This is How You Get Better at Swimming

This is How You Get Better at Swimming

#1: Find a Pool

There are several things that you can do to get better at swimming and thankfully for you all of them are very easy the very first thing that you need to do in order to get better at swimming is to just swim so that means you need to find a pool that you can swim at and that you enjoy swimming at and a good swim swimsuit and cap and goggles. I would 100% recommend getting a cap & goggles because I hate getting water in my ears and you will 100% get water in your ears if you don’t wear a cap. I also hate getting chlorine in my eyes and goggles are just so much better and your hair is just gonna be so much healthier with a cap on it’s still gonna get wet, but a lot less wet than if you weren’t wearing a cap.

#2: Just Swim

After just finding a pool that you’re good with swimming and you need to just go and you need to go for the first time because I know the very first time you’re gonna go swimming is gonna probably be the most difficult because you’re the least comfortable with it after that first time you’ve swam you’re gonna be so much more comfortable going and it’s not gonna be as scary. It’s still gonna be scary probably for a little bit until you get more comfortable with it but once you’ve gotten that first time out of the way it’s gonna be so much easier.

#3: Swim 2-3 x a week

After that, the next step is to go 2 to 3 times a week so that you can build up the mind muscle connection and your body can start figuring out how to swim

If you’re really worried that you have absolutely no idea how to swim here are a couple YouTube videos that shows you exactly how to swim please do not beat yourself up if it doesn’t come easy or natural to you or you don’t have perfect for him the first time that you swim it’s going to be OK that’s going to come with time

if you are comfortable with where you’re at when you’re swimming 2 to 3 times a week and you’re just doing it for fun for a little bit of exercise then you can stop there. You really don’t need to become a pro swimmer because it is such good exercise no matter what your form is.  

IF YOU WANT TO GET BETTER THAN HAVING IT JUST BE A SIDE HOBBY

This is where frequency and practicing form are going to be your very best friends. You have to be able to practice correct form but in order to practice correct form you need to know correct form, so here are a couple more YouTube videos on correct form. I would recommend finding a swim group in your area if you haven’t already noticed a group of people swimming at the around the time that you typically swim., There are masters swimming clubs that you can join, but you do have to pay money so if you’re not wanting to pay money, then the YouTube technique route is definitely the route that you wanna go. In the age of AI you could also just video yourself swimming and then have AI analyze your stroke and tell you what you need to fix.

#4: Increase Your Speed Work

The next thing is going to be having better speed. Increasing your speed in swimming- so you’re already working on frequency and technique and so you know the more that you swim the more the yardage that you do- the faster you’re going get. Start doing workouts that work on your speed and I can link a couple of my swim workouts that I have on Pinterest that work on speed and so I know some of these are gonna seem really really hard, and they are but the point of the speed sets and the minimal rest is getting your heart rate up and keeping it up. It’s going feel like you can’t breathe, but that’s a good thing. These workouts don’t last forever, so don’t be afraid of the challenge.

IF YOU WANT TO TURN YOUR SWIMMING INTO A COMPETITIVE SWIMMING JOURNEY

If you’re wanting to turn your swimming hobby into something where you do adult or masters level competitions then I would 100% recommend joining a masters club and you know if you don’t want to just join it out of blue you could always meet with whoever the coaches are and ask them what you can expect with practicing with a group of individuals and you can tell them your goals and they can tell you whether or not that particular masters club if it’s right for you.

If you’re confident in your technique and your fitness level, you can always also seek out a swimming coach that just programs workout specifically for you and your fitness and what your times are and you know you tell them what your goals are and then they are gonna be able to create really good workouts for you

And the most important thing I think is for you to be able to do kind of a time trial for yourself and time yourself. This one is going to be really good if you have a friend with a stopwatch so that they can time you and you want to test your 50, 100 and 200 time and that’s pretty much it unless you really want to be an endurance summer then you should test your 500 time but I will say it’s really hard to test your times by yourself especially the longer distances so if there is a masters meet that you can sign up for but you’ve decided you don’t want to be a part of the masters club, you can always sign up as an individual without a team.

Once you know your racing times, then you’re really going to be able to hone in what your practices are with the distance and how much you need to practice. Then you’re going to be continually getting faster and then you’re also going to practice your technique because you can always practice your technique and you’re never going to be able to practice your technique enough. The more tired you are the more you’re going to want to drop your technique and so that’s why it’s so important to always work on technique

My biggest piece of advice

You really need to find a group of people who are also swimming so it might be that your first option is joining a masters swim club. The second option is just joining a regular friends meet up swim club that you don’t have to pay for and that’s not a real swimming club.

And then third is if you’re just doing it by yourself and there’s no swim club that you’re joining with friends, then you really need to have some sort of community encouraging you. I would recommend finding an online community on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or something. Other people who are doing other sports are fine, but I think swimming is so different and it comes with its own set of challenges that it’s really important that you have people who really understand the challenges and they can also help with other pieces of advice and things that work for them and things that don’t work for them. It’s just going to make the journey of pushing yourself and getting better that much easier.

Swimming is a fun sport that really pushes you in your fitness and so I hope this was helpful. I hope it takes out some of the intimidation that you might have for starting to swim. It’s not about what you look like or if you’re good or you’re bad it’s about having fun and improving your fitness.