Hey everybody, I am lookin for some advice on getting back into the sport. Quick rundown of the past. I swam USS for all 3 years of middle school and my freshman year of high school. Dropped it because I got severely burnt out. Picked up cycling and raced for a couple years. I graduated high school at 155 pounds (im 5 10). Before I started working out this year, I was at 224 pounds. Since that high, I got down to 187 doing P90X. I love the workout, but out of everything I have done, I miss swimming immensely. So I joined a gym because they had a pool. Even with the P90X workouts, I jumped in the pool and did a 100 free and thought I wasnt doin too bad. After about 300 yards my stroke was awful and with each stroke I felt like I was goin nowhere. Ive tried to get back into swimming shape by just doin laps, but I cant. I get way too frustrated and being a former swimmer, I like a set workout/routine. Any tips for me. Please remember I cant do much more than 100 yards at a time, especially towards the middle to latter parts of the workout. I want to swim Masters one day soon. But ill be damned if I go and make a fool out of myself with my current form. Thanks so much for any help/tips you can give me.
Josh, there's nothing wrong with only holding the stroke together for a few hundred yards when starting out. I'd recommend using your warmup as the time to just swim comfortably for as far as you can until you get winded or your stroke falls apart. At that point stop and start some sets. 50's, 100's whatever you can bear. The next time in the water try to increase your warm up yardage by 50 yards. Work up to whatever you feel you need for a good warmup (usually 500 - 1000). Once you find that level then you can start the process of working on the intervals. You will go through peaks, valleys and plateaus - everyone does. Keep with it, it'll happen.
Josh, there's nothing wrong with only holding the stroke together for a few hundred yards when starting out. I'd recommend using your warmup as the time to just swim comfortably for as far as you can until you get winded or your stroke falls apart. At that point stop and start some sets. 50's, 100's whatever you can bear. The next time in the water try to increase your warm up yardage by 50 yards. Work up to whatever you feel you need for a good warmup (usually 500 - 1000). Once you find that level then you can start the process of working on the intervals. You will go through peaks, valleys and plateaus - everyone does. Keep with it, it'll happen.
