Any tips for swimmin faster?

Question

My main strokes are

breaststroke 37.4 seconds 50m

and

freestyle 29.8 seconds 50m

im 12 yrs old

but it seems hard to get my time faster

nd i realy need to improve if i want to get a placing in the nationals

Answer 1

are you breathing a lot on your free?  you shouldn't be breathing at all for the 50 if possible.  I swim breaststroke as a primary, what really helped me the most is working on my turns, but for a 50 that's not possibel(if lcm, 1 turn with scm).  i would recommend working on your pull out.  i knocked off an entire second when a started going  right up to the legal distance (yds=15) with the first pull out, after that i make sure to go atleast halfway.  hope this helps!

Answer 2

Hard work!

the best way i can suggest to improve is to swim more. Do more swimming training sessions and work harder whilst your in them. You can always do more and work harder. If you wanna be the best thats the mind frame you have to have

With regards to other things you can do. Land training is important, some resistance/weight training, concentrating on the arms, shoulders and back. (legs if you like breast stroke). However you are a little young to start weight training. if you do too much when your young you can stunt your height growth. Rowing machines are particularly good also as they use all of the muscle groups i mentioned and might be a good place for you to start.

Diet is also important, plenty of fresh fruit and veg and loads of carbs! eat carbs before you go training to provide energy, then protein after training to promote healing and growth of muscle.

When its coming up to a race, do carb loading, the whole week before the race, eat tonnes and tonnes of pasta, bread, rice, potato ect. complex carbs. This increases your glycogen stores in your muscle and liver. This is the quick release energy store for you body. it will give you a little more endurance in the race!

I used to swim competitively when i was a little younger. i started swimming when i was 4 and when i was 9 i started racing. by 14 i was swimming 8 times a week before and after school and weekends. I then also did 2 gym sessions a week. It was my life.

Im afraid genetics play a part too. if your 7 ft tall with feet like flippers and hands like paddles your gonna be quick!

Im from the Uk. I competed at a regional level coming 7th in the 100m freestyle in 59.25 secs and qualified for the national championships and came like 40th out of 50. so that show what dedication you have to have to be the best. but if your just after getting a little quicker follow these steps. they will help. Work on your stroke too. get some coaching. theres no point in having all the extra strength if you not using it efficiently. Things like keeping your fingers together. sounds simple but it not always that easy.

my times were very similar to yours when i was 12. but i had a bit of a growing spurt and im now 6"4".

My PBs ended up as around this:

50m freestyle 26.70

100m freestyle 58.90

200m freestyle 2.07.00

50m breast 32.00

100m breast 1.06.30

50 fly 31.20

200 IM 2.14.00

i was a frontcrawler and definately a sprinter. i hated distance training i was useless, far too big and heavy! hahaha!

I rarely swim now i got fed up of loosing, im 21 now, but i do play waterpolo sometimes as i realy enjoy it and am good at it.

Good Luck!

hope this helps

Answer 3

i hear that shaving your whole body even your head will make you faster. dont push yourself too hard your to young but you can swim everyday and do all the breaststrokes and freestyles or w/e youll have to do in the nationals.