Hi there! I'm a 23-year-old woman trying to get started in Masters Swimming. I've been wanting to do this for several years and finally decided to give it a shot.
I swam competitively as a child, until I was 13. I haven't swam much since then. I started working out about 6 weeks ago and did really well for the first 4, but the last 2, I seem to have trouble finding the motivation. So, now I'm setting a goal: go to a meet before November. That only gives me 5 months or so to get good enough to not completely embarass myself. I've got a long way to go. If it's any indication, my best time for the 50 Freestyle (since I started working out in March), is :44, that's without anyone to race.
I would love any suggestions to help jumpstart my training and keep me motivated: diet/nutrition, strength training, endurance, breathing techniques, ANYTHING! What got and keeps some of you motivated?
I just found this site today and I'm going to start trying the workouts posted tonight.
Wish me luck!
Thanks,
Anna
Former Member
Hello! I am a newbie as well! I too stopped swimming competitively at age 12 and have done periodic workouts at the local health club. I am 28 and have recently signed up for a triatholon in July and want to get back my swimmers edge. I want to have a workout besides just 35 laps continuous and some kickboarding. Boring! Any suggestions would be much help for me as well! Good luck bluerose!
Michael Collins, Mo Chambers, Bonnie Adair, and Clay Evans all post workouts in this discussion forum. All four are extremely good coaches (along with many others within our masters swimming ranks). I am sure that if you e-mail them (which you can do by clicking on the email button on their posts) they would be willing to either reply to you with sample workouts or, if enough people ask, they may even write up workouts geared towards novice masters swimmers.
Nothing beats having a good coached program in order for us to see improvement, especially for new swimmers. However, this service of ”workouts on the web” these great coaches have volunteered to provide, is extremely helpful and greatly appreciated.
I too have recently started swimming again after a long layoff. I stopped after college and a few years of masters. it had been ten years since I had been in a pool on a regular basis. I found that the workouts posted on the above sites have been great for keeping me motivated and returning to the pool everyday. Most of my workouts are on my own and keeping motivated is essential. My times have not come down the way I would like for them to but I continue on. I have only been able to drop my 50 time to around 33sec. That seems so terrible to what I used to swim. What kind of times does everyone else swim? I am 41 and female and think my times stink. There are lots of great workouts on these sites and they are quite enjoyable. Keep up the swimming and good luck at the meets.
Lee Anne:cool:
I agree, the workouts look really good. I can't imagine how strong all of you are! Would anyone know where to find a workout (preferably "dry-land") for someone who's just beginning? I seriously am not that strong. I can't see me being able to swim nearly 1/4 of what's posted in a workout here! Any suggestions about , i don't know, push ups or other muscle exercises? I have access to weights but they're way, way too heavy for me! Thanks for any help at all!
Try to stay focused on the reasons we are all doing this : Fun, Fitness and Fellowship.
My goal is to be able to swim a 100 when I am 100 !!!
And the time doesn't matter...............
See you at the finish line, if you get my drift !!
Bert
PicsesFish - Strength is not nearly as important as you may think. Swimming is all about efficency in the water. I am a very strong person yet when I started swimming after a 20 year hiatus I struggled to finish 100 yard sets. You need to work on your stroke and aerobic base. The best way to do this is swim. There really isn't a dryland excercise that you can do to prepare for swimming. Now, there are many dryland excercises that you can do to complement your swimming but save those for later.
Don't worry about finishing the workouts posted here. Modify them to fit your fitness level. When I started swimming I would complete 500 to 1000 yards in a 30 minute workout. Last night we completed a 4000 yard workout in 90 minutes.
just get wet,
Michael
