I'm a beginning swimmer. How long should my workouts be?

Question

I know how to swim but haven't done it in a long time (years). I'm trying to get back into shape (not in good shape at all right now). I'm really a runner, but I can't train for that till I lose more weight. How long should my initial workouts be? (I would ask someone at the pool, but they seem. . . eh, not to care, and there's a waiting list for lessons.)

Answer 1

The two answers before me are kinda right....it really depends on you and how you feel in the water.  The good thing about swimming is that you will notice improvements in the water very quickly.  

I would recommend starting around 1000 yds.  Do sets of 100's (4 lengths of a typical pool) to start (that will be 10 sets of 100 yds each).  Try alternating swimming, and kicking.  Eventually you can change this to sets of 200 yds and use it as your warm-up.

The key to start is building up your endurance so you can start adding distance and speed to you r workouts.  

Once you start to feel more comfortable in the water start adding distance to the total workout and vary the length of your sets (ie. 4x100 yds then 8x50 yds sprint then 2x200 yds...).

The other thing you want to remember is to always do a few laps nice and easy (cool down) at the end of your workout to stretch your muscles out and bring your heart rate back down to regular. As your workout length increases so should your cool down length.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

30 minutes

Answer 3

It depends from you...how often you will do it per week....

you can seach result abaut 1 month.

Answer 4

30 minutes and go to your local pool and see if you can join a summer team

Answer 5

depends on you............ up to 3 weeks

Answer 6

iv been swimming competitive for about 3 yrs n we swim about 5000 yds in a hour 45 but tat is way to much for beginners so id would probly reccomed doing about 1000 yds to start and that should take you about 30-35 depending on how fast you swim and build up From there from Wat u feel comfortable.

Answer 7

about 20-30 minutes to start of with. then build up. when I said about 20-30 mins I ment each day or maybe 5-6 days a week then build up to 40 mins and so on

Answer 8

I'd start out (if you can go atleast Mon-Fri.) every day for 15 minutes the first week, 20 minutes the second, 1/2 hr. the third, and 45. minutes every week thereafter.  Swimming is EXCELLENT exercise!  You got me thinking, I could really lose some weight too! (I look much better in my Speedo than a bikini right now, LOL)  I  may take water aerobics at my local gym.  I hear that you shed pounds like crazy!  Good luck.  Remember, don't overdo it at first.  And as a runner, I'm sure that you know to STRETCH beforehand (so important!)!   Oh, if you can't go everyday, atlest go 3-4 times a week to get results.  And have fun too!

Answer 9

As long as you have good technique still I would advise around 45 minutes, no less than 30 minutes and no more than an hour.

The thing here is that you have to get back into the habit of workouts. I swim an average of 2 and a half hours everyday and I've been skinny most of my life but for some people they get right into this and they don't get any results. With that in mind if you workout on set intervals (say 100 yards freestyle kick on 2:10) start out with inflated intervals so if you can do 100 free kick comfortable in 2:00 go for 2:15 to start out, you just have to prepare your body. Every 3 or 4 days decrease these intervals until your hard lines are a bit of a challange for you but so you're still able to complete them without missing your intervals.

Answer 10

Start slowly. I was in the same boat but in my case, I had not swam but I am beach bum...so, most of the time I would swim in the ocean.

I recommend you start slowly, 10-15 minutes, stop and do another set of 5-10 minutes. You don't want to burn yourself out. Then, when you feel your body adapting to water/speed, gradually increase by 10-15 minutes more.

I swim for 30 minutes plus I do some pilates and aerobics at the gym prior my swimming.

Good luck!