Difficult to swim continuous lengths help!? - Swimming Forums: The Online Community for Swimmers and Swim Forums

kmac27 · 03-09-2010, 01:26 AM

I am 190 lbs at about 7% body fat. I have been gradually improving at swimming, but as I gain more muscle it seems to diminish my progress.

I have difficult passing past the 100 meter swim without stopping. How can I improve to 150's and 200's?

I've been swimming for 6 months for the first time ever and I have worked on my stoke with coworkers at the pool I work at.

I can swim 10 50's with 30-45 second breaks in about 15 minutes to give you a bench mark on my speed and rest needs currently.

texasaggies · 03-09-2010, 02:32 AM

Short answer:
Start cutting down your rest in between 50's. 30-45 seconds rest sounds like almost full rest. You'll never increase your ability to stretch out your distances by getting full rest in between.

At some point, you'll be able to do it with 10ish seconds rest in between. At that point, jump up to 100's with 30 seconds rest in between, and work your way down again.

Remember, the key to effectively training swimming is to expand your comfort zone. You have to get used to pushing off the wall while you're still breathing a little heavier, while you still feel your heart beating, and while your legs still hurt a little. It's the only way!

Typhoons Coach · 03-09-2010, 03:42 PM

I agree with Tex on this one with regard to the rest.

How often are you breathing, and where is your heart rate throughout the workout?

kmac27 · 03-09-2010, 05:55 PM

Well swimming is just difficult. I bike everywhere I go and I did an indoor triathlon earlier. I am in good cardio shape when it comes to running or biking. For example I can easily bike 20 miles in a day and not come close to sore the next day.

During normal cardio exercises my heart rate is around 157-167 on average. I am 21 resulting in a high heart rate at exercise. During swimming my peak heart rate is around 170. After my 100th meter I just feel that I need more oxygen :-). I am using bi lateral breathing for the most part and if I don't get a good breath I go for another one on the next stroke.

I have made some modifications on my stroke as well. If I do a continuous stroke I get fatigued quickly. I feel if I take a stroke and wait till one arm has done a revolution then the other arm goes I can swim continuously longer.

It is just difficult to be aerobically fit yet I can barely swim two laps without getting tired. I can easily tread water for 20 minutes.

Typhoons Coach · 03-09-2010, 07:50 PM

So what you are telling me in your post is that your body is just not used to being deprived of oxygen. Let me ask you this....do your muscles feel fatigued after you swim, or are you more so just needing air?

If you are just needing air, then I would say that you need to work on hypoxic sets and not worry about the distances at this point - in other words, get your body trained to not need that air in order to operate.

kmac27 · 03-09-2010, 09:03 PM

Lets just say that after I swim for 15-20 minutes my legs are muscularly fatigued and my upper body could go for days. I do become very winded though. Hypoxic sets? swimming 5-7 strokes without breaths?

texasaggies · 03-11-2010, 05:17 PM

kmac, right. Basically, he's saying just stay at 50 yard distances, work on not breathing every stroke, and don't take TOO much rest.

Basically, in running and biking, you get to breathe as often as you want, and so your body isn't used to performing when you can't do that (aka in a pool). Before you can stretch out how far you can go in one go at it, you've gotta get used to this feeling, and this "hypoxic swimming" will help that.

A note on your modified stroke. I would try and cut that out while you still can. It may seem easier to go longer distances this way, but your goal for swimming should be EFFICIENCY, not simply forcing bad habits to swim further. When you swim as you've described, you're not taking advantage of the momentum you're developing. In the long haul, it will be much better for you.

It sounds like your gearing up to do some triathalons. What's your time frame?

Typhoons Coach · 03-12-2010, 02:49 AM

That's the general idea behind a hypoxic set...having your body operate without the intake of oxygen; pushing the respiratory and pulmonary systems to deliver the most efficient amount of oxygen to the body while maintaining enough to withhold muscular output for longer durations.

Another "fun" way to do a hypoxic set is to swim 25 yard underwater swims and go on a certain breath rest. Run a few rounds of that with decreasing breath rest. So, for example:

4 x 25 Underwater (UW) swim @ 7 breath rest
4 x 25 UW swim @ 5 breath rest
4 x 25 UW swim @ 6 breath rest
4 x 25 UW swim @ 4 breath rest

kmac27 · 03-14-2010, 07:04 PM

I'm actually not gearing up to do a triathlon. I am interested in getting good at swimming. I am close to my personal training certification and the more activities I can master myself the better I can aid my clients in their endeavours. Besides being in the fitness field for almost three years I have noticed that there are a vast amount of swimmers and bikers and not very many runners at older ages.

My personal goals is to just to get good enough to where I can swim and not have to stop in a 30 minute time period. Also being able to swim a mile would be nice in any time.

Typhoons Coach · 03-16-2010, 02:18 PM

kmac...great idea on trying to branch out for your clients!

Have you tried the UW set?