Those who took a lot of time off...how long did it take you to get back in shape?

-- 24 years off from intense competitive swimming -- exercised somewhat regularly during time off except for baby periods and job busy-ness. no swimming at all and nothing remotely as intense as in youth. lots of running. -- got in pool for first time June 2005. swam in first meet Oct 2005. swam at SCY Nats in May 2006. -- like David, beat my 12 year old time in the 50 back at Nats. Woot! -- took about 3 months or less to get in pretty good swimming shape for masters swimming about 3-4 x a week. Didn't take as long as I thought. Had to work on stroke technique. Had to learn all the new turns and how to SDK. Don't do enough yardage for long events though. -- could care less about my youth times. -- having fun as a master :groovy: --Don't worry about the past. Just hop in and do it!! Er, make sure you RC muscles are up the task. I forgot about that and got injured right outta the box.

It took me six weeks after a 25 year layoff. But have not been able to get my times any where near what I had done in the past.

... I guess it is all in how one defines things.... Bingo. don't put off going to a meet. the sooner you start collecting times the better you will be able to measure your progress.

I've been back for four months after 20 years off, and recently went to a meet. None of my times are close to my 1987 times. I can beat some of my very old times from when I was 12 or 13 though!

I Went back to swimming after 45 yrs. Although never competed untill age 65 . Never trained with a coach or team. When I was 10 to 15 yrs old I did a lot of open water swimming. (Non competive). But it gave me a whole lot of confedance, i was not afraid of distance or water conditions. But in the last 7-Yrs. I do compete in masters.(no speed but a lot of fun). But i do agree if you train for speed than train to go fast. DOM in AZ.

My swimming partner and I did a timed trial last week so that when we go to meets we won't feel we are slow but rather we will see that we are getting faster than our starting point. Lisa, glad to see you doing time trials so soon...one of the things I hear/see way to often is people wanting to "get into shape" to race.....as masters its rare to ever get all the way there with all the interruptions. The best way to get into shape to race.....is to race! Hit the meets, do TT's, train to swim fast right away! SDK; streamline dolphin kick RC; rotator cuff Fort is right however on telling you to watch your training carefully, the sport is littered with LOTS of us who simply refused to accept we were "old" and needed things like "recovery". No need to train 5 days a week....hit the pool 3-4x, cross train with things like spinning and yoga and REST and you'll do great.

I am wondering how long it will take. I have not swum competitively in about 20 years. I have done other exercise in these 20 years but have never been close to being in the condition I was in back then. I wonder how long it will take to get into at least moderate competitive swimming condition. I guess it is all in how one defines things. I currently swim about 3000 yards/work out and my times are a lot slower than they were back when I was in top shape. I am thinking 6 months might be enough to get into moderate shape. Anyone else here go through a similar long time away from the pool get back into fair shape? How long did it take you? I am back swimming again after a 24 year lay off. How fast you recover is going to depend on what you have been doing in the interim. For my part, although there has been no competitive swimming in the past 24 years, I have always remained fit. Ran half marathons, played some waterpolo in my late 20's and despite some intermittent periods of absolutely no exercise (which can be quite a good thing) have always remained 'generally fit'. I started swimming about six months ago and will be competing in my first meet this coming weekend. It is also going to depend on how much time you have to train. You will need to train at least three times a week for an hour to an hour and a half to get in reasonable enough shape to swim in a meet. Try and get in with a Masters team if you can. You will find the competition will encourage you to train harder and having a coach would be a bonus, too. Unfortunately, I neither train with a team nor do I have a coach and I feel my progress would be a lot quicker if I did. I know a lot of other members here will attest to that. If you don't train with a team or have a coach you should, at least, try to follow a workout schedule. You need to have some way of measuring your improvement. For me it is always increasing distance, decreasing rest time, increasing speed or decreasing strokes per length. I am constantly timing myself and racing against the clock. Good luck with your swimming and let us know how it goes. Syd

Thanks everyone. The Fortress, What are RC muscles and SDK? My swimming partner and I did a timed trial last week so that when we go to meets we won't feel we are slow but rather we will see that we are getting faster than our starting point. Thanks for the encouragement!

I didn't see any significant improvement in my speed until I swam longer distances three to four times a week and I worked hard to improve technique. I began swimming again after about a twenty-year layoff at the beginning of 2007. Plus, I'm built like a manatee so if I can show improvement, you should have no problem. Good luck.

This obviously differs for everyone and depends in part on how out of shape you are to begin with. I wasn't terribly out of shape when I started but in about two months had lost about 20 pounds and was physically "in shape". Two months later and I've lost another 8-10 pounds (I'm probably too thin at this point). But I don't think I'm even close to the cardiovascular shape I was in as a kid. I swam my first meet about a month ago and my times bear that out. I might look great (relatively speaking, of course :o), but I still have a long way to go. To get fully back into shape, I'm guessing it'll take over a year or more, if ever. Everyone says not to compare yourself you your younger self. Just set a new baseline and improve from there!