New Swimmer

Thanks, I've already registered for Area Tallahassee Aquatics this week which is good because I'm excited about starting. I hope everything goes well. The reason I was concered is b/c my boyfreind has 2 swimmerse in his family and they both had knee and elbow tendenitis, and my boyfreind is trying to persuade me not to swim b/c of the 'violent jerking' of the joints of the motion of kicking and stroking. That confuses me a little, I know that swimming is a low impact sport, so that means that the water acting against gravity wouldn't put as much pressure on the joints right?? Just trying to get everything straight. Thanks again for the help. I'm looking forward to getting to know a lot of people here! Whitney

Whitney, You are correct that swimming is much less joint stressful than running. And as for common swimming injuries – with proper training there are no common swimming injuries. Some uncommon injuries in swimming include a variety of shoulder and near shoulder injuries. Most of these are attributed to over training or poor technique. The best way to avoid these is to get involved with a professionally coached swimming program. On the USA-Swimming (www.usaswimming.org) web site I saw 3 programs in the Tallahassee area. These are listed below. I would suggest that you and your parents contact these groups to see which one best fits your goals. Swimming is a great sport that I have loved for many many years. I hope you learn to love it as well. USA Swimming programs in Tallahassee: Area Tallahassee Aquatic Club Terry Maul (850) 668-6562 perfenh@aol.com Capital City Aquatics Club Thomas D Hosford (850) 656-7319 Club Seminole Neil Harper (850) 894-0876 nharper@mailer.fsu.edu

I used to live and work in Tallahassee, and I have a question or two: Is the program you joined held in the pool up by the Tallahassee Mall? That's a relatively new pool, and they were still working on it when I left. I was sad not to get to swim in it. How did that complex turn out? Don't be frightened by your boyfriend's warning. Swimming is one of the least damaging sports I can think of. The main complaints I've heard are shoulder problems, and as someone else said you can mitigate those with proper technique. A very small minority of the population is prone to rotator cuff or bursa injury or irritation just from the motion of swimming, just because their shoulder structures are too close together and want to pinch something. On the small chance you're prone to shoulder irritation, just get someone to help you work your stroke so that you don't make motions that cause problems. You probably won't have any trouble at all. Otherwise, the only danger I can think of is drowning. So try to get a coach that can help you avoid that, too.:D

I started swimming about 2 years ago at age 47. I had been relatively active since high school, biking/hiking/some weights. All had become somewhat dull until my oldest daughter, 10 at the time, wanted to join the YMCA and swim year around. I decided to take swim lessons & learn to lap swim. Since then I swim about 3-4 times a week, during my lunch 'hour' - which has been stretched to about 1 1/2 hours. I have had no injuries & I keep cool in the hot/humid Houston climate. I can see no downside to swimming. It's great for body development even at my age. I get that enmorhphin kick every time I swim, and suffer withdrawals if I don't swim. My allergies are not as bad, and I tend to eat foods that help me swim more efficiently (lots of water/pasta/little red meat). Plus it's a great way to meet others with a common interest. Good luck!

Well, with swimming you do have to be careful. As a teengaer I had some shoulder problems and groin problems-because I swam breastroke and butterfly. At first its going to be hard because their are 11 to 12 year old kids that will probably out swim you. However, by next year in a year round program you should be able to beat most of the 11 to 12 year olds except the top ones. And if you are a boy, this will occur earlier. I had a friend in high school that had a 29.0 freestyle and try to get her into a year round program but she couldn't handle the workouts. The next year she swim a 27.5 freestyle. She come have been a 24 to 25 second freestyler if she could have done the year-round team. Just keep going at it and hopefully the coach will emphasis an Im workout more than a distance freestyle since you don't come from a swimming background and Im type workouts are better for beginners.