SWIMMERS of Vegweb
Posted by secondbase on Aug 05, 2008 · Member since Dec 2005 · 5540 posts
I feel like there's a thread dedicated to other forms of cardio and this one used tobe my favorite. I swam competitively for nine years, but stopped during high school after gaining a bunch of weight due to depression. I'm not in the best shape lately and have seriously been considering getting back into swimming because it is a form of cardio that I thoroughly enjoy doing. I run about 5 miles per week (on average), but would give part of that up to be back in the water again. I used to be a great backstroker and I swam a few marathons (1 mile, 2 miles)) when I was younger but it seems like forever since I've been in the water. I know some of you must be swimmers. Let's talk! :)>>>
my question is: how does one learn how to swim well? just keep doing it. i am not very good at freestyle and have thought about trying to do at least a sprint triathlon in the future.
I just move my arms and legs like one is supposed to when swimming.....so, it's only slightly swimish. I have a hard time not holding my nose in water..
I just move my arms and legs like one is supposed to when swimming.....so, it's only slightly swimish. I have a hard time not holding my nose in water..
;D I can see you holding your nose! I remember back in grade school, we took a trip to a local swimming pool towards the end of the year and everyone made fun of me because I was wearing speeods (could never wear swim trunks because they always weighed me down when I was racing someone!) but that quickly subsided after I whooped a few people in a sprint race. haha
All I know is that swimmers have some of the best bodies I've ever seen! I would love to get into it one day.
I like swimming too! its sooo good for you. Stretches you out, doesn't hurt the joints, works the upper and lower body...yay swimming! I'm ok at it. 9:30 for a 1/4 mile. I swim 1-2 days a week at my gym pool or a fresh water lake. I'm basically self taught. My uncle first taught me how to swim when I was little & I think he did a good job with the basics. Then about a year & a half ago when I first started swimming at the gym, I read a book on how to train for your first triathlon & that explained the proper form a little more. They recommened to take lessons, but I never bothered.
To keep from having to hold your nose you just blow air out your nose. Then every other stroke on my right side, I turn my face out of the water enough to breathe in.
The only stroke I don't like doing is butterfly. I always hated doing the I.M. at swim meets because the third stroke you do is butterfly and you're already getting worn out! I can bring it home hard in the freestyle at the end though
yeah I only know how to freestyle. And I suppose I could backstroke if needed. But butterfly? that always seems so silly to me. I feel like a frog when I try it.
To keep from having to hold your nose you just blow air out your nose. Then every other stroke on my right side, I turn my face out of the water enough to breathe in.
Yeah, I mean I do that..I don't hold my nose when I'm swimming.....it just doesn't feel natural to me to do the turn head thing. I just can't jump in/dive w/o holding my nose.
yeah I only know how to freestyle. And I suppose I could backstroke if needed. But butterfly? that always seems so silly to me. I feel like a frog when I try it.
The frog is breaststroke! Where you kick your legs underwater in the same fashion that a frog would. Butterfly is more dolphin-esque. Keep your legs together and propell yourself using your abdominal muscles and forward armstokes. Really tightens your core.
i don't have a problem with water in my nose, where i do have the problem: my ears.
how do you prevent that?
eta: i love breaststroke!
yeah I only know how to freestyle. And I suppose I could backstroke if needed. But butterfly? that always seems so silly to me. I feel like a frog when I try it.
The frog is breaststroke! Where you kick your legs underwater in the same fashion that a frog would. Butterfly is more dolphin-esque. Keep your legs together and propell yourself using your abdominal muscles and forward armstokes. Really tightens your core.
ummm ok I don't like that one either. just regular swimming for me!
I LOVE swimming. I don't swim in races or anything. My twin used to swim on a team and in meets and she was awesome at it. I just did it for fun since I played volleyball and would swim with the team for exercise. I never could master butterfly but am pretty good at freestyle and backstroke and marginally ok in breaststroke. Yay...vegweb swimmers!
I swim 4 days a week. It's good stuff. I have to stop for a couple weeks though while the pool is closed in between semesters. Hopefully when I come back I'll be as good as I am now. Not crazy fast or anything, but I swim about a kilometer a day. And I'm working up to where that is all freestyle, right now I do 2/3 freestyle, 1/3 breast stroke. Freestyle is tough.
I swim 4 days a week. It's good stuff. I have to stop for a couple weeks though while the pool is closed in between semesters. Hopefully when I come back I'll be as good as I am now. Not crazy fast or anything, but I swim about a kilometer a day. And I'm working up to where that is all freestyle, right now I do 2/3 freestyle, 1/3 breast stroke. Freestyle is tough.
*Squee* Hi Flik!!! You're never on the boards--welcome! I'm so glad to see you posting!!! Thanks again for those recipes you sent me :)
Sorry to hijack the thread--please continue!
I'm a lifeguard so you would think that I swim a lot...but I don't...almost never actually...no one ever drowns!
I love the water and swimming, but i'm not that good at it. I used to be like a freakin tadpole when I was younger...but then we moved away from the beach and I started only swimming a few times a year. :[
I can only breaststroke with my head above water but swimming under water I can do the butterfly thing. I want to go to the pool now but there's always 458734975 people there. >:(
I haven't swam in a while, and I definitely miss it. I grew up close to the sea, so I am definitely made for water. This thread just reminded me of how much I wanted to go back to swimming.
i don't have a problem with water in my nose, where i do have the problem: my ears.
how do you prevent that?
uggh i used to get swimmer's ear when i swam a lot in the summer. my ear doctor recommended a home remedy which seemed to work... i don't remember exactly but it involved using an eyedropper to put a few drops of a vinegar solution in both ears a few times a day, or before and after swimming. i think it was just white vinegar and water. or maybe a mixture of rubbing alcohol and white vinegar.
eta: this wasn't really a problem of just getting water in my ears, it's that i'd get bad earaches during/after swimming. but i think this remedy is supposed to help dry the ears out.
The only stroke I don't like doing is butterfly. I always hated doing the I.M. at swim meets because the third stroke you do is butterfly and you're already getting worn out! I can bring it home hard in the freestyle at the end though
2ndB- Fly was always the first stroke you did in an IM! Fly, back, breast, free, remember? You do fly first and then basically "collapse" on your back in the water out of exhaustion? :) You must be thinking of the relays, where it's back, breast, fly, free, because the backstroker has to start first in the water.
I swam competitively too when I was young- I started when I was 9. Remember how much it sucked when you'd "age up" into the next age group? Remember long course meets? The "A" time rankings? Swim-a-thon? I miss it so much! Unfortunately my commute to work one way is over an hour, so my free time is very limited. I already get up at 5:00 AM on weekdays to work out at my house...by the time I'm done with an average work day & dinner I'm beat! I would LOVE to get back into it though- talk about total body workout with minimal stress on the joints. I was a butterflyer- yes, the arms felt like total dead weights after a 100 Fly!!
Funny about this post, I was JUST thinking yesterday how I would love to get back into swimming competitively again! That Olympics commercial with Dara Torres is SO inspiring (she's 41!).
Although I don't miss the chlorine in the hair/on the skin smell...
yay, swimming! i swam competitively from ages 10-17. then my senior year i got a shoulder injury and had to mostly sit on the side of the pool, or grovel in stupid pain. physical therapy blowwws.
anyway, swimming is the ONLY form of exercise that i enjoy. i think it's because it's the only one where you don't really sweat. sweating frigging sucks. but i can bust my ass in the pool and never feel gross. i know that sounds dumb, but i've tried every other form of exercise and the sheer sweatiness alone usually turns me off.
i've been thinking about starting to swim again for exercise, but my only option here is to join the ymca, and it's $45 a month, with a one time fee of $50 up front.. and i really cannot afford it. which is lame, because the y is about 2 blocks from my house, and i've always wanted a membership. there is literally no other public pool in my town, and the ones that you have to drive to aren't for swimming laps, they're just for grimey kids to be in all the time (aka my nightmare).
basically, the point is that i feel like a fish out of water.
ive been swimming alot lately.. but i think the pool ive been swimming in is 45% chlorine cuz my hair turned BRIGHT green after only an hour.. its pretty cool tho.. i swim in the ocean too sometimes, but i like to swim at night and i cant really go in the ocean at night cuz there are these horrible little stinging things in the water that only come out at night, so its the pool for me.. ive been swimming usually 2/3 mile a day, sometimes 1/2 when im tired, and sometimes a mile when i feel up to it.. i <3 the water.. i was a surfer since i was like 12, so i am really used to the water, but since there are no waves here i just swim instead.. sometimes i swim in the ocean with my snorkel on so i get to see all the awesome fish while im exercising.. i saw a sea turtle the other day :)>>>
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