Do you have to swim on a team to improve?

I have been swimming Masters 35 years and have had less than 10 coached workouts during that time.If you are going to have success by your self you are going to have to learn coaching.You need to know about stroke mechanics,pace,aerobic threshold,lactic acid tolerance etc.It is also important to do regular video tape review and periodic stroke analysis by someone who knows what they are doing. These are all very good points. Swimming by yourself when you're first learning can be good to build your endurance but be warned: if you're learning bad habits or techniques it can be a pain to re-learn later. I think everyone could benefit from having a coached workout, whether they design it themselves or not. The biggest benefit of having a coach is having an experienced set of eyes watching you and giving you feedback on what you're doing well, and what needs some work. Coaches also have access to information that might be difficult for an every day swimmer to find about many aspects of swimming. Swimming is a physically demanding sport, but technique is what makes you go fast and do so efficiently. I see a lot of strong, slim guys in my college pool every day. Usually I'm able to kick laps around them, they don't realize so many things that I feel are basic principles of swimming. No matter how athletic and fit they are, if they can't get the technique down I'll beat them to the finish every time, and have energy left over. They may never finish... While a coach is not essential to swimming, I wouldn't trade my first months of swimming with a coach and team for anything in the world. It was a very fun time, and I learned a lot that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Best of luck to you regardless of the route you go, just keep the enthusiasm up swimming is a wonderful activity.

I have been swimming Masters 35 years and have had less than 10 coached workouts during that time.If you are going to have success by your self you are going to have to learn coaching.You need to know about stroke mechanics,pace,aerobic threshold,lactic acid tolerance etc.It is also important to do regular video tape review and periodic stroke analysis by someone who knows what they are doing. These are all very good points. Swimming by yourself when you're first learning can be good to build your endurance but be warned: if you're learning bad habits or techniques it can be a pain to re-learn later. I think everyone could benefit from having a coached workout, whether they design it themselves or not. The biggest benefit of having a coach is having an experienced set of eyes watching you and giving you feedback on what you're doing well, and what needs some work. Coaches also have access to information that might be difficult for an every day swimmer to find about many aspects of swimming. Swimming is a physically demanding sport, but technique is what makes you go fast and do so efficiently. I see a lot of strong, slim guys in my college pool every day. Usually I'm able to kick laps around them, they don't realize so many things that I feel are basic principles of swimming. No matter how athletic and fit they are, if they can't get the technique down I'll beat them to the finish every time, and have energy left over. They may never finish... While a coach is not essential to swimming, I wouldn't trade my first months of swimming with a coach and team for anything in the world. It was a very fun time, and I learned a lot that will stick with me for the rest of my life. Best of luck to you regardless of the route you go, just keep the enthusiasm up swimming is a wonderful activity.