hello everyone,
i recently saw a sign-up sheet for USMS at my gym and i would really like to check it out but wanted to ask if it really is for any ability.
most people who post here seem to have had some formal swimming training, even if it was 10 or 20 yrs ago. i never had a chance to learn from a coach or to join a swim team, i'm not even sure who taught me swimming. all i know about swimming strokes is what one can learn by observation.
i usually go to my gym's pool once a week or so and swim laps in what might most resemble a breaststroke. i'm a 25yr old female and i'm in good physical shape otherwise, but i think i might die a little if i were to jump into twice a week two-hour workouts.
i greatly enjoy swimming and would really like to join but not sure if my ability isn't just a tad below the necessary level.
thank you for any advice!
I'm like some others here, I did a triathlon at a pool and met some masters swimmers, then ended up going to 'try' out the program. That was about 8 years ago, and I'm still at it.
I hadn't done ANY formal swimming training prior to that, just swimming on my own basically for years. I think I started in the 2nd or 3rd slowest lane, and slowly moved my way on up. Although I knew how to swim and had done a bit on my own, doing sets with a team is quite a bit different, and certainly tired me out more at first.
Definitely talk to the coach, or just show up at a practice and talk to other swimmers, and see what it is like. I learned most from fellow swimmers.
Tim
When I started swimming with the masters group at the Y I go to I hadn't had any formal training since I took Red Cross Lifesaving (and that didn't cover any strokes except freestyle and sidestroke).
That was 40 years earlier. Go for it.
As long as you don't run into other swimmers too often they are usually very tolerant of beginners and klutzes.
Tom
Talk to the coach.
Find out what time the workout is and show up a little early or stay a little late and talk to the coach. The coach will let you know if you will be comfortable and well accomodated.
Ask if there are triathletes in the workout, everybody knows those guys can't swim. So if the coach has coached triathletes he'll probably be comfortable working with you.
I could barely swim when I joined. I took lessons at the Y, enough that I could swim freestyle with my face in the water, do a bit of breaststroke, and a bit of back and do some butterflutter.
I could not do flip turns of any type and could not swim over a 50 without stopping to rest. Our group had a slow lane, and that is where I stayed for a while.
Try talking to the coach or sitting in on a practice. I joined a team in spring and ended up in well over my head, so I doubt I'll renew for next year. I'm hoping to spend another year getting my technique up to par and maybe try again when I'm better. But it seems like team standards and workouts vary -- this just happened to be a particularly strong group.
Originally posted by Kevin in MD
Talk to the coach.
Find out what time the workout is and show up a little early or stay a little late and talk to the coach. The coach will let you know if you will be comfortable and well accomodated.
Ask if there are triathletes in the workout, everybody knows those guys can't swim. So if the coach has coached triathletes he'll probably be comfortable working with you.
Hey, I resemble that remark! :)
But I workout on my own, and hold my own...
Most Masters teams have all shapes, sizes, speeds, abilities. I have yet to be on a team or visit a team that discriminates. Find the lane that suits your abilities and hop in.
And here I thought I was the only one with this problem. Knowing the risk of raising the ire of the good swimmers here, I will ask: is there a place in USMS for those of us who are serious, dedicated, regular swimmers who would like to swim with a group that pushes them -- but who are neither very competitive types nor very fast? Would this "dilute" masters swimming? Would it be possible to create some sort of space for such types that would not take away from the good, fast, competitive swimmers?
