I have another question … should I wear earplugs or just use eardrops to get water out of my ears? I always end up with water stuck in my ears but I swim so infequently that I never take any precautions or use any rememdies but if I were to swim on a frequent basis I am sure water in my ears all the time would be really irritating. What would you folks recommend?
Another lifelong swimmer here. I too get into the whole meditative aspect of swimming (for you runners out there, it’s better than a “runner’s high”).
I also do weights and a moderate jog on a treadmill, varying my routine so I don’t get bored with working out.
Some people say that they feel refreshed after swimming; I think that they aren’t doing it right.
After swimming (1/4 - 3/4 mile per session) I feel like my body is draped with lead weights, although I don’t feel particularly tired. Call it a comfortable logy feel about the whole body. I quick dip in a whirlpool and/or sauna usually clears that up.
Swimming uses more muscles than almost any other form of exercise except wrestling (Greco-Roman, not that cheesy WWF crap); and, as others have mentioned, it is low impact.
Unless you do a moderate-to-fast stroke, though, you won’t elevate your heart rate sufficient to burn some serious calories.
Alternate your strokes to work various muscle groups.
ExTank
“Just throw 'em in, they’ll figure it out!”
My dad’s idea of swimming instruction.
I’ve always been a swimmer but didnt seem to have the time until the past few weeks to get back into it. I’ve been going from 6:30 to 7:30 every morning. Firmer thighs and buttocks dontcha know 
Hmmm. I get huge calfs & square shoulders & bigger lungs. Not much happening in the hip area.
Best to wear goggles for those swimming pools.
I use eardrops. I very rarely get water in my ears (but then I don’t do flip-turns, either) but when I do, eardrops get the water out immediately. I think they work by decreasing the water’s surface tension–but that’s purely speculation. Anyway, I haven’t had swimmer’s ear since I was a Tadpole at the Y. Earplugs seem dorky. That’s a subjective assessment, though. : )
And hey, ExTank, it’s quite possible I’m NOT doing it right, but when I get out of the pool I feel about 20 pounds lighter, because I’m not fighting the resistance in the water anymore. I do a mile every day (trying to work up to 1 1/2) but I do it S-L-O-W (it takes 40-45 minutes), though I do cash in on the “swimmer’s high” almost every time.
I’ve been a 3-times weekly lap swimmer for about 10 years and do just over a mile each time (36 laps/25 yard pool). I get my heart beating at about 145 beats/minute for 35 minutes. Swimming is great for your upper body and overall endurance but in my case while it builds muscle it is not as good at burning fat as bicycling.
I recently started using training foot fins called ‘Zoomers’ - these really make your legs/lower body work harder and also have a nice benefit of speeding you up.
In winter some swimmers can get dry skin. And in general its good to shampoo with a clorine-removing brand such as “Ultra-swim” to prevent chorine build-up (unless you shave your hear or are otherwise folically challenged).
I was swimming 3 or 4 times a week for an hour until a couple of months ago when I DISLOCATED MY SHOULDER DOING THE BREAST STROKE. Aieee! Of all the things you think aren’t possible (actually I was underwater and tried to switch from breast to crawl really fast and. . . it was very hard getting out of the pool). But I love it, as far as excercise goes and I need to start again. I like swimming because if I run I get shin splints and I really hate being overheated and sweaty-- swimming is an excercise which suffers from neither.
To deal with the boredom I took a couple of classes and learned how swimming SHOULD be done and get very anal-retentive about correct stroke, style, etc. (of course then my arm fell off)
Ear drops. Perhaps they are made from something that mixes with the water and causes it to evaporate easier?
My son lives by two main precepts:
There’s never any good reason to go inside, and
There’s never a good reason to get out of the water.
It’s a good thing I like swimming, since we go swimming at least twice a week…usually more. He can’t wait until he can get his scuba license, and neither can I.
I can still beat him in a 100-meter race, but he’s getting closer, and I’m getting older. It won’t be long before my little kid-with-gills can beat his old man.
Swimming is great exercise…especially if you have a 90-lb kid you have to toss around.
Well, some things I dont like about swimming. If you swim in a public pool you swim in tons of people pee & if you swim in the sea, tons of treated people & fish pee.
I haven’t been in the pool much since I gradumacated last year, but before then it was essential. Great exercise, terrific stress reliever, and some of the best parts of my papers germinated as thoughts striking me somewhere around lap 18.
When I got into the pool and didn’t actually feel like swimming N laps, I’d sometimes go jump in the deep end if it was available, and just tread serious water, making all kinds of different movements, pushing water and my own weight around until I was spent. Getting out of the pool and back into gravity, with that nice rubbery feeling all over, makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something.
Laps every day.
Stretching is the key. You don’t do that, and you cant last.
Not to be too anal, but an “Olympic” sized pool is actually 50 meters, and you won’t find too many of those that offer lap swimming. 25 yards is plenty. I was on the Div.I swim team in college and I can tell you the only way to avoid being bored is to either race someone, or race yourself (always trying to improve your times). Oh and rubbing alcohol works for the ear thing.
You might check around for a local Masters swimming group. It sounds daunting, but they are really open to anyone who wants to swim for exercise. My husband used to belong to one at the local YMCA and they also sometimes meet on college campuses or at othe public pools. The advantage is that you have a coach who can help you improve your strokes and who designs workouts for each meeting. They also periodically hold meets and members are strongly encouraged to compete at whatever level is appropriate.
This is the ONLY exercise on earth that I actually crave. I used to go to the Y, but when we moved I made a pool mandatory. So I have one, but unfortunately it is tiny. I use it, though. Every day, sometimes twice a day.
I adore swimming. Many people have already talked about what’s great about it, but let me add…
#1 Most Important thing to get the most out of it - SNORKEL AND MASK. Yep. This will completely transform your swimming experience into something amazing. The reasons are simple: with S&M (heheheh), you do not have to fight to breathe. If you are trying to get good exercise, and you push yourself, you should find yourself breathing harder. With most people, this will completely screw up your stroke because you have to bring your face out of the water so much that it messes you up. With the s&m, you are face down, breathing however you need to without thinking about it. (At the Y people would almost daily compliment me on my swimming, telling me what a beautiful stroke I had. I didn’t tell them that it was probably just because the mask let me keep my face in the water and that made me look smoother.)
Also, this enhances the meditative aspects considerably.
And, as with goggles, you aren’t dealing with eye irritation.
Also, you do not need to get your target heart rate as high as you do on land. Perhaps 15% less, if what I read recently is correct. A part of the reason your heart beats so hard and fast when you do most exercises is that your body is trying to cool itself. This is not, of course, an issue with swimming, which is another thing I just love about it. (I despise getting hot and sweaty). Your heart is also not trying to cope with gravity while pumping, which removes additional stress and allows it to do just what it needs to do.
As for boredom? I’m gratified to see how many other people experience the same things I do when swimming, and do many of the same things. Sometimes I zone, sometimes I focus intently on doing perfect strokes. Sometimes I plan my day…
You also, depending on how naturally bouyant you are (I am extremely so, being very overweight. - Simming is the only exercise that fat people have a big advantage over thin people in doing. It’s changing with my daily swimming, though. My hunny says that I’m developing a hardbody under the fat and my shape is changing considerably) can do all kinds of strokes and exercizes.
I will start with breast/frog for a few laps, then side (always making sure to face the same direction to give each leg equal work) then freestyle. THEN, I’ll bring my legs tightly together and drag them along as dead weight while I use only my arms. (If you sink easily, get a float for your legs) Then switch to legs, holding my arms at my sides. I’ll also do several kinds of backstroke, most often a sort of “fly” stroke that works my pecs. (On my back, face half out of the water…pull arms together in front from the sides…can either kick with legs. or better still, hold them together, pull up in front, and do a kind of dolphin-kick). I also do a few laps of dolphin-swimming, which works my back and abs.
I experiment…I also do a version of the “arms-only” where I pull my arms tight to my sides and press down in the water…like doing a triceps press at the gym.
The beauty fo swimming is that you can get every single muscle in your body involved, and because you aren’t fighting gravity you can switch back and forth and always have some part of you moving. If my legs are tired, do arms and vice versa…if everything is tired, slow down to do a mellow breaststroke. Speed up…push harder, go slower…concentrate on form, concentrate on speed, or stretching…there is endless variety. And there is nothing else on earth, in my opinion, that feels as good as swimming and how you feel after you’ve had a really good one.
I also swim in the nude, which is fabulous. 
Go for it…it can be a truly joyful exercise that you will find many benefits in. And do get the snorkel and mask…it really does make an enormous difference.
stoid…swimming for life
I love swimming, too. As the former 100 meter backstroke state champion (like 12 years ago), I swim as often as I can.
I concur with Stoidela’s advice about the mask and snorkel. It makes you go a lot faster and longer, gives the opportunity for rythmic breathing and lets you look at all the hairballs on the bottom of the pool.
I recently starting taking a water aerobics class. It doesn’t tire me out at all, but if I combine that with laps, I feel like I’ve had a good workout.
I belong to the YMCA near my house. It’s about $30 a month. What’s especially nice is that most of the specialty classes are free to members.
To keep yourself from getting bored: Changing strokes every few laps is a good idea, but my favorite part of swimming laps is the fancy underwater sommersault you get to do when you reach the edge of the pool. If you don’t know how to do it, ask someone how. There’s a different method of turning for each stroke - it’s a nice reward and a driving force. Plus, if you keep learning something new, you may stay interested and challenged.
It seems I’m in the minority, but I much prefer ear plugs to drops afterwards. Last thing I want is water sloshing around in my head. Plus the plugs help drown out any background noise.
Any sporting goods or drug store will carry silicone plugs. They mold into your ear well, are inexpensive, and after a few uses, toss them out for a fresh pair.
I forgot my other brilliant suggestion.
For a long time I drove myself crazy counting laps in my head. Not only was I invariably going to lose count, not only was it thunderingly dull, but it also made me acutely aware (obviously) of how much I had already done, making me think: “Oh, that’s plenty…I’ll get out now”
Well, I made a change that has helped me triple the number of laps I do as well as made the whole enterprise more pleasant, because it frees my mind to focus on other things: I keep a little glass custard cup by the edge of the pool where I end a lap. I have 100 little pebbles and stones next to it. As I finish a lap, I reach up and drop one in the cup. It only takes a second. Since I don’t want to count them until I feel fairly sure I have done a good number of laps, I generally end up doing more than I thought I did.
It frees my mind completely. It is especially useful for me since I have such a small pool that I have to do a huge number of laps. (I shoot for 60 a day, my goal is 100 - that would be a full mile)
Oh, and this might be obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: don’t shoot yourself in the foot by pushing off from the edge. Just turn, and use your own power to get momentum. I’ve learned to appreciate the tinyness of my pool in this, I’m constantly fighting my own slipstream when I turn, which boosts my workout.
Stoid