This is awful. I really want to be able to swim freestyle - I can do the *** stroke no problem. I'm taking a workshop and my instructor tells me "your freestyle stroke is very strong" but I'm so WEAK! I'm swimming in a 25 yard pool and I can't make it much more than halfway across the $#$@! pool without having to break into the *** stroke, and I feel like I am just dying.
I'm not in HORRIBLE shape, but not great shape (the current shape is round but my lifestyle changes will eliminate that in time)...I do martial arts, circuit training, can walk 2 miles without a problem.
What can I do to work up to freestyle without killing myself? I don't want to shorten my swims by trying to do freestyle and then dying and having to settle for less time in the water/moving around/burning it off.
Help!
I think you should work with what you have. The 25-yard mark is arbitrary. What is important to you is the distance you can swim without your stroke falling apart. Be patient.
Make your workouts about working toward that 25-yard goal. Swim hard as far as you can and then coast with your breaststroke. Do this as many times as you can take. Make this your main set. (Warm up with and cool down with slow swimming.) I suspect it will not take long before you can swim 25s. At that time, start working toward 50s.
Like Apollo told Rocky, swimming uses muscles you never knew you had. Yours just need to be awakened.
I think you should work with what you have. The 25-yard mark is arbitrary. What is important to you is the distance you can swim without your stroke falling apart. Be patient.
Make your workouts about working toward that 25-yard goal. Swim hard as far as you can and then coast with your breaststroke. Do this as many times as you can take. Make this your main set. (Warm up with and cool down with slow swimming.) I suspect it will not take long before you can swim 25s. At that time, start working toward 50s.
Like Apollo told Rocky, swimming uses muscles you never knew you had. Yours just need to be awakened.
