So I tore my knee up pretty badly playing football (soccer) which makes running tricky. I’d like to start swimming to supplement my running. I can swim but by no means am I a solid swimmer.
Any advice or tips as to how I can start swimming for exercise? Thanks.
Try finding a US Masters team in your area. If they are like any of the ones around me they will be just what you need. No one cares what kind of skill level you are and generally the coaches will help you get better.
Find a deep water aerobics class. I know, it sounds like a bunch of fat, old ladies, but deep water is different. My, in shape, firefighter husband went to mine with me and could barely keep up. The exercise is none-impact so perfect for knee injuries.
You’ll wear a swim belt to keep you bouyant, so even if you aren’t comfortable swimming it’s a good alternative.
You’ll be able to transition to swimming easily if you choose.
Here in Seattle, many of the community centers have pools and all have deep water aerobics and master’s classes. Check your local Parks and Recreation listings.
Thank you both. I’ve long since given up any prejudice against aerobics after getting my arse handed to me in my wife’s class (and I’m in decent shape). Pilates almost killed me as well! So that sort of class sounds fantastic.
As someone who also can swim but does not do it so well I ask … so what? I just get a lot more exercise swimming the same distance (as I wrestle the water into submission) than does the experienced swimmer who smoothly glides across in a third of the strokes with barely a ripple in his wake. Yes, when I did tris I was frustrated by it but as for getting exercise doing it - I am breathing quite hard thank you very much!
(I’ve been told the focus on using the fewest strokes to go the same distance and have played with signing up for classes like the Total Immersion program, but I’ve instead just stopped focusing on events and don’t swim too often. Admittedly doing some program and getting better at it might get us able to swim but not well swimmers enjoying it more … but as exercise, nothing more than being sure you won’t drown is required.)
Damn, I love this attitude.
I’ve had knee problems for years and I had to give up soccer, but I kept up with swimming and biking. Neither of which I’m great at, but yeah, I figure I’m just burning more calories per mile than the pro in the next lane.
Both swimming and biking are so low impact that I feel more pain in my knee walking to the bathroom than biking to work or swimming laps on my lunch hour. I keep thinking I should get someone to critique my style, my “stroke”, but Huge Thanks for the reminder that even an amateur is doing themselves a world of good by getting in the water/on the bike.
Enough good that I’m back playing soccer after a year, but not giving up the biking and swimming.
I know I get a pretty good workout from swimming even though I’m not a very good swimmer. Unfortunately I’m very uncoordinated and when I kick wrong I actually make my hip and knee hurt worse than they did when I was out of the water. It doesn’t help that I used to only swim with a frog kick ( the exact way I was told NOT to kick by 2 doctors and a physical therapist) so I keep unconsciously reverting to that and it hurts like hell on my hip when I do it.
Anyway, to answer your question of how to get started…buy a bathing suit. 
Slow down. No, slower. Slower than that. Way slow. That’s about right.
I took up swimming a few years ago, and took advantage of the free swimming classes at my Y to get myself reacquainted with the water. Like you, I knew how to swim, but wasn’t any great shakes at it and just wanted some pointers. The classes were great (even if it was a bit humbling being coached by a cute high schooler just a bit over half my age). Anyway, that was her advice. “You know the strokes, you know what you’re doing, you’re just trying to do it all too fast. You’re not going to drown here in the pool; if you get panicky, just put your feet down and stand up.” Best advice I could’ve ever gotten. Take it slow and easy, and maybe grab some classes if you can.
Oh! And goggles! Trying to swim without goggles is insanity, IMO. You might think that’s obvious, but it was a total revelation to me. (I’m probably not the sharpest tool in the shed, me.)
Go ahead and ask someone to critique your stroke. Swimmers like to talk about swimming, and it’ll only take a few moments.
And, really, sometimes novice swimmers look so uncoordinated you’re kind of hoping they’ll ask for an opinion, just so you can help ease what looks like misery for them. There’s a young girl who does laps at my Y on weekends, who is probably getting a great workout – her heartrate has to be astronomical – but looks like she’s one second away from disaster, she’s struggling so hard to keep her head above water. It’s exhausting just watching her.
Which leads me to this advice: you want your legs and feet behind your head when you’re kicking, not under.
Why is that? Other than for snorkelling, when I use a mask, I never wear goggles. I think I would hate them.
I started swimming this past year after my wife moved into a building with an indoor pool. After a couple of knee and foot surgeries and decades of pounding the pavement, it is definitely easier on the joints.
I agree with what was said about going mega-slow. If you don’t concentrate on going as slowly as possible, you may find it hard to do more than a couple of laps. And you really want to be swimming for some while - 10-20-30 minutes - to get a good workout.
I found goggles necessary due to the chlorine. I also found it frustrating to find a pair that fit well. Really hard to tell if the pair in the store fits correctly until you are in the water. But tightening the strap seems to do the job.
One thing that improved my enjoyment of my swims incredibly was to stop counting laps, but instead, to simply swim for a certain length of time. When I was counting laps, it seamed all I could do was repeat the number in my head every stroke, or else I’d quickly lose track of where I was. And while I was thinking “1, 1, 1…” it was hard to think of anything ese.
But there is a big clock on the wall of the pool. I just note when I start and stop around 30 minutes later. (I had to work up to 30 minutes, but it didn’t take all that long) Freed from counting laps, I can let my mind wander. Staring at the bottom of a pool I miss the scenery I used to enjoy on my runs and still enjoy biking. But I really enjoy the meditative, “sensory deprivation” aspect of it.
I enjoy mixing things up a bit. Tho I do the majority of my laps freestyle at a slow pace, every once in a while I’ll “sprint” a length or 2 as fast as I can, just to give my body a little different experience. And I’ll mix in a couple of lengths of breaststroke or backstroke, just to get the limbs moving through different ranges of motion.
This part is easier then one might think. If you put the goggle lens over the eye and it stays for a second or so without you having to hold it in place and it creates a seal then you have a goggle that fits. I would try on a lot of different ones. Tightening the straps really doesn’t do a whole lot of good, and I’ve found can be counter productive as it can create leaks.
I tore my ACL in the fall and have since embraced my local pool. I can’t believe its taken my so long to get my butt over there. I’ve lived a five minute walk from the pool for six years and only just started going. Bonus is the hot pool… small size pool about chest deep with warm water - great for relaxing and working on increasing the range of motion in my knee.
I’m not a great swimmer, never have been. As a kid, my peers could swim lap after lap and were getting their advanced level badges, while I struggled to complete the requirements of the basic Junior badge. Whether I swim well or not, though, I figure time spent in the pool moving and doing anything is better than me being parked on my couch. Plus I didn’t realize just how active I was until the knee injury slowed me down as much as it did. Even without trying, I feel like I am getting better at swimming and can go longer without feeling like I am gasping for air and that my heart is going to explode.
At my pool they have life jackets, flutter boards and pool noodles available. So in addition to the serious, athletic and graceful lap swimmers, there are also a lot of paddlers, in place joggers and just doing their own thing at their own pace swimmers.
Next on my list of things to get is goggles… the chlorine does bother my eyes and it seems that most people use them. And maybe a cap, because my hair ends up plastered to my face when I surface and bugs me.
I love swimming too. I go to the Y three or four times a week. I don’t wear goggles, but then I mostly backstroke. I am not a big fan of goggles. I do eleven laps each time (ten vigorous, and the eleventh is a cooldown) and I go to work feeling super awake and chipper.
Thanks - I’ll give it a try when I need a new pair. The pair I’m using right now seems to work.
What DIDN’T seem to work so well was the mess of 10-20 yr old or older pairs that were rattling around in the back of a drawer, having been bought for kids, found somewhere, or acquired who knows when or how! 
Oh yeah - probably so obvious as to not need mentioning, but take the time to suss out the rules and conventions where you swim. Ask some other swimmers, or whoever runs the pool. Read any posted rules. Some pools have “fast” lanes for the serious swimmers, and slower lanes for more casual swimmers. Others have no designated lap lanes.
Don’t be intimidated away from the pool, but don’t ignorantly act in a way that unnecessarily annoys other people either. If you really are learning your stroke, and not swimming large numbers of laps, you may want to decide whether you are better suited for lap lanes or the general swim area. Don’t stand around at the end of the lap lanes, and don’t cut across them. But unless you are jumping in during the middle of a competitive swim team’s practice, you should be able to figure out how to exercise at your level without interfering with other swimmers.
No matter what you do, you may run into some dick who acts like he owns the pool. So long as you are not being ignorantly rude, fuck him (or her). Unless they actually do own the pool, they have to figure out how to share it with you as much as the other way around.
Oh man, at the gym I used to go to, they would fucking slice your ass if you weren’t going fast enough in the fast lane. Very srs bsns.
My advice, in addition to all the great advice given (including to please not swim in the fast lane if you are not speedy!) is to mix it up. I grab an anchor and a board and will do something like 200 meters with the anchor (arms only), 200 meters freestyle, 200 meters kicking only (with the board). Rinse and repeat as many times as you need. Or you can do drills to improve your stroke if you feel so inclined. I do the zipper - run your thumb up your side from your hip as you’re bringing your arm forward - or closed fist swimming. Variety is what keeps it interesting for me, though some people enjoy the rhythm and monotony of swimming too.
Yeah, I love my pool. No fast lane, and it’s mostly people my age (37) or older. While there are a few fast people, everyone is perfectly willing to share lanes. It’s not a very big pool and it’s not a very big town.
Now the other pool in the next town over is gigantic. It’s actually closer to me but I don’t go there because they have more of the speed demons and the ruder people…people who are there for SRS BIZNESS and not just to get some daily exercise in.
Why does there have to be a fast lane in the first place? Is it because of the perception that they’ll finish working out faster than a slower swimmer? Why not just limit lane occupancy based on a set amount of time, instead? It shouldn’t matter how fast you’re going. It’s not a highway where there’s a logical reason to separate fast and slow traffic. Unless people swim under buoys to change lanes, or something.