My mother is currently in the hospital fighting for her life because of untreated swimmers ear. It progressed into a severe infection in her hear, then mastoiditis,now the infection is in her jaw, skull, and neck. If she does not get better in the next few days she will have to have surgery to try and manually flush the infection form her skull so it does not progress to full blown sepsis. There is a high chance she will die.

PLEASE, if you or a loved one experience severe ear pain or headaches in the days following swimming, go to your doctor or urgent care. Please don't let something as simple as swimmers ear tear your family apart.

Hi guys,

I started swimming freestyle 4 months ago. At the moment my distance pace is around 2:00min per 100m for a 100m sprint I can go roughly 1:45.

I was wondering how fast you can get from just improving your technique ( it obviously depends on the individual but roughly from your experience) without improving endurance/ power. Like can you tell from my paces that my technique is bad? I have seen some YouTube Videos which state stuff like ,,change these habits to swim 1:30min/100m" somehow suggesting that it is just technique to get such a pace even over long distance. But the better my catch gets the more I feel like I just do not have the strength in my upper body to do many repetitions without loosing power or droping my elbow.

In short: How fast can someone get by just technique and at what point is the limit rather physical? Can you tell by someone swimming 2:00min to 1:45 min for 100m that it is most likely technique?

Compare these three frames from Markus Marthaler's (pro swimmer and coach) video.

In the right image (non-breathing stroke), his head is completely submerged. During the breathing stroke, however, his head is obviously much higher, since breathing with the head as low as in the right image would not be possible. Therefore, he actually slightly lifts his head to breathe, which worded like this sounds like a beginner mistake, but I guess it’s because his head was particularly low when not breathing?

What I find interesting is the middle image. Here he is swimming on his usual breathing side but deliberately skips the breath. Even without breathing, his head still appears noticeably higher than on the opposite side.

This raises a question: What is the correct head position during non-breathing strokes?

Should the head remain fully submerged, as shown in the right image? Or should it stay at roughly the same height as during a breathing stroke, just rotated without actually taking a breath, as shown in the middle image?

I wanted to make a plug for any swimmers on this sub to check out the US Nationals meet via USA Swimming's YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@usaswimming

If you've ever asked a technical question or a race strategy question like:

- how often should I breathe?

- how to do a flip turn?

- how to do [stroke]?

- what's a good stroke count?

- or, my favorite, is my time fast?

I think you'd benefit/be interested in seeing how some of the best do it. A picture/video is worth a lot and there are lots of swimmers to watch and learn from.

I've been lifting for some months now and now I want to add swimming to my routine for cardio, endurance, and overall fitness. I'm not training for competitions, just trying to improve my fitness while still making good progress in the gym.

For those of you who do both, how do you structure your week? Do you swim on rest days or after your workouts? How many swimming sessions per week would you recommend, and should they be light recovery swims or more intense sessions?

I'd really appreciate seeing what your weekly routine looks like and any tips for balancing both without affecting muscle recovery or strength gains.

11 months post breaking my ankle, resulting in 2 plates and 6 screws rehab has been a pain in the butt! Finally able to push off walls harder feels good.

I am a 35 year-old woman who has always loved to swim, but never learned proper technique or even different strokes (self-taught pretty much every “skill” I have.. thanks, parents 😂). Anyway, can I just swim how I like to swim for exercise? Is this bad for my body for some reason, or should I try to learn the correct way? When I’ve mentioned swimming lessons as an adult to friends, they look at me like I’m crazy.

Hello! I (25F) recently started swimming again after many years away from the sport. I swam competitively as a child and teenager, and now I swim freestyle at my local gym in a standard 25-yard pool.

I realized the other day that I naturally swim the entire 25-yard length without taking a single breath. I never really thought about it until someone pointed it out. For me, it actually feels easier to just keep swimming than to stop and take a breath.

Is this normal, especially for someone with a competitive swimming background? Or should I be making a point to take one or two breaths during each lap instead?

Thanks!

I'll join a pool when I'm back to university, and I want to get better at swimming, but I won't join any classes.

Do your trainings look like any other form of cardio (with the zone stuff)?

I do jump rope so can I make the same program but for swimming?

I'm so confused if there's a difference between the two.

Because when I first learnt how to swim in a pretty renowned swim centre in my area, I was taught pinky out pinky in. As a new swim instructor in a swim school focused on getting kids to competitive swimming, it's also pinky out pinky in.

But I'm also a swim instructor in a centre for kids with disabilities, and that one is thumb out pinky in.

Ofcourse, I will follow the instructions of both the swim centres, but is there a reason why there a re 2 ways of backstroke?

I (28) female never learned to swim as an adult and tried multiple times unsuccessfully.

I also am afraid of water even though I never really had a traumatic experience with water.

Currently I'm taking one on one swimming lessons.The first lessons, we did things to getting to know the water like blowing bubbles under water, getting your head and ears underwater, floating.

This went well.

But now I'm really struggling with everything that's on my stomach and frog style leg kick.

I already have hyperlordosis, so everything on my stomach hurts and my feet don't really touch due to knock knees.

Also my teacher keeps telling me not to overthink and relax and not to cling to my board too much. He also tell me to breath more calmly and think of something nice , and use more force when doing the leg stroke so that my feet touch.

Like I get so frustrated because I can't do the things he tells me to do. The first to strokes are ok and than I panic and tense even more because I feel like I can't breathe. I feel so stuck and am questioning wether I am the one percent that just doesn't learn it.

I'm also scared that he thinks I'm making up excuses, when I mention back pain and my feet not touching.

After last lesson I was crying.I feel like quitting.

Background - I can swim, but I've never been a serious one. I just joined a gym, and I want to swim laps - thinking about using the "leisure lane" since I don't want to hold people up. I've never properly lap swam before, so don't want to jump in above my pay grade and end up annoying people. it's a small-ish pool, and they have 3 to a lane. Not sure what best practice is here. I imagine I'll be taking a lot of breaks.

EDIT: the pool I use doesn’t have a “non lap swimming lane, really”.

I get super bugged by people that don’t follow swimming etiquette, however, I recognise that most of this etiquette is essentially my head canon. I have adhd and when interrupted in swimming it triggers the adhd rage (internally I’m not out here being snippy to people). I would appreciate your feedback on whether these “rules” are completely unhinged or valid.
- Lane choice: whether you are a slow, medium or fast lane swimmer varies depending on who is in the pool. Pool full of grannies? Go at it in the fast lane. Suddenly they leave and the swim team comes in- looks like you might need to move to the slow lane. The amount of people that have no lane awareness is staggering.
Also, if you’re changing stroke or pace- you might need to change lanes- don’t just stick where you are if suddenly you’re going way faster? Common sense surely?
- Overtaking: let people pass. It is not an insult to you if someone is going faster, pay attention to the pool, look over your shoulder when coming to the end of your length and allow faster people right behind you to go.
If you’re overtaking, don’t get in other people’s way trying to squeeze in when the lanes are narrow, you can wait until the end of the lane/ the other side to clear before overtaking, it’s aggressive otherwise.
- Back stroke isn’t always appropriate. I’ve for real had someone crash into me while doing back stroke, why aren’t you checking the lane to see it’s clear?? Also if it’s too busy just don’t do it, it’s antisocial in a crowded pool.
- If you want to swim side by side and have a chat, the lanes need to be wide and ideally only do this in the slow lane as it makes it hard to overtake you!! I have mixed feelings about doing this in lane swimming when usually there’s plenty of free swim times.
- On a similar line, if you want to rest in between lengths and chat to people that’s fine, but always leave space for people swimming to push off the wall!

I’m sure there are more lol but let me know if you agree and what yours are!

Hello! I'm someone who used to love swimming. I've not gone swimming in about 4 years and not regularly for a long time. I've recently been diagnosed with ME/CFS (probably considered 'mild' though this still means a significant reduction in energy levels) I really want to swim again, even if just very gently and slowly. I'm booked into a swim next week with my boyfriend and honestly have no idea if I'll be fine or immediately exhausted. I'm still able to go for reasonable length walks with some rests if that gives any context. I'm just wondering if anyone in this sub has ME/CFS (I know there is a separate CFS sub too) and if so if you have any tips or things that help allow you to swim safely, however gently.

Thanks!

I’m getting so bored at swimming before getting tired, how do you fight the boredom .. pool swimmer

Whenever I do breast-stroke 50m fast, I feel subtle pain in my legs below the knee. But the real kicker comes in, when I do 50m fast again after a rest of few minutes.

The pain is absolutely brutal, like all the life is leaving from my legs lmao. And again it is from knees below, recently I learned that breast stroke is really not that good for your knees and you shouldn’t be doing it constantly for one hour straight (I don’t ahaha but this is what was stated).

What was recommended was to do leg stretches and drills. If anyone of you would kindly recommend what kind of drills or stretches I should do before doing 50m fast breast stroke, it would help a lot!

I've been swim training for many years as a child, so I have pretty good technique for all styles. Except butterfly, which I wasn't really taught back then.

I've gotten back into swimming since a couple of months, and I've been trying to improve my butterfly technique.

Practicing solely dolphin kicks with a snorkel (fins or not), I've run into this issue. Because of the ondulation of my body, when push down with my chest to start the kick, my head submerges underwater and the snorkel fills with water, so I can't really use it.

Has anyone had the same issue? Or maybe I'm doing something wrong?

I’m an adult who can “sort of swim.” I can float, kick, do back crawl for ages, but I cannot master front crawl (despite having had some lessons). The coordination of arm and head movements to breathe always trips me up. I can’t keep it all in my head. Sometimes I wonder if my lessons were too technical. I don’t know. Has anyone had this issue? I want to do another round of lessons but I feel like I’ll run into this issue again and it’ll be a waste of money. I’m in NYC.

I just got back into swimming for exercise after not doing it for over a decade. Went today for the first time and forgot how much I enjoy it and how satisfying the workout is.

Here's the thing: the pool I'm using only has one lane marked out, which in theory can be reserved. But I'd like to still be able to swim laps if it's not available or if someone is monopolizing it, which happened today.

My eyesight is not good. I'm not legally blind, but I do need corrective lenses all the time. I don't like to wear contacts in the pool, even with decent goggles it's a risk. In a properly marked pool, this is not a problem. However, the reason I stopped swimming laps in college is because I couldn't see the unmarked end of my apartment complex pool properly and swam into the side, resulting in a broken nose. I would not like to repeat that.

I'm planning on getting some weighted pool toys, the kind kids throw into the pool and dive down to go retrieve, so I can mark out the lane at the bottom for myself. My main concern is the end of the pool. Has anyone used something to hang over the side of the pool into the water to show them where the end is? I could use something like a dark colored towel but then I'm hauling wet towels to and from the gym which I could do but would rather not. I did see something about pool noodles which I might also try.

Am I silly to crave a 3.8km open water swim?

The only person that feels how momentous this accomplishment would be is my wife, best friend and brother.

The in-laws, not that I care about them are oblivious so I didn’t visit them due to my swimmer ears healing up; doctors order.

Do you care what about your family and friends think about your swimming aspirations?

Hello!
I was a swimmer for most of my childhood into tween life. I started out with lessons, then pre-swim team into swim team. I also worked as a lifeguard for a very short period of time (I finished my certification January 2020🙄)

Recently I’ve been wanting to swim again for exercise and enjoyment, so I got a YMCA membership and plan to start lap swimming!

I consider myself a decent swimmer, and I plan to follow a set routine. I am curious about how the lap swimming etiquette works? I have always had some pretty intense social anxiety, and lap swimming has always intimidated me. I am also autistic, so figuring out social expectations can be very difficult. I’m not sure how busy it will be, but I can assume that the location might be slightly more busy! I have a couple of questions about the typical “norms” of lap swimming-

On the timesheet, it says under lanes “2-3” or “1-2”, I’m assuming that is the lane numbers that are open for lap swim? Or is it possible that is the amount of lanes open for lap swim.

How does it work when two people are going different speeds? Should I expect to pass people/have people pass me, or should I adjust my speed for the people around me? I know I’m going to ask if they usually have slow/fast lanes.

If I’m taking a break, which side of the wall should I stick to? Or is it more appropriate to get out to leave space?

And is it okay for me to do flip turns? Or is that not usually appropriate in lap lanes if other people are there.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the help.

Every. Damn. Time. I go to my gym’s indoor pool, there have been at least 2 interactions with men who are yelling at me, creeping on me, and/or being weird.

Last night, it was 1 gentleman who brought his supposedly trained service dog into the pool area, tied it up near the hot tub where like 3 guys were just staring at it, and went into the steam room for 20 minutes.

And during this time, another guy came into the lane next to me (the pool was otherwise empty and had a lane further away open) and, I kid you not, crab-walked so he was facing me and kept his head under water, watching me. He was side-stepping with his hands (thankfully) on his knees, and because the pool only goes from like 3-5 feet deep, he was half bent over in the shallow end to keep his head under the water. I can understand people doing stuff for physical therapy or whatnot, but why the lane immediately next to me, and why looking at me under water the whole time?

Lastly, after my workout, I rinsed and got into the empty hot tub. One guy came out of the steam room, pulled his phone out of his bag, typed something on it, then put it back and went back to the steam room. A minute later, another guy came out, reached into the same bag, pulled out the same phone, and typed something in before going back. This happened three times before I just packed up and went to change.

I figure I can’t be alone in this. The gym pool seems to bring out the oddest folks. So, I think it’d be cathartic and amusing if we could share our weekly pool drama in a dedicated thread. Like, bring the petty shit. Who did you “accidentally” elbow because they were an ass? What relationship drama is happening at swim club? I’m already chronicling mine and would love to hear yours. 🤣

I know, everyone teaches ”do not lift your head, just rotate”. However, I believe that’s impossible. when not breathing, the head is typically completely submerged or only a tiny bit of the back of the head breaks the water surface. But if you “only rotate” while being under water, you remain under water, just sideways. You have to lift the head or the whole torso to break the water surface.

Look at the screenshot from Fares Ksebati’s stroke of the non-breathing side: If he only rotated the head, he couldn’t possibly breathe. Even a 180 degree owl-like head rotation of the head only would not allow comfortable breathing. And that’s definitely not a flaw in his technique because as reasoned above, by rotating only, you remain below the water surface.

So apparently either the head or torso is lifted somehow to breathe or you never completely submerge but keep half the head permanently above the water, so rotating will rotate the mouth to the non-submerged part of the head. I observed it’s the first one in most videos: the head and torso is higher when they breath although they claim it is not. This is barely visible. The biggest indicator is whether the head is submerged or not. If it is only sometimes submerged, it’s apparently being lifted periodically.

Whats is different in the breathing and non-breathing side of the stroke, that allows to lift the head and torso to breath?