Hi, guys, I'm 20 years old and I've decided to take up some swimming classes for my next quarter. I have been out of athletics for a very long time (for seven years). I haven't done any consistent exercise since my sophomore year HS PE class, and that was almost five years ago. On top of that, I am a writer with all the usual cliché ambitions so I spend a lotta time on my ass. I was looking at some writers' bios recently and you know what I noticed? Very many of them have short lifespans! Haha... oh no. So I realized very quickly I needed to develop a "core exercise" for myself. Since it's a bit late to do anything that's a team sport, it obviously has to be individual. I hate running. Lifting is a bore. Golf is... not ideal. Actually, to be honest, the decision was rather quick. I chose swimming. Now this is very odd for one reason... I'm hearing impaired. How will I hear the instructor/coach? Believe it or not, I actually hear better, much better, when I'm in the water. Go figure. Obviously, not as good as when I'm out of the water with my hearing aids in, but there's something about being in a pool or a body of water that just helps me hear better. For example, I did some laps recently. When I checked in with the lifeguards, I had to ask them to repeat themselves. Then I got in a lane and struck up a conversation with a very buoyant, soft-spoken fellow next to me and not once did I say, "What?"
Maybe the soundwaves bounce against the water and, naturally, my head is in the thick of it?
But I digress...
I'm going to swim. Thankfully, I already know how. I'm sure many of the technique junkies are ready to contend this! I took swim lessons when I was a wee lad, loved it all except the springboard. Then I jumped and I loved that too. I can't dive, though... I do the, what is it, the bunny hop? My legs bend when I go into the water. Anyway, hahah, once I remember arguing with a swim instructor at a Water Babies school (and he was an Olympian) about the word "freestyle"... it was my first argument over semantics. He tells me to do some freestyle and then I start swimming backstroke (my favorite back then). I figure, "free... style", right? So I do whatever I want! How did they start calling it "freestyle" anyway?
So my swimming never really got anywhere but then along comes eighth grade and I'm figuring out what I want to do with high school. I let the family know I'm interested in swimming or water polo... something water related, you know? My brothers absolutely hated the idea. They tried to get me interested in football and wrestling, even started teaching me moves... well, of course, I hated that idea. My goal the entire time had been to distinguish myself from the rest of the family, you know? Well that did go somewhere... I ended up joining nothing at all. Not good. But on the flip side, I did write more than I would've, and that's always good.
So for most of high school and the beginning of college, I was extremely inactive. I also gorged myself on sodas and candy. Plus, I all but eliminated breakfast from my diet. I wonder if I stunted myself at all. I know for a fact I measured 6'2 without shoes in my sophomore year and then about a year ago my dad measured me and I was 6'0... oh dear God. At least I put on weight well. In senior year when the homeroom teacher asked us all for our weight, and I said 234, everyone in the classroom was audibly disbelieving. But the scale does not lie.
Now that I'm getting back into things, I've been on a diet. Quite pleased with my results so far. After losing about seven pounds last summer for my brother's wedding, I lost about another four pounds until the week of Thanksgiving last month when I eliminated soda and candy. That hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be. I've gone from 223 to 208 where I am now. I also measure 6'1.5 now. Naturally I've been curious about some of my bodily dimensions... I'm quite pleased to have a 6'6 armspan. I wish I had larger feet though (size 12). I don't think there's much I can do about that.
Sorry if this is all very long-winded or totally tl; dr!
I like this forum a lot. I've been lurking here for about a week and looking at threads old and new. It's awesome that you all capitalize the beginning of your sentences and end them with periods.... unlike some other places I could name.
So now... whose bums do I have to kiss? :bow:
Back. First meet. After 14 days of team, my times:
100 back: 1:54:?? (I forget the millis).
100 free: 1:19:92 (I beat 1:20 by eight one-hundredths of a second).
Excellent! The nice thing about starting into a sport like swimming is that, if you focus on the areas you identified and technique as others said, you're going to see great improvement. Keep up the good work.
Remind me what part of the country you're in?
Relay, relay, relay!
Punishing, evil relay in which I had to pull a 100 *** out of my rear even though I've hardly practiced that stroke in practice. :bitching:
At least I got to sprint my ass off for 25 and 50 freestyle.
I have identified a big problem... I am very slow on my starts. I am still completely unsure of... the process... of what to do.
pwb, I am from the Bay Area.
orca, I don't have any perspective though. I don't know when my body has gone "too far and too fast"... is when I feel like this so and so? or that so and so? you know what I mean?
I did a 16-second 25y free in practice today, doing most around 19-21 seconds. I am still 18% body fat, at around 192 lbs. I'm just waiting for a lot of this fat and loose skin to go the eff away already.
I think I'm finally figuring out what my starts should be like. They've been a mess before.
And breaststroke... in the group I swim with (the novices), I'm the fastest at freestyle but the slowest at breaststroke. The hell? I wonder if I am doing it correctly, and if so, if that is the problem... because I'm doing it correctly. It sure doesn't look like the rest of the guys are!
19 team practices so far... and we've hardly done any butterfly. The suspense is killing me.
Third meet. Over. Already. What a blast. I did two 50-frees, one of them in a 200 relay. The first one I raced alone because of some mix-up before and the relay we came in last (but we're all beginners! Everyone else was seasoned). My time on the 50 free was 32.50. Our time on the relay was 2:16. I tried to find out if I went under 30 on the relay, where I went first, but that information was not available.
My endurance is getting better, as compared to two weeks ago when I did a 100 free at my first meet. Today after my 50 free I was totally ready to do another 50. :)
Congratulations! :cheerleader:It sounds like you have made a lot of progress in a short time.
The body takes about 6 weeks to adjust to a new exercise routine, so just be patient. Before you know it you will have decreased your body fat percent. You will probably not see a decrease in your body weight initially, as you will experience your body developing more muscle mass from the exercise.
Good luck and I look forward to reading more of your progress!
Anyway, hahah, once I remember arguing with a swim instructor at a Water Babies school (and he was an Olympian) about the word "freestyle"... it was my first argument over semantics. He tells me to do some freestyle and then I start swimming backstroke (my favorite back then). I figure, "free... style", right? So I do whatever I want! How did they start calling it "freestyle" anyway?
Actually in Competitive swimming in Freestyle you can do what you want except in the medley (butterfly-->Back-->***-->Free) you can do any of the strokes you have already done (Trudgen anyone?) (also correct me if i am wrong) though most people do Front Crawl by default... (I am basing this info on age group and High school swimming in PA)
Every few meets I am at, someone will do the butterfly for the 100 free. (still waiting on them to do fly for the 500 free) and never gets disqualified.
So (i dont know about the olympics) but you were correct about freestyle.
:chug:
Cheers.
So if you do some other stroke faster than free, you could actually go ahead and do that, am I right? Wow, I didn't know that.
q: Hah, actually last week I started practicing in a brief. And I wear the team suit at all meets.
