How did you go faster than s-l-o-w?

First, here's my slow swimming cred: Self-taught starting at age 43. At first I was about where you are, probably slower. Now, seven years later, I swim 100 yards in 1:20. I'm still pretty slow compared to most people here who post speeds. I like to think you and I are in the silent majority. :) The best advice is to get a coach. I didn't and spent a lot of time learning, then relearning. Short of that, keep the body flat in the water throughout the stroke. This reduces drag, and the easy way to swim is to reduce resistance and use less muscle. The hard way to swim is to use more muscle and do nothing about drag. Being fundamentally lazy, I prefer the former. In the pool, the most common flaw I see is bringing the head all of the way out of the water to breathe. As you'll read here countless times: When you raise your head, your hips and legs sink, and that slows you down. When you breathe, one eye should pop out of the water, the other should stay in. I practiced this by swimming with one eye shut - the eye that stays in the water. In the same vein, keep the legs and hips high. You should feel your butt crest the water with each stroke, and your heels should touch the top of the water with every kick. If your entire foot leaves the water, that's not perfect, but it's better than your feet dangling below your hips. Next, kicking. I love Ande's inspiration and I did his kicking drills for about six months. I concluded that kicking is vital to get your 100-yard time from 1:03 to 59 seconds and will renew his drills religiously once my 100 gets to 1:03. However, for the beginner to intermediate swimmer, IMHO, there are a whole bunch of faults to correct before addressing a weak kick. In fact, overkicking is a bigger problem, at least judging from the people I see. I would suggest: Kick only enough to keep your legs from sinking. The leg muscles need too much oxygen to help you efficiently before you are in tip-top shape. So when you kick, just do little ones. Make sure your feet are parallel to the water as you swim. In other words, your toes should point toward the wall you are swimming away from. This reduces drag mightily. I kick once per stroke most of the time. As my right arm passes my torso, I kick with the left. As my left arm passes my torso, I kick with my right. This is a two-beat kick (two beats per arm cycle), and others describe it differently. Suffice it to say once you find the right pattern, your body will synch into it instinctively. Finally, sprints. Jazz Hands is right: To get faster, you need to practice all out sprinting. I did that last year and blew out a shoulder. So if you incorporate sprints into your workouts, make sure you only do it once a week. By which I mean NOT TWICE A WEEK. NOT THREE TIMES. Just once. Believe me, you'll be tempted to do more - because you'll see the results and go for more. And you'll end up like I did, wincing from pain when you hug your kids, because your shoulder is injured and a nerve in your neck is pinched. So be patient and let things develop naturally. (Note: when you sprint, you will kick more frequently and harder than you normally do. It's similar to the difference in exertion between a 100-yard dash and a mile run.) Also, BEFORE you start a sprint program, get in the habit of doing dryland 'prehab' exercises. These help keep the shoulder muscles in proper condition. I say BEFORE sprinting because then you will minimize the chance of a shoulder injury. If you start sprinting, and your times start dropping, you will think you are invincible like Superman - as I did - and get hurt. A cursory search on this web site will get you some good prehab exercises. For other resources, I got a lot from the Emmett Hines articles at H2Ouston site at first. I saw a lot of good drills and technique videos on goswim.tv. And I got workouts from swimplan.com, which has its shortcomings but is the only place I've found that attempts to create workouts for people swimming 100 in over 1:30. Terry Laughlin's Total Immersion book, while not ideal for fast swimmers, is very good at teaching how to maximize your efficiency in the water. Have fun! I'm rooting for you!

First, here's my slow swimming cred: Self-taught starting at age 43. At first I was about where you are, probably slower. Now, seven years later, I swim 100 yards in 1:20. I'm still pretty slow compared to most people here who post speeds. I like to think you and I are in the silent majority. :) The best advice is to get a coach. I didn't and spent a lot of time learning, then relearning. Short of that, keep the body flat in the water throughout the stroke. This reduces drag, and the easy way to swim is to reduce resistance and use less muscle. The hard way to swim is to use more muscle and do nothing about drag. Being fundamentally lazy, I prefer the former. In the pool, the most common flaw I see is bringing the head all of the way out of the water to breathe. As you'll read here countless times: When you raise your head, your hips and legs sink, and that slows you down. When you breathe, one eye should pop out of the water, the other should stay in. I practiced this by swimming with one eye shut - the eye that stays in the water. In the same vein, keep the legs and hips high. You should feel your butt crest the water with each stroke, and your heels should touch the top of the water with every kick. If your entire foot leaves the water, that's not perfect, but it's better than your feet dangling below your hips. Next, kicking. I love Ande's inspiration and I did his kicking drills for about six months. I concluded that kicking is vital to get your 100-yard time from 1:03 to 59 seconds and will renew his drills religiously once my 100 gets to 1:03. However, for the beginner to intermediate swimmer, IMHO, there are a whole bunch of faults to correct before addressing a weak kick. In fact, overkicking is a bigger problem, at least judging from the people I see. I would suggest: Kick only enough to keep your legs from sinking. The leg muscles need too much oxygen to help you efficiently before you are in tip-top shape. So when you kick, just do little ones. Make sure your feet are parallel to the water as you swim. In other words, your toes should point toward the wall you are swimming away from. This reduces drag mightily. I kick once per stroke most of the time. As my right arm passes my torso, I kick with the left. As my left arm passes my torso, I kick with my right. This is a two-beat kick (two beats per arm cycle), and others describe it differently. Suffice it to say once you find the right pattern, your body will synch into it instinctively. Finally, sprints. Jazz Hands is right: To get faster, you need to practice all out sprinting. I did that last year and blew out a shoulder. So if you incorporate sprints into your workouts, make sure you only do it once a week. By which I mean NOT TWICE A WEEK. NOT THREE TIMES. Just once. Believe me, you'll be tempted to do more - because you'll see the results and go for more. And you'll end up like I did, wincing from pain when you hug your kids, because your shoulder is injured and a nerve in your neck is pinched. So be patient and let things develop naturally. (Note: when you sprint, you will kick more frequently and harder than you normally do. It's similar to the difference in exertion between a 100-yard dash and a mile run.) Also, BEFORE you start a sprint program, get in the habit of doing dryland 'prehab' exercises. These help keep the shoulder muscles in proper condition. I say BEFORE sprinting because then you will minimize the chance of a shoulder injury. If you start sprinting, and your times start dropping, you will think you are invincible like Superman - as I did - and get hurt. A cursory search on this web site will get you some good prehab exercises. For other resources, I got a lot from the Emmett Hines articles at H2Ouston site at first. I saw a lot of good drills and technique videos on goswim.tv. And I got workouts from swimplan.com, which has its shortcomings but is the only place I've found that attempts to create workouts for people swimming 100 in over 1:30. Terry Laughlin's Total Immersion book, while not ideal for fast swimmers, is very good at teaching how to maximize your efficiency in the water. Have fun! I'm rooting for you!