General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Pool membership or swim instructor? Rss Feed  
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2018-12-14 3:30 PM

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Subject: Pool membership or swim instructor?
One of my goals for 2019 is to work on improving my swimming. I'm pretty much self taught, I've been swimming open water once a week for the past 2 years. I've been doing sprints,and I'm a middle to back of the pack swimmer. I want to do several sprints in 2019 with an Olympic toward next fall.

I've looked into joining a pool with a masters group, but it would be stretching my budget and I won't be able to swim at the times they swim. So I'm looking at either joining a gym with a pool to add 1-2 swim sessions a week. Or continuing with the open water swimming once a week, and paying for instruction once a month.

I'm thinking I'll get the most out of the instruction at this point, but would like input.

Thanks.


2018-12-14 3:44 PM
in reply to: riles32807

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Subject: RE: Pool membership or swim instructor?
Instruction will get you a lot further than just adding more yards in the pool.
2018-12-14 5:12 PM
in reply to: riles32807

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Subject: RE: Pool membership or swim instructor?

Ultimately you are going to have to put in the yards/meters, however, you can swim hundreds of thousands of yards/meters and if your technique is flawed you may have largely wasted your time.  

Technique and swim fitness are two sides of the same coin.  You need both, but here's the thing - you can't have good technique without good swim fitness and you can't have good swim fitness without good technique.  That's why swimming a lot with poor technique is largely a waste of time - without good technique, you aren't developing good swim fitness specific to the muscle groups you need for proper technique.  It's a bit of a catch-22.  You need to develop proper technique simultaneously with building proper swim fitness.

The best thing you can do to improve is get with a QUALIFIED coach/instructor.  There is no replacement for eyes-on-deck.  As you begin to improve your technique, you'll begin to develop proper swim fitness.  Once your technique is good, then start building the volume.

2018-12-17 2:22 PM
in reply to: #5252712

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Subject: RE: Pool membership or swim instructor?
Thanks for confirming my thought process. Until the kids are old enough to get up, ready, & out the door in the morning, I'm limited to evening workouts, or what I can do at home. Hopefully in a couple of years I'll be able to make masters sessions.
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General Discussion Triathlon Talk » Pool membership or swim instructor? Rss Feed