The swimming topic.

I bloody love swimming and as we have a running topic I thought I'd test the waters with a swimming topic (see, I can also do puns yes, it's a gooseberry fool pun but a pun nonetheless).

I've been a member of my local pool for years now but only about 4 months ago I got told about a service they provide where you can get a wrist band that monitors your swimming (lap times, laps total, strokes per min and distance per stroke) and you can also give yourself challenges.
At first I was a bit sceptical that it would do much but I must admit I've been pleasantly surprised that it really does help to motivate me to have self set targets as I choose a challenge and set my finishing date as whatever the average time taken is and then I set about destroying that average

I started with a challenge of a swim between the UK and Ireland which was about 105km and I managed it in 55 days (average was about 120 days) and then I went for the Suez canal which is 158.79km and so far I'm 99.1KM (I started may 9th) in so doing rather well.
In 69 swims I've managed 212km and I go at least 5 times a week so not bad really.

So, has anyone else caught the swimming bug and is your local pool any good as that's obviously a huge stumbling point if you don't have a decent pool. My pool is a 25m pool but is run well and has swimming lanes open for people who just want to pound out laps.

Don't like swimming.

33m pool minimum. 25m feels cramped.

I've got back into weightlifting but was swimming 3x a week doing 1200 metres each session. Usually half back stroke and half breaststroke. Probably my favourite kind of exercise. It provides a nice bit of escapism too.

Does often cause a monstrous appetite once done which can be counter productive!

I'm planning to get one of those fitness monitor/watch that's suitable for swimming too.

Peter Crisp wrote:So, has anyone else caught the swimming bug.

I can do a doggy paddle.

I only care about hot chicks in Swimwear, shame none of you posted any.

Pedz wrote:I only care about hot chicks in Swimwear, shame none of you posted any.

I started swimming again 4 weeks ago because the university lets you use the pool for free if you are a student. I use it for the exercise and I'm pretty big on seeing how deep I can swim right now. There's something cool about doing the length while at the bottom of the pool. That said once your air runs out it can be quite the panicked rush to the top not gonna lie.

I swim as the only exercise I do...I don't really have set routines or anything, I just swim when I get chance.

Back in the UK I swim 40 lengths on a lunch break to hit 1 km.

In cyprus I just go dick about in the sea when I can, which is normally about 5 times a week. No idea what distance I'm doing or anything, but it sometimes feels like a long way and with the current and waves it makes it a bit better exercise.

Any decent watches for recording my swimming? Maybe if i had one i'd be motivated to hit a target. Your watch sounds good peter, whats it called?

PS if you're swimming 5 times a week, you must have a good body? Pics???

I don't know who makes the wristband as it's just free for anyone who has a direct debit membership.
As for pics I don't do photos and pretty much have zero of me. I have a feeling the last time I had my picture taken was at a friends wedding about 10 years ago and before that was at my Brothers wedding. I just realised that if I ever go missing I'm most likely strawberry floated as they won't have a clue what I look like .
I suppose I'm a lot thinner than I was and swimming doesn't really build muscle anyway as if you look at even Olympic class swimmers sure their slim but they aren't exactly Charles Atlas.

I did have 2 photo's on facebook of me at Wembley for a play off final watching Luton but that's at least 15 years old and I haven't updated facebook in at least 4 or 5 years.
The best thing I can say about my body is I'm not dead yet so it's going well so far.
My last 20 days have been pretty good I've only missed 2 days and swum 58.325km so yeah, I'm doing alright I think.

I started swimming this past month with my wife as she's pregnant and it's really good exercise for her. We just take it nice and easy going across the smaller pool (so basically 10m lengths - I may nip back and forth a few times as she rests). I'm really enjoying it, I feel like my entire body is getting the benefit. I go out surfing occasionally but I don't go out far enough to need to swim. I basically walk out and maybe swim a little bit further out than I can stand in the sea.

My technique is awful. I think I need to invest in some nose plugs as I can't get the timing right for my breathing, so I end up doing a front crawl with my head up. Need to get that sorted before I even think about going in the 50m pool (I say 50m, the rumour is it's 49.99m as they didn't factor in the tiles when they built it ).

Does Scuba Diving count? Though I haven't been in a little while.

Great topic, I love swimming and I've started going again over the last two months, try to go a minimum of twice a week and average 30-40 lengths each time, mostly breast stroke but I do some crawl and backstroke. Can really feel the benefits too, I've lost 1 stone, 2lbs since I started (have tried to cut out snacks too which I'm sure has helped!) but generally I just feel a lot fitter and more energetic for it.

I was never great at any sports as a kid with the exception of swimming but I stopped for the most part when I went to secondary school and they didn't have a pool, been on and off over the years but never regularly got back into it until now. I don't particularly love the gym so it's nice to get back to something I actually enjoy but that's also doing me some good.

Only downside is that my pool does lane swimming and often when I go they only have one lane open (due to swimming lessons, public swims etc.) which means you have a mixture of the real hardcore swimmers doing end to end crawl at a really high pace, and the old folks slowly making their way up and stopping every length for a chat. Can make it quite difficult to have a decent swim when it gets busy.

Peter Crisp wrote:I've been a member of my local pool for years now but only about 4 months ago I got told about a service they provide where you can get a wrist band that monitors your swimming (lap times, laps total, strokes per min and distance per stroke) and you can also give yourself challenges.
At first I was a bit sceptical that it would do much but I must admit I've been pleasantly surprised that it really does help to motivate me to have self set targets as I choose a challenge and set my finishing date as whatever the average time taken is and then I set about destroying that average

Do you know what it's called? Sounds great, I have a fitness tracking band for general use and the app on my phone records the time I swim for but nothing else so that sort of thing sounds ideal.

It's called Swimtag ( https://www.swimtag.net/?cid=6350 ) and it's linked to a fair few swimming pools.

Dowbocop wrote:I started swimming this past month with my wife as she's pregnant and it's really good exercise for her. We just take it nice and easy going across the smaller pool (so basically 10m lengths - I may nip back and forth a few times as she rests). I'm really enjoying it, I feel like my entire body is getting the benefit. I go out surfing occasionally but I don't go out far enough to need to swim. I basically walk out and maybe swim a little bit further out than I can stand in the sea.

My technique is awful. I think I need to invest in some nose plugs as I can't get the timing right for my breathing, so I end up doing a front crawl with my head up. Need to get that sorted before I even think about going in the 50m pool (I say 50m, the rumour is it's 49.99m as they didn't factor in the tiles when they built it ).

I know this may sound a tad silly but I advise seeing if your local pool has a swimming instructor and just ask if he can take a look at your swimming stroke and give you some advice as this is one of the most common problems.
He will likely tell you something really simple that will improve your stroke massively.
Most instructors are really nice and know you don't want full on lessons just a helping hand to improve.
I for instance made the classic mistake of crossing my hands above my head when my hands hit the water during front crawl which apparently is a hugely common error and slows you down quite a bit. I'm still not a speed swimmer but I can keep up with all but the super speedy types who I just try and keep an eye on and let past.

Lagamorph wrote:Does Scuba Diving count? Though I haven't been in a little while.

A long long time ago I used to do canoeing in a local pool that had a wave machine so yes it counts.

Peter Crisp wrote:

Dowbocop wrote:I started swimming this past month with my wife as she's pregnant and it's really good exercise for her. We just take it nice and easy going across the smaller pool (so basically 10m lengths - I may nip back and forth a few times as she rests). I'm really enjoying it, I feel like my entire body is getting the benefit. I go out surfing occasionally but I don't go out far enough to need to swim. I basically walk out and maybe swim a little bit further out than I can stand in the sea.

My technique is awful. I think I need to invest in some nose plugs as I can't get the timing right for my breathing, so I end up doing a front crawl with my head up. Need to get that sorted before I even think about going in the 50m pool (I say 50m, the rumour is it's 49.99m as they didn't factor in the tiles when they built it ).

I know this may sound a tad silly but I advise seeing if your local pool has a swimming instructor and just ask if he can take a look at your swimming stroke and give you some advice as this is one of the most common problems.
He will likely tell you something really simple that will improve your stroke massively.
Most instructors are really nice and know you don't want full on lessons just a helping hand to improve.
I for instance made the classic mistake of crossing my hands above my head when my hands hit the water during front crawl which apparently is a hugely common error and slows you down quite a bit. I'm still not a speed swimmer but I can keep up with all but the super speedy types who I just try and keep an eye on and let past.

That's a decent idea actually. I'm pretty good at copying techniques that I see done, so I've been trying to learn by osmosis by watching other people swim. Observation has improved the coordination between my arms and legs and got me trying to turn more in the water as I crawl. In the 25m pool pretty much everyone is swimming head up though as they are casual swimmers out for some low impact exercise and not timing themselves etc.