r/Swimming • • 11h ago

Swimming for the joy of it

42 Upvotes

Hi!

I'm curious to hear if others have this experience... So, I LOVE swimming, specially long distance, but I panic at meets - therefore I dont join them. I train with an academy (unsure of how to put it in English, is like a group that teaches, trains, and has a small team for competitions), and I'm used to training with some of the members of the team... I just dont care for joining a meet, but every single day my trainer will give me a sort of pep talk about joining a competition, and I cant seem to get the point across that I just train for the love of it, they (both trainer amd others from the 'academy') tend to ask me what's the purpose of doing it, and Im just like "because is fun".

I honestly train like I'm going to join them on a meet because is fun, and I swim because I love it and for health 😅


r/Swimming • • 8h ago

That magical moment when everything finally clicks into place...

30 Upvotes

Short background: I got into swimming when I injured my hips 2.5 years ago and I couldn't run anymore. I'm completely self-thought with the help of Youtube, of course, what else. I aim for two sessions per week, 1500meters each. I average 2:10/100m freestyle, and I'm quite happy with it. I'm 46yo, short woman.

Up untill today, I found swimming being not just the physical workout but also mental too. There's so many moving parts to co-ordinate, you know what I'm talking about. I'd finish my swim with my head buzzing from the intensive mental workout it's just gone through.

But a couple days ago stumbled up on this video by Eetu Karvonen https://youtu.be/7kK_yw9j6mo?si=m039m4CygiYq6SOt and it changed everything. Today in the pool I applied what he's talking about for the first time and I had that Eureka! moment. I stopped thinking what my hands, arms, hips, legs, whatever are supposed to be doing in the water. It's just one thing: your arm at the back is to push your arm at the front, that's it. Both arms are connected through the torso and are working together. Boom! I left the pool with a big smile and a clear, rested mind for the first time ever. 2:02/100m without any extra effort, just like that. I just wanted to share it, thanks for listening (reading).


r/Swimming • • 9h ago

Cam mcevoy's performances in 100 free are insane

Post image
27 Upvotes

He just went 45.11 in 100m free short course. And he went 9.83 in the first 25m.

His training method still defies expectations and shocks coaches.


r/Swimming • • 11h ago

Sharp shoulder pain after swimming lessons

6 Upvotes

Hi All, I am extremely beginner just into 4 classes and I have been practicing hand movements along with my legs, seems like yesterday i did lots of wrong hand movements, and since then i have sharp shoulder pain and having hard time lifting my shoulder? How long will it take to heal and how should I be cautious in future?


r/Swimming • • 13h ago

Weekly Swim Gear Questions (Goggles, swimsuits, techsuits, paddles, headphones etc) October 15, 2026 - Post all your gear questions in this post

5 Upvotes

This weekly post ( on Thursdays) is for ALL gear related questions -

Update: automoderation is now in effect for single gear posts, which may be automatically deleted.

This includes posts about equipment failures, technical problems, sizing questions, or questions about retailer reliability.

This is spam-free & posters of affiliate product links will be banned.

* Goggles (including "smart" goggles)

* Headphones/earbuds

* Swimsuits

* Techsuits

* Lap/GPS/OWS tracking devices

* Audio players

* Paddles

* More goggles

* Everything else


r/Swimming • • 3h ago

I burn twice the calories my wife burns in the same distance.

5 Upvotes

We lap swim together and compare data from our Apple Watches. So are my calorie figures bogus because I’m older and fat or do I actually burn more calories?


r/Swimming • • 17h ago

How to take breath wihtout water goes in your nose while lower nostril submerged freestyle swimming?

3 Upvotes
Half his face and nostril is underwater

Im a beginner and trying to learn freestyle swim. But my problem is when taking a breath and rotating my body, i heard that you want to be as straight or streamline with the water right? so i learn to not over rotate like look up the sky too much. I've seen proffesional swimmer barely turned their face when taking breath. But my problem is when i did this why my other half nostril is underwater when taking a breath with mouth, is the water kinda goes in that lower nostril make makes tingling/uncomfortable feeling up my sinuses. So how do you this? or you should actually turn so that both of your nostrils is above water when taking a breath?


r/Swimming • • 9h ago

Breathing: Indoor Pools / Tight Lungs / Bad Flip Turns

2 Upvotes

Or - is it just in my head and all due to improper technique ?

Context: a combination of some city swimming / training growing up, a few years in water polo with very loose swim sets / now mid 30s and pursuing it seriously again as I always loved it but had other commitments through high school / college.

About 2 months back into it 4-6 sessions a week , using the Y , indoor and outdoor pool facilities. Technique has been improving steadily. My shoulders aren’t hurting anymore , incorporating structured workouts / sets. Starting small … but good lord my breathing is inconsistent.

There are 2 situations I’m struggling with and it’s all breath related: 1.) one bad , poorly timed or executed flip turn and my breathing is near trashed and I have to rest for like 2 minutes at the wall when my body is no where near tired.

2.) Indoor pools : this situation my lungs just feel tightened , like I can’t get a quality breath in. Is this some type of bad ventilation induced asthma?

Sorry if this is too many topics in one post ! Just curious what the pros and avid swimmers have done to work through this ? Thanks in advance


r/Swimming • • 14h ago

Video of a high level swimmer doing high number of pull ups or weighted pull ups?

2 Upvotes

Usually, video of men doing high number of pull ups or weighted pull ups are light men with short arms.

High level swimmers would be long arms and more heavy so pull ups would be harder for them.

And I heard pull ups aptitude are linked to swimming speed.

So I would like to see that, that would be rather impressive.

If anyone has a video like that, thank you!


r/Swimming • • 20h ago

Weekly Technique Critiques October 15, 2026 - Post all your form check request videos here

2 Upvotes

Hi all,

Due to the high & always increasing number of such requests, this is now the weekly (Thursdays) thread to post your requests for critique & community feedback on technique, all strokes.

Requests for feedback or critique on technique outside of these threads may be automatically deleted.


r/Swimming • • 9h ago

I can’t float. Help.

0 Upvotes

I do swimming as hobby and just to stay active, yet I noticed that I can’t float. I’m confident in the water, yes, and I can keep my head above the surface pretty well, however floating just doesn’t work.

What I do: take a biiiig breath, jump a bit until I’m lying on my back, my arms and legs spread. I can stay like that for some time… until I inevitably feel my hips sinking.

Then I decided to try another thing: with lungs full of air I dived a bit and…

Just sank straight to the bottom.

I am on a more muscular side. I’m a girl yet I have abs definition, plus toned legs and arms. I think that maybe my body composition has something to do with it, but also maybe I’m overestimating its impact and it’s just a skill issue (lol).

How do I fix this?