Swimming 101

There's a book people recommend sometimes here called Fitness Swimming by Emmett Hines that will help answer your first two questions. Amazon has it: www.amazon.com/.../103-2923507-3221435 A lot of your insecurity about your swimming will go away once you have a definite plan to follow. Just do YOUR workout and don't worry about what anyone else at the pool thinks. You do NOT need to wear a Speedo. Trunks work fine. The reason swimmers wear Speedos is that trunks tend to provide too much drag, slowing you down in the water and making your workout feel like it's dragging. I personally hate the bikini-style Speedos, so I wear Jammers: they're tight and don't have much drag, but they cover more and don't have seems that cut into uncomfortable places. You really should stretch. Doing so will help prevent injury. However, you might find that you enjoy stretching your upper body more than your legs. To me, the muscles feel different when stretched. I don't really see many people bulk up unless they're doing extra work with weights for that purpose. You'll notice a little bit of gain in the chest, shoulders and arms, but you really shouldn't become huge. As for other advice? Just get into the pool, start slow and build. You'll read talk on here about others' workouts that will seem ridiculously long, and you'll think that you could never reach that level. The truth is, while you may only be able to swim a 500 or 1000 yard workout now, your strength and endurance will come up quickly. Your body may complain about it now, but in a few months your muscles will have become accustomed to it and you'll be doing some of these longer workouts. One final piece of advice: learn pool etiquette for lap swimmers. The thing that usually draws negative attention to a newbie is not his level of ability, but his failure to observe the "unwritten rules" of lap swimming. Customs may vary slightly from pool to pool, but most lap swimmers adhere to the same practices concerning dividing up lanes, passing other swimmers, letting other swimmers know your intentions, etc. Some pools will have guidelines posted somewhere on a wall, but many only have the regular pool rules about running on the deck, glass containers, open sores, where you can dive and other stuff not directly relevant to lap swimmers. Actually, though, those rules aren't unwritten any more; there's a good primer on lap swimming etiquette here: www.cartegic.com/pooletiquette.htm Now go get wet. Good luck.

the words hate and swimming should never be put in the same sentence.... to get good form watch others in your pool and try to imitate their techniques,i believe firmly that to be a good swimmer you must enjoy what your doing or you'll be destined to fail as with all physical sports you need to warm up(stretch,take the first few laps easily without going flat out)also remember to warm down(last few laps easily)also do the stroke that you find most comfortable to begin with,you may struggle if you jump straight into 1500metre fly..try maybe headup breastroke just till you get better then do free or backstroke.maybe try underwater swimming which is fun for beginners,get some goggles for most fun seeing underwater

when I started out I could only do 300 m! Now I'm doing 3,000! I started with Swimming for Total Fitness by Dr. Jane Katz, using her workouts that go from 100 yards/meters on up to 3,000. There is no Masters team close to me so I hired a coach for private lesson (about twice a month.) She helped clean up my technique and this summer (as a treat for myself) she and I worked together once a week. I doubled my 'yardage' in 5 weeks. I can now kick my 30 year old daughter's ass in the pool. If that doesn't make one feel good nothing will. Try not to focus so much on how you hate swimming, but how good you will feel as you progress. And there is nothing that feels so good as climbing out of a pool after a good workout. While you maybe tired, you also feel clean and refreshed and strong (at least I do). Yes, the muscles in my chest and arms and legs are more defined but I wouldn't say I've bulked up, still have some more weight to lose and I have no doubt that will come about in time also.

I done some 3,000 plus workotus but passed 3,200 in a day and I get stiff. I like to do a little under the 3,000 mark since I do all 4 strokes and freestyle and *** more than fly and back. The fly has drop recently below the *** in a 50 yard. Also, doing a heavy sprint workout hurts more if you do around the 3,000 mark. Sometimes I drop down to 2,000 to 2,300 for a heavy sprint workout.

Loved Emmett's book Fitness Swimming. Try his team web site www.h2oustonswims.org Also, try this one if you're curious www.totalimmersion.net It's a similar approach to Emmett's Welcome to the group! See if you can find a local masters team and try it with them. Swimming is more fun in groups. Matt

Find a local masters team. Join that team and U.S. Masters Swimming. Take advantage of the available coaching and team camaraderie that will help you stick with the program.