I'm 35 years old 175cm 64kg male self taught swimmer starting from zero 5 years ago. I swam laps for a while, but soon developed interest and passion in swimming fast over short distances and relentless daily practice.
I have times in all strokes, but use freestyle as main benchmark. First time I tried to swim short course 100m freestyle I timed around 1:40. Over time this improved to 1:35, 1:27, 1:17 and reached a plateau there.
So I went through a year or so of the Starting Strength program, deadlifted 100kg in sets of 5 and squatted 80kg. I began to feel like my body line, explosiveness, starts and push offs improved. Freestyle time didn't improve dramatically, only down to 1:15.
At that point I felt I knew plenty about training of energy systems from Olbrecht, so I decided to only focus on improving my pure speed. I take 17 seconds for a push 25 in 18 strokes at 90-100 spm.
I followed Boomer's Freestyle Reimagined and took my stroke apart 4 weeks ago. A stroke change is clearly going to take 4 months or years to happen, not 4 weeks, but I am beginning to lose the enjoyment. I am hugely motivated to see myself break the 15sec 25m and ultimately the freestyle minute, and have no idea whether it is possible with no youth swimming background.
I posted on the UK Swimming Forum, but had no reply and thought I would post here too in search for tips or similar experiences. Would appreciate any comments!
I've seen an adult successfully join an age group program, and haven't tried that myself. I swam with a masters club for 2 years, which was a lot of fun, but these seem to be geared towards fitness and training rather than focused development of speed. Moreover, I am not quite so fast and fit to join some of the higher profile clubs. I've been to see a number of coaches/swimmers for advice, including Swim Smooth, who all had valuable input, but nothing seemed to really point me towards some a big area of improvement. I feel like I might be missing an obvious one. There are definitely areas like "feel for water" and "stroke efficicency" that remain mystical to me despite having read volumes.
Thank you all for your replies
I haven't a recent video, but will definitely post here if I get one
I know my flutter kick is weak. As Gdavis pointed out, I can probably gain a lot on my 50 and 100 times, particularly free and back, with better kick.
Thanks also for the tip on slow swimming. I've always tried to avoid easy continuous swimming as a means of improving technique. This is an attempt to avoid "ending up like the general public", who never seem to improve their swimming. I would swim slow for aerobic training, but not for technique. I'd do drills at easy, but no full stroke swimming. What I'm now coming to realise is that technique can improve in slow as well as fast swimming. What really counts is deliberate and concentrated practice. The general public come for a leisurely swim, and think about work, family or upcoming breakfast while they swim. The serious swimmer is learning, the recreational swimmer is relaxing. Both might be executing the exact same motions, in theory.
Since my original post I read Phil Whitten's Complete Book of Swimming, which made me feel much more positive about "adult onset" masters swimmers. I hadn't realised that most (or all?) masters meets have no qualifying standards, which is reassuring. From there I followed a reference to John Jerome's Staying With It. This is a brilliant book for any masters swimmer, with nuggets such as:
John picked up swimming at the age of 47 with only very little youth swimming background, and within a couple of years broke a national YMCA record in his group
I seem to be past the worst part of my crisis now. Swimming regularly again, I've asked a local coach nearby for a one-to-one session every two weeks and will enter a small meet early next year. To prove to myself I should stick to it, I dove in this morning for a 50m *** time trial and took two seconds off my personal best. It was pleasure to see despite the fact it had been a pathetic PB to begin with.
John may be a more natural freestyler. I knew two girls in high school that could beat me in a 50 yard freestyle without a competitive swimming background except the girls team but I could beat them in a 500 yard swim because of lots of workout,
Thank you all for your replies
I haven't a recent video, but will definitely post here if I get one
I know my flutter kick is weak. As Gdavis pointed out, I can probably gain a lot on my 50 and 100 times, particularly free and back, with better kick.
Thanks also for the tip on slow swimming. I've always tried to avoid easy continuous swimming as a means of improving technique. This is an attempt to avoid "ending up like the general public", who never seem to improve their swimming. I would swim slow for aerobic training, but not for technique. I'd do drills at easy, but no full stroke swimming. What I'm now coming to realise is that technique can improve in slow as well as fast swimming. What really counts is deliberate and concentrated practice. The general public come for a leisurely swim, and think about work, family or upcoming breakfast while they swim. The serious swimmer is learning, the recreational swimmer is relaxing. Both might be executing the exact same motions, in theory.
Since my original post I read Phil Whitten's Complete Book of Swimming, which made me feel much more positive about "adult onset" masters swimmers. I hadn't realised that most (or all?) masters meets have no qualifying standards, which is reassuring. From there I followed a reference to John Jerome's Staying With It. This is a brilliant book for any masters swimmer, with nuggets such as:
John picked up swimming at the age of 47 with only very little youth swimming background, and within a couple of years broke a national YMCA record in his group
I seem to be past the worst part of my crisis now. Swimming regularly again, I've asked a local coach nearby for a one-to-one session every two weeks and will enter a small meet early next year. To prove to myself I should stick to it, I dove in this morning for a 50m *** time trial and took two seconds off my personal best. It was pleasure to see despite the fact it had been a pathetic PB to begin with.
John may be a more natural freestyler. I knew two girls in high school that could beat me in a 50 yard freestyle without a competitive swimming background except the girls team but I could beat them in a 500 yard swim because of lots of workout,
