Did the bands today…
I have to say… It was super hard… But it really force you to be parallel to the floor or else… Also encourage to use a high stroke rate… Or you will sink…
Someone mentioned a need to have a higher stroke rather than move the legs faster… This is a way to accomplish that…
One of the ways they urge the bands on slowtwitch is a combo banded ankles with a pull buoy.
This had huge benefits for me in highlighting the way my body was coming out of alignment and hips were swaying side to side. It exaggerates it, you learn to control it, apply it to swimming normally, etc.
I still drill sometimes by pressing my ankles together simulating the band, which highlights the same thing.
You’re not going to hit your ankles, and if you do, it won’t hurt that much.
You’re rotating around your hips, which means your feet are going to be much farther away from the rotational axis than your outstretched hand. That gap will be closed somewhat by your forward momentum (the axis moves), but as long as you tuck your legs as you flip, and flip before you’re touching the wall, you’re not going to flip into the wall. You’re more likely to miss the push off at first than slap your feet onto the deck.
People should flip turn, it’s a “skill” but a basic flip turn isn’t hard to develop in the way that learning to swim is. Just watch a YouTube video on how to do a basic flip turn, then commit to doing one every 100 yards, within like three sessions it’ll be second nature.
Well… IDK if this is correct for everyone
Some people are more athletic than other, or feel more comfortable than others in the water
My mom was afraid of pools and ocean in general. I never learn how to swim. I can probably count how many times I went to a pool as a kid (probably less than 30 times before I went to college).
I learn how to do a free style stroke 4 years ago. And its just the last few weeks than Ive been practicing alternate side breathing. Its been a VERY VERY long journey for me.
The other side. I have this friend. She was never a swimmer, but she was comfortable in the water. In 6 months she was swimming MUCH MUCH faster than me and doing flip turns. Within a year of starting she was already doing the swim around the keys. She did the 6.2 miles relay with a friend (and the friend husband did the whole 6.2 by himself).
Have I mention my swimming is pathetically sad?
It’s different for everyone. You sound super frustrated, @Joelrivera–sending encouragement your way!
My husband used to hate the water and would flail around to get from one end of the pool to the other. We worked together for ~20 minutes 2-3 times per week, and I got him swimming super proficiently in about a month and a half. Swimming is so much more technique-driven than biking and running, and simply “trying harder” won’t get you results.
One last thing: comfort in the water is SUPER underrated, in my opinion. One thing you might try is to just go underwater and hang out at the bottom of the pool for a little bit. Just get used to being underwater in a relaxed state. It sounds dumb, but it really really helps!
Thanks!
Frustration doesn’t even start to describe my feelings about swimming!
Relax…
Watch Jono as you drift off to sleep, don’t look at the stats or think about his technique, just watch rhythm as you nod off 
He’s like a clockwork toy!
He seems like a decent swimmer!
just wow… he is breathing every 5 strokes and not even trying and he is going at 1:10s… amzing how his head doesnt even move…
Fair enough, I don’t mean minimize the challenges of being in an unfamiliar environment. My point is largely that I think people tend to think learning to flip turn requires hours of drill or practice that they don’t want to invest for nebulous return. To which I would say, it doesn’t need to be more than a minute at a time. Do a few flips away from the wall, like kids do when they play in the pool. (or to get more comfortable in the water, play in the pool!) Learn what that feels like, then imagine yourself doing it as best you can. If you can just do those flips once a session in the pool, and imagine yourself doing it (whenever), you’ll be most of the way there. It’s much easier than learning how to bilaterally breathe effectively.
It isn’t much, but it’s a start - pretty happy considering I hadn’t swam in 10 years five weeks ago!
Sinking legs are the real challenge at the moment!
I hope this is right!
I am sucking less and bilateral breathing. I am very happy with this. Hopefully before next year it will be second nature to do…specially when going easy…
I have just finished reading the entire thread which is the limit of my swimming success.
Making it from the non tap end to the tap end of the bath without drowning is a win for me.
The last bit of swimming I did was about two years ago in the sea off the south coast of the UK. About 10 - 20 meters and couple of times within about an hour, thats the limit before I start drinking the Ocean.
Not been in a pool for about 3 years but I intend to this week. September is my post session break from Cycling so (like most years, except last year because of covid) I am going to try and learn to swim properly.
I can survive if I fall in water I used to compete Rowing, and could just about complete the mandatory 100m swim, although I only ever did about 80m when tested and got away with that being good enough (20m pool even lenghts 
)
New Swimwear should be arriving anytime now / today (no ideal were my old stuff went) so my goals this week are…
Baby steps, lol
You’ll be fine
And,
Get a coach
I’ll chime in here belatedly and I say that I think there is very little value in learning to flip turn for a person training for triathlon swimming.
Doing a flip turn is definitely important if you want to improve at or compete in pool swimming races. Flip turns are faster than open turns (though only very marginally, if you are good at open turns), but take time, energy, and patience to develop. And I would argue it is better to spend that time/energy/patience focusing on the mechanics of swimming improvement that are more applicable to triathlon and open water swimming.
And in the short term, while a person is learning to flip turn correctly (which can take a long time), the mechanics of their stroke setup off the wall can be negatively impacted, meaning it will take longer down the lane to get things lined up correctly for them to work on the real stroke mechanics. It’s usually much easier to setup a good open turn and do a good, strong wall push-off that will set up early good stroke mechanics which is the thing they probably most need to work on.
Edit to add: learning/improving flip turns can increase swimming performance, but for most triathlon swimmers, it’s something like #95 out of the 100 things (ordered by priority) they should work on.
First swim in six weeks. Pre-COVID and pre-move I was swimming consistently three times per week. As much as I really enjoy cycling I need to better balance my activities and found a pool that is now open on my way into work. Hoping to swim twice per week. I’ve skimmed through the thread, and there’s a lot of good info, but I have a few (hopefully quick) questions.
Are you following the swim workouts in any of the TR Triathlon plans or doing something different? If different, what?
I need to improve my technique. Despite swimming “harder” on my intervals this morning they really weren’t that much faster than my warm-up, even though the RPE was significantly higher. What are some good references to improve?
Without a coach, how can I tell which parts of my technique need the most work? Drifting side-to-side with my eyes closed will reveal an imbalance. Breathing on both sides is obvious (I’m way better to the right). Not sure about the more nuanced aspects of swimming like arm movement out of the water, hand position and cupping, proper elbow bend, etc.
I have a set of Finis paddles and can get a kickboard and buoy at the pool. Are there any other essential training equipment I should consider?
I was using tr for a while, but I now do my own thing. It’s usually up to my coach what I do.
If you can get fins… They are another tool I really like…
I really used a few suggestions people gave here .
Keep repetitions short… Say 50s
Start with buoy and work your way to no buoy.
Concentrate on proper catch and breathing…
Do drills aswell…
Once I start feeling better and the pool earlier this year, i start adding volume…
400, 300, 200, 100, then 10x50
Alternate buoy/no buoy on the first sets… Than start all buoy on the 50s and eventually add speed and start dropping the buoy…
All that worked for me…
I posted it because I knew if I didn’t I would say to myself “ah, I’ll start next week or next month.”
I have an enquiry in about coaching, I been looking for about the last two - three weeks. To be honest it has been difficult enough to find somewhere to swim. It seems to all be lane swims or Parent and Child locally (one extreme or the other). Public swims seem to be non existent locally (although available if I travel to semi-nearby towns, but not convenient). I was going to join a local hotels fitness club, 4 lane 25m pool, but found out it has just closed down, rumours are the pool is being demolished and the hotel is being turned in to an old peoples home.
Anyway, re-joined a Gym I used to be a member of and it has a 20m pool.
I managed to go and did my bobs, bubbles, floating and even managed 5 lengths, 100m non-stop but only Breast Stroke (3:11 per 100 yds, lol), I didn’t want to attempt Free-Style and wreck my motivation on my first visit to a pool in years. After the 100m I did 3x 20 pausing for 5 - 10 second between each. I have never swam 160m in on session before, I used to be content with hating doing a length or two and then messing around or going to the steam room instead.
I left feeling really positive, and on reflection I really enjoyed it, a big surprise as I have always hated the water. Think I will just try to build some water confidence before attempting Freestyle, hopefully with someone qualified instructing me.
Well you can’t really, but you can do things like have someone record your swimming, or place an underwater camera at the bottom of the pool in your lane, or try the SwimSmooth app with an Apple Watch…etc.
Progress!
Did 400 to Wu today…
2.10 per 100… And it really felt on the easy side…
I was breathing on a 2 right 2 left pattern…
I did a 400 swim test few months back and it was 2.12 and the 200 were at 2.06. and that felt absolutely all out efforts
Then 12x25 at 25 ish (on 35s)
Twice 4x50 1 at 52 3 at 60 or less (on 1.10)
Then 3x100 at 1.57 (on 2.30)
The 100s were challenging the last 25s but doable…
So i am very pleased with the progress I’ve made this year…
The beat indicator is that my shoulder doesn’t even bother me… At all… No matter how hard I swim… So that means I am not longest pushing with the shoulders!
