Tips for a beginner?

Question

I'm a runner, but I know that swimming is good cross training,a good workout, and fun! I have a 12.5 meter pool and today decided to do some laps (freestyle). My fastest time was 11 seconds. So my 50 freestyle time would be around 44 seconds. I know that's slow, and I'm not looking to swim competitively, but I would like to get that time down. Any tips?

By the way, I have a lot of respect for you guys, swimming is harder than it looks!

Answer 1

The proper way to breath is at the end of your stroke with your head turned to the side but not taking it completely out of the water. To quicken your time work on your kick, and how your hands are entering and pushing the water. Those are the keys to a fast freestyle.

I guess what your talking about kicking of the wall is your streamline. You hold your arms together above your head and kick a dolphin kick.

Answer 2

I swim a 20 metre pool in 12.5 seconds peak, so you have some work ahead of you.

As swimming is higher resistance than running, and uses moslty upper body, to get your strength up i would recommend that you start doing press ups and plank exercises. Bench pressing is also good, but with medium weights otherwise your muscles will end up too strong, heavy, and not flexible enough.

Answer 3

For breathing, it doesn't involve picking your head up at all. You roll your body on its side and your head stays in line with the roll.

To begin with, exaggerate rolling on your side to breathe. Think of drawing a line down the middle of your body, when you breathe that half of your body (including half of your face) should be on top of the water.

Here's a drill I make lots of of kids do (explanation below link):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=VMTfsxLbzV0&f...

Start by kicking on your side and taking 8 kicks. Then take a stroke while rolling to your other side. After a few lengths, reduce the number to 6 kicks per stroke, then 4 kicks per stroke. After that, try swimming freestyle the same way, but with a lot less roll.

The goal is to keep your spine in line from your bottom to your head. Make sure you only breathe when your rolling your body out of the water and when you're on your side. Learning to maintain this good body position and breathing correctly will help improve your time.

Answer 4

I just swim lap after lap until im out of breath.  Its hard but you just got to swim and you will progressivly increase your swimming endurance and swim speed. I started swimming laps a week ago  and im already in better shape.