How To Get Fast At Swimming?

Intervals and high volume. Also, form is very important. You should get a swim coach who knows what he is doing to look at your form.

It is unlikely you will get fast on your own. You need to swim a ton - live min 5 days a week, and you need someone who can coach technique. It needn't be a coach, but at least someone who knows the correct stroke and knows how to explain it to you.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Intervals and high volume. Also, form is very important. You should get a swim coach who knows what he is doing to look at your form.

This. I would suggest looking into a master's program too. They are everywhere. Totally worth it to have a master's coach who can help you with form. That will be a quicker way to get you to your goal then on your own.

I started swimming a few months ago and I love it. I ordered a pair of swim gloves (OctoBlue) that have webbing between the fingers and between the thumb and index finger. Yesterday I used them for the first time and it increased the workout 100%. I swam for an hour. My heartrate was much higher and today my back, chest and shoulders are sore. I took the gloves off for a few laps after the hour and just that one workout made me faster. To swim fast, you have to be able to pull huge amounts of water. These gloves help you build strength. You also have to kick as much as possible but be judicious so you can maintain the kick for the duration of the workout. You also have to stay streamlined in the water. Its easier if you go faster but still requires some technique.

I think the keys are: 1) stength to pull water 2) powerful sustainable kicking 3) streamlined body position, 4) arm turnover and 5) maximizing each stroke by not taking another stroke until you are fully extended from the last.

I watched some videos on total immersion swimming on youtube and picked up some things that were helpful, but the gloves I think are going to be really good for me.

All above helpful but also devote some time learning the non-freestyle strokes--will help with injury prevention, reduce boredom and just make you a more complete swimmer by improving feel for the water, body position sense etc.

The emphasis on powerful kicking applies more to sprinting. Most good distance swimmers use a two-beat kick which consumes a lot less energy than a strong six-beat kick.

You will never be fast at swimming. It is a technique you need to start perfecting before you reach puberty. It takes a lifetime to get good. Stick to running.

Find a masters group to swim with. Failing that, train like a swimmer, not like a runner. Lots of short rest intervals (10 or 15 x 100 on an interval that makes you work to get 5-10 seconds rest, 20 x 50 on an interval giving 5 seconds rest etc.).

Long slow swimming (anything longer than 200) is a waste of time if you want to get fast (maybe some value if you just want to quickly get to a point where you can swim 1500m without drowning).

And throw the toys (paddles, gloves, buoys, snorkels, fins) in the trash. They have a place if you're swimming 10k/day and trying to squeeze a couple of tenths out of your 200 time but for a new masters swimmer they are just a distraction and/or a crutch.

Looks like I'm going about it all wrong.

This morning I ran 8 miles and then swam 2000 yards.

Then this afternoon I swam 1800 yards and ran 8 miles.

Then later in the afternoon I swam 250 yards before the lifeguard closed the pool due to lightning.

And I can't kick worth a crap. One leg wants to kick but the other won't do the same thing, so I just don't kick with the other leg.

And I don't think I can find a swim coach to help me learn how.

try not to get frustrated. natural you would not have a strong kick coming from running--ask any former runner turned swimmmer/multisport. it is not so much about having a huge powerful kick as it is about proper body rotation. I personally think doing mindless kick sets with a board and fins is a huge waste of time as nothing in swimming calls for such. What is important is body rotation which if you perfect will make kicking a natural.

Like this:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/rotation.html

Hey, if nothing else, look up youtube swim technique videos. Seriously.

xlev2 wrote:

try not to get frustrated. natural you would not have a strong kick coming from running--ask any former runner turned swimmmer/multisport. it is not so much about having a huge powerful kick as it is about proper body rotation. I personally think doing mindless kick sets with a board and fins is a huge waste of time as nothing in swimming calls for such. What is important is body rotation which if you perfect will make kicking a natural.

Like this:

http://www.swimsmooth.com/rotation.html

I think I have good body rotation, but this site really helps.

doh etosh wrote:

Hey, if nothing else, look up youtube swim technique videos. Seriously.

I was doing that the other day. Thanks.

Swam another 1800 yards this evening, so got 5,850 meters in for the day swimming.

So.... wrote:

You will never be fast at swimming. It is a technique you need to start perfecting before you reach puberty. It takes a lifetime to get good. Stick to running.

The difference between good and elite is small in swimming.

o.O wrote:

The difference between good and elite is small in swimming.

Really?

Sure, but if you are only doing 1500m and want to do it fast, you use as much kick as you can sustain for 1500, no? Anything less will be slower.

whyhaveibeenbanned wrote:

o.O wrote:

The difference between good and elite is small in swimming.

Really?

Unfortunately, yes

The difference between 50 seconds in the 100m Freestyle(long course) and 48 is largely attributed to the pool, googles, minor technique tweeks by a coach and highend swim wear.

o.O wrote:

whyhaveibeenbanned wrote:

Really?

Unfortunately, yes

The difference between 50 seconds in the 100m Freestyle(long course) and 48 is largely attributed to the pool, googles, minor technique tweeks by a coach and highend swim wear.

The difference between 50 seconds in the 400m dash is largely attributed to the track, the spikes, and minor technique tweaks by a coach and a highend speedsuit. See how ridiculous that sounds?

I want to be able to do a mile run pretty quickly.

I have never been a "runner" but have always been around the ground and I have never lost a running race from one side of a basketball court to another.(But I havent raced real runners)

Well anyways last year when I was injured for a month I started running almost every day and got to where I could run a mile at a time before I got too bored. And now I started running again about a week ago and I got up to 2000 yards today without stopping before I had to stop due to rain outside. (I don't know what rain outside has to do with being able to run)

Well anyways, if I want to be able to run a 1500 fast what should I be doing everyday? Runing far? Running doubles? Intervals? I don't know anything about run training.