time I've dropped my pace from around 2:10 per 100 yards to around 1:30. The problem is I dropped into the mid to low 30s about 3 years ago and have made little to no progress since.

I swim 2 times a week with a group that is around the same pace; slightly faster (them, not me). They are complacent it seems with that pace but I'm not.

I go under 5hrs for a 70.3 IM with a bike under 2:30 and a run under 1:30 half marathon. I'm only giving those times for contexts to say the fitness is there for faster swim times.

I can compete with the fastest athletes on the bike and run but I get out of the water way behind.

Watching you tube videos for technic is fine and all but not helpful if I cant execute the form or if I cant see that I'm not actually doing what I think I am.

Coaching in my area has been a big fail as every coach I've tried either just gives me interval plan to follow, which I already have from my tri coach or they are use to teaching children and adults that are beginner swimmers. So I get no real feed back on my form and I don't make any improvement.

I thought about paying for something like My SwimPro app but Im afraid its just going to be another interval swim plan with short videos that i can already find online about form thats not specific to targeting the things Im doing wrong.

Im not sure what feedback Im expecting to get but Im hoping someone can give me some advice on what I can try.

Thanks

So just like the title says I've been going in crooked off my dives. For context I'm a college club swimmer and masters swimmer, with over a decade of competitive swimming under my belt. I never used to go in crooked, but at my past few meets I've noticed that I go in bent. This is incredibly frustrating and I don't know why I'm bent. If anyone has any advice I would appreciate it.

Hi all, finally moved to a condominium with easy access to a pool and have been hooked ever since.

Previously tried many types of sports and exercise and running, but couldn’t care for it.

For people who have started swimming, could you please share what are the more noticeable changes to yourself?

Anyone pool swimming with the apple watch 8 notice it not tracking lengths consistently? Does anyone have a reason why this happens or a fix?? Thanks a million

Breathing in Freestyle

Hi Everybody- I am a newbie swimmer who is trying to learn freestyle. I am in my 30s and have tried multiple times in my life to learn swimming but couldn’t. Lately I came to know about Total Immersion swimming from this sub-Reddit and enrolled in self learning classes. However I am still struggling with breathing.

Problem Statement When I am turning sideways to take a breath, I am not able to bring up my head above water so to take a breath comfortably.

I start with both hands in front (superman) and then stroke one hand to thigh and start turning from shoulder while kicking. However my head doesn’t clear the water cleanly for me to breathe.

I understand that head should be aligned to spine and not be lifted so as to take breath. One eye should come out and head should look sideways and not back.

However as hard as I try, this is not happening for me and I have to lift my head backwards if I need to breathe. I still don’t clear water level and I simply gasp for air which trigger survival instinct and screws up my balance. I also exhale before I start breathing.

Possible causes

1. Timing

could it be that timing of my rotation from core and shoulder is the issue. Should core/ shoulder/ hips turn first and then head? Am I under rotating or over rotating? How to correctly rotate?

2. Lead hand position

my lead hand (non stroking) is deep inside water as Terry says for superman/ VW bumper position. However Chat GPT says that lead hand should be just below water. Which one should I follow?

3. Kicking

in TI, Terry doesn’t advise learners to kick. However in demo videos he can be seen kicking when rotating during breathing rehearsal videos. So I am confused whether to kick or not. I know that too much kicking is wasteful as it doesn’t propel you, but when I try to body roll, I inadvertently start kicking (trying to unlearn muscle memory of kicking), and I kick more than Terry’s 3 beat kick. Could it be that my body roll and kicking is not in sync?

My overall fitness is decent but VO2 is on the lower side. However I am not ready to believe that low VO2 is the reason for my breathing troubles.