Looking for swimming advice

[RachelB]

I've been getting in the pool lately, mostly to try to build some upper and lower body strength without jarring my knees and hips. To that end, it seems to be working.

 

But I'm wondering-- has anyone found a way not to be bored while swimming? If I'm going to get to the point of getting cardio benefit from this, which would be nice, I'm going to have to stop zoning out.

[Maggie Mae]

I've been getting in the pool lately, mostly to try to build some upper and lower body strength without jarring my knees and hips. To that end, it seems to be working.

But I'm wondering-- has anyone found a way not to be bored while swimming? If I'm going to get to the point of getting cardio benefit from this, which would be nice, I'm going to have to stop zoning out.

YES! Swimming is my favorite! Unfortunately I don't get to spend a lot of time in outdoor pools and lakes due to my extreme northern location.

Personally, I don't get bored working on my stroke, increasing my speed, trying to beat the person splitting my lane, etc. But I see a lot of people with waterproof MP3 players. Check swim outlet.com

Have you participated in a swim clinic or master's swim? I swam in high school, but doing a clinic helped me immensely with my speed and stroke.

[Aurora rising]

For me swimming is like meditation, I love it and am much more relaxed afterwards. the only thing I do is to count my lanes to be sure that I swim enough (and to have a little competion with myself).

If you want, you can do mantras while swimming or try to count your lanes / strokes / breath.

I hope it helps!

[Firiel]

How about doing sets instead of just a long, slow swim? I find I don't get bored when my workout is very physically taxing. I'm miserable, but not bored!

You can do sets of 100yds where you do the first length (25yds) easy, the second medium, the third easy, and the last hard.

I also like doing workouts that mix long and short sets. I'll do a 400 then 4x100 (I swim these pretty hard). Then, a 300 and 3x100. Then a 200 and 2x100.

[Peas n carrots]

I recommend, as Firiel pointed out, downloading some workouts that mix it up.

I usually swim 2x a week these days doing about 2000M each time...so I don't do anything super long. I spend about 250M warming up, then do 750M doing drills to improve my stroke, and then the final 1000M doing a long swim (when I'm training for tri's I tend to do more specific workouts that are more for speed/stroke technique).

I understand feeling bored when I'm doing my "long" swim, and the first 100M tend to be kind of boring. But eventually my mind sort of goes into a nearly meditative state and I just kind of have random thoughts. It's kind of nice as I have a job where I'm constantly being interrupted so it's just 45 minutes of time all to myself. But YMMV

[RachelB]

Ah! Hadn't even thought of intervals. But that is a good idea.

I'm taking a break from the pool for a few months, as it is outdoors and not heated. (Although winter here isn't like real winter, it is much more pleasant to be in the water when there is more direct sun.) But I am going to try this when spring comes.

[47of74]

It's been a while since I made it to the pool, I switched from the Y to a 24 hour fitness place because my work schedule wasn't as compatible with the Y's hours as I would've liked.  Anyways when I was a member of the local Y I would swim laps every so often, usually at least trying to do from 1/2 a mile to a mile.  Then if there was room in the pool I would spend a good 15 minutes treading water.  There are some treading exercises that you can do if you have access to things like beach balls and the like - here's some examples of exercises that can be done.

fitnessmagazine.com/workout/lose-weight/total-body/pool-workout/