anon swims

Focus first on making sure you have the correct form when you’re doing your strokes. If there is a lifeguard around or someone else who looks like they know what they’re doing, usually they don’t mind taking a peek at your stroke if you ask them to give you some pointers. They will be able to tell you where you’re doing well and what you need to work on to be able to breathe properly and last longer during your workouts. This will also help you avoid that shoulder pain you were talking about - it’s sooo so essential to maintain form if you’re going to be swimming for a period of time to avoid muscle fatigue/improper balance. I swam competitively all throughout my childhood and teens but only ever breathed on my right side (despite many, MANY years of screaming from coaches) which means my left side is super inflexible now in my mid 20s. I’m also in physio to help fix some issues where my right shoulder blade literally clicks across my ribs due to rotator cuff impingement and hyper mobility. You’ll notice that when you’re doing the stroke properly your muscles need to work less to go faster and you’ll need to breathe faster to keep up. After warmup I recommend doing ladder sets. Start with 50m of one stroke, then 100m of another, then 150m, 200m, 400m, up to 800m if you can make it there, with short rests in between (no longer than a minute) and trying to keep the same pacing. Once you’ve gotten to your ladder’s peak, whatever that is, take yourself back down in the same steps you went up in (800m, 400m, 200m, 150, etc). Again only short rests in between. Whether or not you’re interested in true endurance swimming, ladder sets are a great way to work on your pacing and get your fitness in while avoiding the boredom of just doing one thing for an hour. It also gets you to focus on your breathing because trust me, you will get tired. Good luck on your journey my friend! See you in the water :)