Just beginning swimming as a workout, please help?

Question

Well, I'm 21 years old and I thought I was slightly above average in terms of fitness. I've been working out and lifting weights etc and have gotten good results so far. But I decided to swim for cardio instead of jogging, and holy h**l was it a test in humility.

I swam in my apartment's pool, which is like 25 meters long, and I was only able to do 1 lap breast stroke, and 1 lap freestyle before I was totally pooped and couldn't do anymore.

Is that as bad as I think it is? I mean, I know I'm a beginner, but I was expecting more than 2 laps. I'm not deterred, and I'll keep at it. But jeebus.

Any advice as to how to increase it quickly? It's sure embarrassing climbing into the pool, doing 2 laps, and leaving. I plan on swimming 3-4 times a week.

Answer 1

ur going to have to just slowly work ur way to swimming more laps. srry dude, but swimming can take a lot out of u. i do swim team, and we do a lot of laps. wen i started a loooooong time ago, i culd barely do a couple of laps. the little kids on my swim team have trouble swimming a bunch of laps. its really tiring, and ur going to be wiped out after the first couple of weeks. just keep swimming and increasing the amount of laps u do each time that u swim. u'll get better as u go. im good at swimming, so i do about 2000-3000 meters (sometimes more). just try to work ur way up to being able to do a 100 meter (4 laps) w/o stopping. just try ur hardest. dont give up, and have fun swimming. :D

Answer 2

It's fine, beginners have to work up to doing a lot of laps. I've been swimming (competitively) since I was five, and I've realized that you have to keep at it in order to swim a ton of laps in a row. What you should do is swimming 4 times a week (increase to once a day if necessary) and sprint a lap of freestyle, then do a 'cool down' lap of free. This will allow you to swim more laps gradually. Then, doa lap of breaststroke, then a cool down. If you do this 3-4 times a week, you will be able to do two laps of free/breaststroke and two cool down laps. You may also want to do drills. Don't be discuraged with yourself, your 21 and you've never done any lap swimming other than this. I think you're better than me when I started. Just keep at it!

Happy swimming!

Answer 3

I was in the same position a month back. But with practice i am now able to do upto 7-8 laps. Moreover the ability to do more number of laps depends on whether or not we use proper technique. Practice not only helps in increasing body stamina but also in perfecting the technique and thereby helping you go with the flow of the water rather than against it. This in turn will help you in doing more number of laps.