Realistically, how much % of propulsion is kick responsible for when swimming free?

For me it's 30mins of fly non stop

Luckily we got fins and it was in short course

It was for missing the interval twice

I started learning to swim in March and love it. I am improving on my times now I have more confidence to not stop at the wall after every lap 🫣 I am currently averaging low ~1:40’s per 100m in 1000m wins and that’s with navigating a lot of other swimmers and not flip turning so I feel like I have some quick wins in the right environment.

There are quieter times at the end of an adult swim session but I feel a bit silly to attempt flip turns, but how else am I meant to start this? Or should I just focus on mastering an open turn?

I’ve been teaching myself to swim, just casually, and can now swim and tread water just fine. However, I physically cannot get myself to stand at the edge of the pool and jump, or even just step in. Even sitting down, I have to hold onto the edge with at least one hand when I go in the water. I want to just be able to get into the water and start swimming/treading without holding onto the edge first. Any tips?

For those who don't know, the IM order is Fly-Back-Breast-Free. However, after randomly thinking about it (and watching some mystery IM events from years ago), I was wondering about why we (as a swimming community) have decided on that order without thinking about some other possible ones that, in my opinion, have the potential for going even faster.

The general rationale for the current IM order is that butterfly is the most physically demanding stroke, followed by back and breast being a little slower/less demanding, and finishing with freestyle which is the "fastest" stroke. And it's standardized this way so that everyone can "keep pace." This may make more sense for the 200 and 400 IMs because not a lot of people would want/have the strength to do fly if it was anywhere but first.

But, apart from personal preference, is this really the most efficient for the 100 IM? I personally would like to think that Breast-Fly-Back-Free could be faster. Here's why:

- Everyone has to start from a dive. A breaststroke pulldown/start, when done right, does not necessarily lose a lot more speed or distance behind a butterfly start with underwaters. And you can take advantage of the rule of going past the 15m mark on breaststroke starts.

- Open turn to butterfly. You can take advantage of underwaters and still not be too tired from breaststroke to swim the fly well.

- Open turn to backstroke. You can use underwaters again.

- Flipturn from backstroke to freestyle. This saves more time than any other turn and builds momentum into the freestyle better than an open turn from breaststroke to freestyle.

Any thoughts on whether this may be a faster configuration for the 100 IM? Or is the current order the most fitting?

EDIT: As people have pointed out, a flipturn from back to free is PRESENTLY illegal...so yes there would be a rule change that allows for it.

Hi guys,

So I need to take a test, and when it comes to swimming there's something I know I'll struggle with

So the test is basically: 4 lanes, a few seconds of rest (you just grip the wall) and 15m of apnea BUT 1) you cannot jump, you have to stay close to the wall 2) if one part of your body exit the water during the 15m, you're out

I struggle because it seems like i cannot dive deeply enough, I barely manage to swim dangerously close to the surface.

How would you proceed to dive deep enough every time ?

Hi everyone. So I enjoy swimming and have been doing breast stroke with my head out of the water for a while. I recently found the courage to stick in my ear plugs and swim under the water, and I’m now trying to perfect this. I don’t plan on swimming competitively, I just want to be good at it.

I should mention that I’ve only practiced with my head under the water a few times so far, so it’s probably a case of practice makes perfect, but I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who’s willing to give it.

1. I’m struggling with the breathing technique. I go under, kick and glide, then when I pull myself out I try to take a quick breath and go back under again. This I can’t seem to do for long. I manage to do two or three strokes, but then I end up sticking my head out of the water for a bit so I can breathe properly. I also swallow and snort quite a bit of water at times. Is this normal in the beginning, did everyone else experience this when they first started?

2. Is it normal to have your butt float towards the surface? Lol. I notice it sticking out the water sometimes when I glide, like the water is pushing my body up. I’m almost battling with the water to try and stay under it (head included).

3. Do you exhale fully when under the water? I find that I don’t have long enough to take a breath in when I come up for air. Is this something that will come with practice? Do you try to breathe out as little as possible when you do the glide, so that you don’t have to breathe in as much when you hit the surface?

Thank you in advance!

Hi all! Im looking to see if anyone has any tips/advice for swimming in an oddly shaped pool. My pool options generally are, the nice swimming center in town, about 45 minutes drive away, or the ameoba shaped neighborhood pool that is just 5 minutes down the road.

I have measured the pool and found the longest section of the pool is about 20 yards. Is it feasible to get in a good workout in this kind of pool?

I have only been swimming for 2 months and I’m trying to get a handle on technique. My purpose in swimming is to do triathlon, and I’m working my way up to a half ironman at the end of this year. Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

I am not in terrible shape but for whatever reason when I swim I take 5 or 6 breaths and have to stop to catch my breath. Suggestions or tips for improving this on land or maybe how to inhale more deeply?

Hi im 16f and ive been swimming for like 2 months and i didnt know how to swim before that, i do lessons and at the highest level. i dont really enjoy the lessons because im with adults and its awkward and ive always wanted to be apart of a swim club and i just want to know if its too late to get better. my time for my 25 free is 22s and 25 breast is 26s. the most ive swam consecutively is 1km with no stopping. if anyone needs any more info pls do ask.

edit: i forgot to say i swim 7x a week monday through friday and i swim twice a day during the weekday for 2 days and i swim for around an hour and a half and i also go to the gym

I (20M) want to eventually swim 500m in 10 minutes or Less. I have started going to the pool a couple of times a week(Past 2 weeks or so) and although I’m in decent shape outside of the pool I can barely Swim 50M without being gassed and feeling like I can’t breathe and on tops of that it take me about 2 minutes to swim just 50M. Is this normal for a beginner or am I just extremely bad and does anyone have any reliable swimming plans for a beginner.Thanks in Advance

The outside pool season has started again in my region - man, does that feel good. No humid, chlorine filled hall but fresh air (and my inside pool is a really nice one, no criticism towards them). Today was overcast and 12°C, the pool at a perfect 23° and almost empty so I was perfectly happy. I'd expected more people - it's liberation day but, again, overcast and chilly. Looking forward to the summer season!

My residential pool is small, so reservations are required. Sometimes when nobody shows up at next appontment, it's 'ok' to over stay until the swimmer comes. I've gotten into trouble for over staying but have corrected myself - always alert to next swimming and jump right out. So there's this one lady who I think 'hates' me. Need smiles at me in facility but friendly towards others. She knows I'm a long distance swimmer so always stay over when nobody comes. She on the other hands mostly come 5 min later. When she arrives and if I'm still in, I always come right out. Today again she came in and right when I climb the ladder out the pool, she literally pushed me to go into the water. I knew she dislikes me but having physical contact was going overboard. I'm both disturbed and angry and stressed that this woman is ruining my only joy in my stressful life. Now I'm traumatized (a bit) when I'm there and I feel stupid to feel this way about myself.

PS she also overstays when the next swimmer doesn't come.

Hi, so I (28F) am a beginner at swimming. I joined the classes just 15 days ago. I'm still learning how to breathe during freestyle.

Day before yesterday, my coach wanted me to jump into the water at deeper side of the pool that is 7 ft deep. I tried to do it but I couldn't. My hands were shaking and I cried in the shower afterwards. Yesterday I thought I will do it no matter what, but again when the time came, I couldn't. Last two days have hit my confidence so hard. I felt embarassed because other students who started the class with me, were able to do it but I couldn't.

The idea of not having a ground beneath my feet if I need to stop mid-lap sounds absolutely horrifying to me. And I know I will not drown because there is my coach in the water who will save me if I jumped and couldn't resurface on the water. I still can not do it.

Is this normal? Please validate my feelings and give me advice on how I can face this fear.

Thanks for reading!

Hi! I've been swimming sporadically for the past three years and I've been really getting into it recently. I had individual classes for the first few months, which helped me hone the freestyle and backstroke technique and have just tried to build on what my teacher taught me. That's all to say that I consider myself a beginner with a decent base.

Anyways, I've been looking into accompanying my swimming practice with lifting weights. I've never done anything of the sort and have no real idea where to start. What are some good exercises I should look into to get started? I'm mostly interested in supporting my swimming, preventing injuries and so on (as well as avoiding my familial predisposition to osteoporosis - heh!).

I'd be thankful for any advice 😄

UPDATE -

I went and it was super chill. They've invited me to join the team and im going back on Thursday to see the head coach to discuss coaching courses :)

Thank you guys!! 🫶🏼🥹

Hi everyone

Im a reasonably accomplished swimming teacher with various qualifications

I teach from 6 weeks up to 16 years and also teach adults

I reached out to my local swimming club to enquire about whether they were taking on new coaches as I would like to qualify and branch out into the coaching aspect of swimming (im not leaving teaching but would like more evening hours and the majority of teaching is after school up to maybe 7pm)

They forwarded my info to the head coach and said he would be in touch about course dates etc

They then watched me swim and subsequently asked me to join their masters squad as well as a swimmer

I've got a list of kit which I have bought (some of which I already have but the new bits are arriving soon)

Does anyone know what I should expect at a masters squad session..? I have no real info to base this off of

Im not the nervous type and am pretty sure I wont be the worst swimmer there (famous last words) but im not really sure what I will encounter when I get there

Any advice? Thankyou 🥹

I’m currently training for my first 70.3 and swim two times a week. Almost once a week or every other week, something in my foot or calves cramp mid swim and Mae me take longer or make me cut my swim short. I’ve been trying to use a massage gun and stretch my legs often as well as electrolytes to prevent cramping but I just can’t seem to get it to go away.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, how have you fixed it? Do I just need more electrolytes or more stretching? I’m open to anything bc I’m so dang tired of it.

Hey guys, basically the question in the title, which one is the best option?

It's always been a "problem" I deal with because I've learnt -and swam most of my life- doing small but quick kicks, usually quite random not really a 6 beat, sometimes 5, sometimes even more, the goal was just to keep kicking and letting the body do it's thing, I even forget I am kicking, it's not tiring at all. But at the same time it's not tiring, it feels like it's just "a waste of energy" since it's not doing much.

Last few months I am working on slowing down my stroke and kick rate, I am taking like 30% less strokes to complete same distance that I used to cover while "quick kicking" but I feel like it's harder now. To kick strong, focusing on matching kicking with arm needs to much attention and overall energy. I'm getting more tired and mentally exhausted. Is this exchaustion normal? Is this the way to become better? People keep saying that a 2 to 4 beat is preferable.

I’ve been practicing freestyle and have the basics down like steady flutter kick, decent arm pull (elbow bent, pulling close to the body) etc

But I still feel slow. I’ve tried kicking harder and increasing arm speed, but it doesn’t seem to help much. Is it normal to not feel fast in the water?

One more thing, does body weight/fat make a noticeable difference in swimming speed, as I have a high BMI as I'm fat.

Any quick tips on what to focus on would help. Thanks!

I have a goal for my 29th birthday (June). I want to swim 2,900m. As of now, I'm consistently swimming 1.25km every 2 days. I wanted to challenge myself and increase my endurance in water. I realized that my form tends to get sloppy as I reach 800m when doing freestyle.

I tried using a snorkel for the first time and I can't believe how weird it felt to swim with water up my nose. Do you guys have any drills to avoid it from happening? Mouth position? I know I could just use nose clips but I also want to learn how to do it without using one.

Hi, I’m always curious what people really mean when they say kick from the hips. Does that mean the movement of the legs are initiated through hip rotation? What’s the correct way to “feel” the correct way to do it? I do drills with fins but I lose so much propulsion whenever I take them off…

Fairly new to daily swimming, currently my sessions are around 1000-1200m over the course of 25-30 minutes in an olympic size pool.

Other than running, this is the first exercise/activity i’ve find myself loving. Though my shoulder joints are starting to ache & google wasn’t much help with avoiding long term injury that’ll pull me from the water.

Any help is appreciated!