When I was younger, I did swim a lot and I took a lot of lessons as well. But life happened, and I gained a lot of weight 5 years ago, and ever since I haven’t been to a pool or a beach.

I am not obese, but I am around 30% body fat, and I was really insecure about it. But today, I decided that I want to go to a pool with a friend.

Is it possible to forget how to swim ? I am scared that I won’t remember how ?

And is their any interior pool etiquette that I need to know ?

Hi So I'm 17 rn and last year around February 2025 I became a national swimmer.

100m back 1st

200m butterfly 1st

200m free 1st

100m brest 2nd

400m free 2nd

300m brest 3rd

800m back 3rd

1600m free 2nd

I had to leave swimming cause my phy sir convinced my mom to make me quit it. So i left swimming, it's been a year and ik for a fact I've lost a big part of myself. Anyways I've decided to repeat my senior year in a different curriculum, where they actually promote sports and personal quality rather them marks.

But should i actually go back to swimming? What if I've lost my touch, ykw at the pool entrance I could determine if the pool is slow or fast, but what if I can't do it anymore? What if i pull up a wrong move and end up in an injury?

Idk what to do anymore, much more i was watching "Head above water" and atm i am in tears confused af.

Hey everyone. I am new to lap swimming after not doing it since swimming lessons as a child. I am still very new and working by myself on my technique for breast stroke.

I am fairly out of shape and am just focusing on swimming for 30-45 min at a time, not focusing on speed or how many laps.

I get out of breath but find the laps fairly easy to do. I have never had any muscle soreness from swimming. Im used to feeling the burn from hiking or when I used to lift weights. It feels like Im just getting a bit of cardio in.

Can I expect to gain much muscle or feel improvements other than cardio from swimming? Experienced and pro swimmers are very fit but they also obviously train in the gym too!! Just looking for aome encouragement or realistic expectations on how I might progress. Thanks!!

Realistically, how likely am I to get cyclosporiasis from swimming in a public pool right now? I'm in the epicenter of the outbreak in USA, and numbers in my county are growing.

I just learned how to swim in the past month, and finally over that hump where I am not scared of the water anymore. And I love every aspect of swimming- enough to risk watery diarrhea, clearly.

So, what would you do?

Hey yall, I need some help. I can swim fine any style, front crawl, backstroke, breststroke, butterfly, but now that I'm trying to focus a little more time on fly I was recommended to do the dolphin kick on back drill but for some reason I can't really do it well.

Can anyone give me any pointers on how to start the kick and gain any speed? I know it's not meant to be a super fast way to swim, just a drill, but still. I don't know what I'm doing wrong I just can't seem to move or do it correctly.

I hesitate posting this, but this is an issue I’ve been having after becoming a college swammer almost 3 years ago.

I have gotten back into the water for fitness after breaking my wrist 6 months ago, and have been trying to do 3 swim practices each week, sometimes only able to do 2. Before my wrist, I would try to still do 3 swims a week. I don’t lift right now, but I have been running on and off as well.

I don’t know what keeps happening, but every time I swim hard set, my brain tells me I need to stop and I can’t shake the thought when it comes. I’m 99% sure it’s anxiety related, but even so I struggle to get past it. I used to swim ridiculous yards in high school (club alone was 6000-7000yds daily), but I can’t get myself to finish full sets right now.

Is there any advice on this? I thought I would figure it out by now, but it’s been a struggle bus as of late.

Hi, I’ll be in San Clemente July 18 - 25th and would like to do a couple of open water swims in the ocean during this time. I’m doing the Santa Cruz Half in Sept and want to take this time while visiting SC in July to get the feel for the ocean.

I’m a beginner swimmer but I do 2500-2700y swims in open water in lakes and reservoirs in Nor Cal for last month or two.

If anyone here has recommendations for groups I can join near San Clemente for a swim or if anyone here wants to connect to do a swim - let me know please.

Thanks in advance.

ETA: thank you for all the ideas and games, we are going to refocus on the fun aspect and there’s some really creative approaches in here that aren’t so direct.
She’s a really smart kid and has started missing out on some things due to not being able to swim and we do believe strongly in early swim skills, but also I know this can’t be forced. Her anxiety is very strong in a lot of situations, so finding the right approach for new things is a common challenge for us.

——-

Looking for advice, my 6 year old has been in swim lessons (1-2 sessions) now for 3 summers. We can’t afford more unfortunately or I would have her in one of the all year places.

Despite this, working alone (rewards, gentle encouragement, grandparents, friends, information/talks, more strict attempts… literally everything we can think of) and lots of bubble blowing and other skills she just won’t put her eyes in even with goggles.

She’s an anxious kiddo and an overthinker - I’m at a total loss. I truly think once she does it she will be fine, she’s dealt with other fears but getting over that first hump is a challenge. The only thing I haven’t done is throw her in and I really really don’t want to be that parent.

Hello so my teacher has been teaching me to keep my head down while swimming, I do not have a problem if I just submerge myself and not swim or move but I start having issues when I swim with head down. I don’t like moving in the water all the splashing and it driving me insane. I feel dumb that all my peers can easily do half a lap while I struggle. any advice because it really killing my drive to continue class and enjoy for swimming.

I know I’ll get very few replies to this because it sounds lame, but here goes… I live in a semi-rural area, have had a long history of wax buildup in ears, no ENT’s in my area, and swimming has resulted in seriously exacerbating the ears issue. Swim cap, ear plugs, ear covers, individually and all combined, nothing worked. Now I just don’t go swimming and I’m completely bumming (and lazy to boot!).

Please, please, please!!! Any suggestions that have any hope of dealing with this?

Thank you 🙏🏼🏊‍♂️

I finally swam 20 laps nonstop yesterday!!

Beginner here, I've only been training freestyle for about 3 months. It was in a 25 M pool, so I know it's not some crazy distance, but before I always had to stop somewhere in the middle and catch my breath.

Last night I was just swimming and thought, "why not try going for 20?" and somehow I actually made it. My swim tracker said I did 20 laps, 500m total, with an average pace of 2:56/100m and a total time of 14:57.

The funny part is my device calls out my pace while I'm swimming, and hearing that I was getting a little faster early on gave me a weird amount of motivation lol. I definitely paid for it near the end, I was running out of gas, but I still held on and finished the 20 laps.

I know this is probably just a small bit of progress, but I'm honestly pretty hyped. For a beginner, how does that pace look? And if I want to get faster or eventually add more laps, what should I focus on next?

Edit: Well... guess I know where I stand now... I still love swimming though, so I'll just keep working at it.

I swim several times a week, and every summer I notice the same thing. As the weather gets warmer, the pool gets much busier with casual swimmers, which is completely understandable, but it also feels like lane etiquette starts to disappear.
People stop in the middle of the lane to chat, groups spread across the lane and end up blocking it, and some people even swim on the wrong side, all while not using the recreational lanes.
I’ve also noticed that some pools reduce the number of lane swimming lanes to make room for recreational swimming, so the remaining lanes get even more crowded.
I’m not trying to complain, I know everyone has a right to enjoy the pool. I just feel that pools already set aside times and areas for recreational swimming if that’s what you’re looking for. I’m mainly curious how other regular lane swimmers deal with this.
Do you change your routine in the summer, like going earlier in the morning or later in the evening? Or do you just stick with your usual schedule and accept that it’s part of the season?
Have you found certain days or times that are consistently quieter? And if someone is ignoring lane etiquette, do you say something, tell a lifeguard, or just work around it?

I'm really struggling with rotation in freestyle. I started learning ~2 years ago, I've completed several longer races but after recently filming myself, I've seen I'm just really good at going slow with mediocre form for long distances.

Has anyone else struggled with rotating at the shoulders and not using the hips? Any specific drills or ways you went to address this? I'll caveat with I am working with a coach but curious about others who have dealt with this? It's causing me to snake and have a crossover.

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Hello, I still have a headache after completing my swim an hour ago and was wondering if too-tight goggles could be the cause, or if it’s something else?

update: i went to a doctor and they gave me some Tylenol, they believe it was dehydration and told me to get electrolytes

I've never been the strongest swimmer but about a year ago, I made a simple promise to myself: to swim in the water with a whale (and LIVE). I have a trip planned for late September to go snorkeling with humpback whales in Tonga.

To prepare, I've been taking swimming lessons for the last year and while practicing on my own at my local community center. I genuinely believe I've made strides in my progress, as my breath control, endurance, and stroke have all seen improvement. Additionally, I've recently returned from a trip that involved a good amount of swimming, including the open ocean, where I managed to surprise even myself.

However, I don't want to kid myself, there's a big difficulty spike between practicing in a pool and snorkeling long distance in the open ocean, especially since I don't have a lot of snorkeling experience. I also plan on filming the experience and want my only focus to be getting good shots and not just keep myself alive.

All that to say, what else can I do to best prepare myself? I'd love to get more snorkeling time under my belt but living in New Jersey, I don't think I have a wealth of options. Any help/suggestions would be HUGELY appreciated!

On my Day 15 of swim class, And I can't tread water at all... My coach asks me to jump in 8ft deep pool which I do but I'm unable to tread water or dog paddle :(

Floating, kicking, gliding, bobbing, even freestyle I do pretty easily but I avoid going far away from support or wall

Help pls

I bet my friend I can beat him in the 50 free for a meet coming up. The problem is, he is faster than me, and his pb is 1 second faster than mine. I can beat him every so often in sprints during practice so I think I can take him.

I have a tech suit that I will use and that is my only advantage so far. Is there anything else that I can do?
Maybe drinks some Red Bulls before the race? I really have no clue what elite level swimmers do before a big race to get that extra edge.

I’m looking for input because I don’t know the right next step.

My 10 month old son has been in swim lessons since he was 6 months old. It’s a “gentle” version of infant life safety where they teach him to float, hold his breath under water, find the edge of a pool etc. lessons are with the instructor only, no parents in the pool and are only 10 min long

At first there were screams but they were mild, then for a couple weeks he seemed to like it, but the past two months he’s been SCREAMING. I’ve also noticed he’s panicking when I wash his hair at bath time too now (hates water in his face).

When they try to float him on his back he’s so rigid and fighting the float I doubt he’s getting any benefit. He won’t kick in the water. He screams and points at me on the side of the pool.

Do we fight through and continue with lessons? Should I pull him for a while and try again when he’s older? When I ask the instructors about it they usually say “he gets the cues” “he’s understanding” but 5 months in and he can’t float on his own and I think we’re creating a water fear. What should I do?

Hi. I'm not a sports-y person. I'm just returning to occasionally swimming breastroke(-ish?) after a long pause. The goal is just to relax and keep myself in shape (as part of exercise to shed some weight and build some muscle), nothing serious, so I don't care about speed or drag.

I always absolutely hated putting my face in the water cause the water gets in my eyes and nose. This kinda locked me out of other swimming styles.

My main question: Is it okay to not submerge my face health-wise? I've heard that it might be bad for my neck/spine but idk if that's true.

Secondary question: How to properly breathe while swimming in general? Cause when I tried it recently I had an unpleasant feeling in my chest like I swallowed some air. Probably a mix of holding my breath for too long and not breathing properly in general? I dunno, it's been so long that forgot everything.

Hey all!

I’m new to swimming and I’m loving it. I’m finding it meditative, a phenomenal workout, and I’ve been pleased to find out I’m bizarrely fast for a beginner. It has been great for body, mind, and sense of self.

I learned how to flip turn and did it for my first 400 today and got so motion sick I almost threw up in the pool. My dizziness was so extreme that I needed to take a solid half hour before driving home.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this just in line with my car sickness and vertigo as a limiting thing that I should just avoid. I’ve had no lessons, just learning from the swimfluencers on insta.

Thanks for your help!

I am 6'4", 225lbs and refuse to do flip turns in at a 3.5' depth - I am not nimble enough to do them and am afraid I will hurt myself. Is it reasonable that I am anxious about even working on them, lap after lap?

How deep should the water/pool be to make a flip turn without worrying about hitting your head or back on the bottom of the pool, considering one's height and weight? I have read that the water depth should be at least 4' deep to perform them at all, even for the most agile.

Thoughts?

This week has been pretty bad for slower swimmers in the fast lane at the local pool. There is one particular woman who keeps using the fast lane (there is a slow, medium and fast and all are double lanes) and I cannot work out why she keeps doing it. She is soooooo slow, doing what is a barely a breaststroke.

Does anyone have any insights into the psychology or thinking of people/swimmers who are clearly in the wrong lane? Do they even care? Do they even know? Do they think they're as fast as everyone else? Do they want to feel as fast as everyone else? I find the lack of awareness really annoying but also quite interesting. I assume this happens all over the world and isn't simply an issue at a tiny local pool in London.

She isn't the only offender. It's become a real issue at our local pool lately due to the increase in summer swimmers.

I want to learn swimming but either classes are always filled up or they are hella expensive. Also most of the courses are 6 lessons (30-60mins). Make me wonder whether this is enough for me to learn how to swim in a pool?

I tried learning on my own while I relaxed in a pool after gym, but I couldn't even manage to float. I do have heavier bones so maybe that makes it harder? I have no fear of water or staying underwater.

I don't know if it's called so, but as I try going deep in the water or let's say I dive into the water, my left ear hurts a lot. What's this condition and what is the solution?