cant swim

Two things that helped me when I started... others who know more might have more technical tips for you... but

1) Swim slower.
2) Focus on your breathing... forcibly blowing out bubbles underwater, taking almost exaggerated breaths when you roll over to exhale.

good luck!

If you've never had any formal swim training before, and you're just getting into shape, your progress is going to be slow. Swimming well enough to not die is hard. Swimming well enough to make decent forward progress is HARD!!!

Even if you can't afford an ongoing relationship with a swim coach, you might see if you can get 2 or 3 sessions just to review your stroke mechanics, and get some tips on how to improve.

It's entirely possible that your mechanics are bad enough that you're wasting alot of energy, basically just thrashing instead of using your energy to make forward progress.

If you know anyone who's ever swam on any kind of team, you might ask them to come to the pool with you and give you some pointers.   Anything is better than nothing, and "friend" prices can be pretty reasonable.

Above all else, keep practicing!

I'm far from the best swimmer on here.  I'm relatively new to swimming freestyle, I'm slow as all get-out, and a few months ago I couldn't make it more than 50m without stopping.  However, I HAVE gotten way better in the past few months.  You will too.  Here are some things that helped me:

1) Whenever your face is in the water, you should be exhaling.
2) Whenever your face is out of the water, you should be inhaling.
3) Your mouth should never be closed, because that will impede (1) and (2).  You will grow to love the taste of pool water.
4) Splashing is a big waste of energy.  You want your arms to glide into the water, catch it, and pull you along.  You don't want to be beating at the water like a beaver's tail.  Same with your kick -- you want it to stabilize you and (to some extent) propel you along.  You don't want it to send up a rooster's tail of foam and make the water all choppy.
5) Creating drag is a big waste of energy.  You want to keep your head, belly, pelvis, and legs all on one plane as much as possible, and that plane should be parallel to the water's surface.  So if you keep your core muscles engaged and your head a bit down, and keep your legs from sinking, you will get way faster.  Using the pull buoy will help you with this a lot. 

The best tool I found for learning how to swim without worrying about drowning was a pull bouy.  I put it between my thighs and squeeze it.  This keeps my hips and legs in a proper position and keeps me afloat.  I don't kick at all when I use this and all I concentrate on is my stroke and breathing.  It has taught me how to glide longer and slow my pace.  I also found out quickly that I was faster with a pull bouy between my thighs and no kicking than I was without.  This reassured me that my stroke was improving and my legs could be salvaged for the run with a minimal 1 or 2 beat kick.

I am still not fast but I swim with a 2 beat kick, meaning basically 1 kick for every 1 arm stroke.  This is basically just enough to keep your hips and leg on the correct plane and provide only a small boost in speed.

I have not had any lessons or anything and found Google and Youtube to be great tools for learning how to swim.  You can also search for the Total Immersion swimming video's that I hear are great.  I have watched some of the videos and tried to immulate the techniques.

Do the following to start and then slowly, as you build confidence just start working on putting it all together.  Once your swimming feels more like you are gliding and not just trying to prevent drowning your on the right track.

1.  100 Meters with a pull bouy
2.  100 Meters Kickboard (should be slow strokes, work on learning how to kick using the least amount of effort and greatest speed.)
3.  100 meters Freestyle (Concentrate on technique and not speed)
Repeat...

There are lots of other drills out there and I also do some Breast Stroke and also a Side Stroke.  I have heard mastering this can be helpful when preparing to pass or for a quick break if things go wrong.  I can keep up with most swimmers now on my side that are doing freestyle, although this takes alot of effort with you legs so if you are planning to save them for the bike and run I would not suggest very much of this.

As with any sport, when you get tired it all starts to break down and technique goes out the window.  This is the time for the pull bouy again, I have finished workouts with 400m+ using it the entire time just so that I can finish.  I wish I could use it in my tri swim, I would fly then.




Edited by Batlou 2009-07-02 9:07 AM

I'm in no position to give technical swimming advice, just encouragement. When I started swimming 9 months ago I was in the same boat as you, swim two lengths of the pool and I was shot. I know the frustration...before getting in the pool the first time I had the "I've always been an athlete, piece of cake" mentality but I learned quickly that 100m dash times don't transfer to swimming. I was just trying to swim too fast. I found that the good thing about being a slow swimmer is that you can make huge gains with a little dedication.

I am in the same boat as you , when i first got in the pool i could not do 25 meters w/o stopping now i can do 50 meters at a time working on getting it to 75 and so on but that was only a few weeks ago, i remember reading on here to get in the pool as much as possible even if it is only for 15 mins, i was also following the 13 week sprint plan, i have recently switched to the 3xbalanced plan but i try to get in the pool everyday if possible or atleast to the beach. I have found alot of help on this site and on youtube, i did find out that i was going too fast and when i slowed down i was able to actually go farther with my swimming, the breathing will come, just practice as much as possible, i was never a swimmer and it is a slow process but you will get there. Good Luck !  

One word of caution though, don't specifically rely on the pull buoy.  It is meant to be a tool for improving stroke, not as flotation device.  As someone mentioned above, switching between doing 100m with the pull buoy and 100m without will be good until you improve your stroke enough that you're comfortable to not use it.

I started swimming June 1st.  I could only do sets of 50 yards as well.  The single biggest thing I learned was to SLOW DOWN!  It's been said here before and I agree 100%.  Being new to swimming I had no idea how to pace myself and I would just go for it.  If I got tired I would sort of panic and speed up to make it to the wall.  Learning to relax and slow down was the first step for me.

Second step for me was the breathing.  Again, nothing here that someone has not already said.  I always try to exhale slowly while my face is under water.  It would be easy for me at the beginning of sets but I would have to really concentrate on this as I would get tired.  Learn to slow down your stroke even in the middle of a set so you can fully exhale under water and get a good breath when you roll over for one. 

One month in, I can now do sets of 250 yards and I am confident I can do more but I am working on sets of 100-200 yards with minimal rest in between.  It took a few weeks to see results but I know I can keep progressing from where I am now. 

The goal now is to increase distance and improve form.

X2  
I could hardly swim in october 08 and was dreading the thought of a mile swim.  Total Immersion helped me alot ...I got the DVD.  It took a while to sink in, but when I incorporated the 2 beat kick, it really started to work for me.  Now I can save more energy freestyle than breaststroke.  

Here is a link that really helped me with my 2 beat kick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpFVvho0o4

I definitely second the pull buoy, but make sure you dont start using it as a crutch. It should help teach you how to keep your body parallel with your head down and hips up.

Also, whats your breathing pattern...every other stroke?? every third? etc.

The horse is out, but... make sure to read the prerequisites, if any, when choosing a training plan. Most plans here state up front that you should be able to swim, bike, and run for X amount of time before starting the program.

For now just keep swimming, swim slower, and maybe add in an extra swim session or two per week.

EVeryone has great advice as always.  I coulnd't afford a coach either but got lucky because a guy was at my pool teaching a swim class to college students and gave me some tips.  I would highly recommend watching other people swim.  If you see someone at your pool that swims effortlessly lap after lap watch them.  Strike up a conversation, they just might we willing to give you some free tips.  I've learned a lot by watching other swimmers and having swimmers watch me and give me tips.

When I did my first Tri last year due to scheduling and access to a pool I never had the chance to swim the full distance of the race. I new in my mind I could do the distance but as far as a stroke went I have no skill whatsoever.  My solution was when I got tired and needed a break I rolled over onto my back and did a modified back stroke (kicked with my feet) its usually easy to do even if you are tired. Most people can float on their back and the occasional rollover to spot where you are heading helps get you to the exit of the water.  This may or may not work for you but it doesn’t hurt to give it a try.   Hope this provides you with some help, as a back up plan, training is the only thing that will enable you to do the distance without stopping.

Long, but it may help:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=117554&start=1

Good luck!

Speaking as someone who used to be a competitive swimmer, lo, those many years ago, I want to say this is one of the best, most succinct, posts on the subject ever.  Good stuff.

Only thing I'd say to qualify it is that, for triathletes, kicking is less critical than for people who are going to be competing in standalone swimming events.  Drills with a pull buoy to help you get an awareness of proper body position are a good idea...I'd generally skip the kickboard drills (a lot of triathletes waste a lot of time...IMO...on them).  Concentrate on everything else above and it'll help you.

Above all, though:  Relax in the water as much as possible.  Too many newbie swimmers fight the water (or at least attack it).  You want to feel as much as possible as if you are gliding along.

Good luck.

I also wanted to provide some encouragement. Two years ago I took a swim class which covered a variety of strokes. I was so frustrated when the class ended because I still couldn't swim freestyle for more than one length without panting and feeling like I wanted to die. It drove me nuts that I could run for hours (was training for a marathon) but couldn't swim a lap. I didn't really swim during the following years, then decided that this would be the summer I would learn to swim and do a triathlon. I signed up for a twice-weekly adult swim class taught by an accomplished triathlete. After the first week of classes (where we covered very basic kicking and breathing stuff) the coach was out of town so there was a week off. I went to the pool six days during that week for about 50 minutes each time. On Monday I could only swim one 25 m. length at a time. By Friday I swam 500 meters without stopping. Now I'm in the following week and today I upped it to 750 meters without resting. I'm still very much a beginner, but I'm ecstatic about the progress I've made in a short amount of time. I really thought that I would never have that mythical "breakthrough" that would allow me to swim for any extended period of time.

What made the difference? While I do think the coaching I've received has been helpful, I attribute most of it to simply spending time in the pool. For me the key was getting my breathing and stroke rhythm down, as well as slowing down my kick and my stroke. The best way to make that happen was simply putting in the time and the laps. I also find that it's helpful to just force myself to keep going. Usually I feel tired after only a couple of laps, but if I just force myself to keep on swimming then I fall into the rhythm and can keep chugging along.

Are you familiar with the Total Immersion program? If you can't afford to purchase the book or DVD, you could try the library or Netflix. I've got the Easy Freestyle Swimming DVD on its way from Netflix and I'm looking forward to watching it and learning more.

My main advice is to not get discouraged, learn all you can about proper technique and drills, and just put in the hours in the water. It will come!

Good luck!

I can sympathize with you. I just started swimming in January. At first I couldn't go 1 lap without almost drowning. I had no endurance for it. Slowly but surely, after putting in a lot of hours in the pool and getting some pointers from fellow swimmers, I can now swim pretty well. I went 2000y today without too much trouble. So, my endurance is getting there. Figuring out how to breathe properly really helped. Next I need to work on speed and swimming better in the open water. I find OWS much more difficult than pool swimming. I think the adrenaline rush causes me to go out too hard in an OWS and I get tired after just a few hundred yards. I need to work on that too.       

Of all the pointers I received, the most beneficial was .... treading water.

Yep, most swim workouts I would conclude by tread ingwater for at least 15 minutes to sometimes close to an hour. Treading is helpful because you are constantly sculling, which strengthens your swimming muscles and helps your technique too, by showing you how much resistance your hands feel when pulled through the water in diffirent positions. Also, it can help your breathing, especially if you tread with someone else and are constantly talking. It makes the time go by faster too. One last benefit is that it is a good for life-safety during an OWS. If you do get exhausted and have to stop for a while you need to be able to stay afloat.
 
Good luck. Keep practicing. You'll get there. 

For what it's worth, the first two weeks for me were the hardest.  I'm guessing that within a week or two you will jump to a higher swimming plateau and will be surprised with the improvement.  Hang in there.

you can swim any stroke......so dog paddle/side stroke/"breast stroke" this one

and then find some swim lessons from there. while at the race pick out some fast mo fo and ask them for help at the end of this race.....