I will take a lesson. For now, I've been trying to remember my freestyle tips and watching YouTube videos. I've come up with a list of things to work on. Tell me if I'm totally off base.
- arms stretched out when it enters the water
- bend elbow at start of stroke, palm comes under the center of chest, keep forearm about 90 deg to stroke, the whole forearm is pulling the water, not just the hand, and the pull is a long straight pull along the direction of travel, not a circular path.
- keep body flat, don't roll back and forth during stroking or breathing
- keep top of head pointed forward
- kick with entire leg starting at hips. Not sure how many kicks per arm stroke. Not sure if you bend at the knee.
- alternate breathing sides (for open water, want to be equally comfortable each side)
-

Remmember swimming in Lake Tahoe will always be harder being fresh water. More sinky than the sea.

A few years ago I lost my surfboard a couple of hungred yards out to sea. LOL I got rather a suprise when I found I could barely swim. Umm much had changed in my swimming abilities since I was a young school kid. I signed up at the pool for swimming lessons which was lots of fun. I was the only guy and about 10 or 12 really attractive females. After the first couple of lessons my swimming had got way better and I ended up doing that course plus another slightly more advanced course. To start off with I had that sinking thing too which evidently is quite common with young (52) guys like us.

Daughter's swim meet
 

I took a vacation day today and I'm glad I did because I was able to attend our daughter's swim meet at out local high school.

This year she's swimming, playing the cello, dancing and rowing in the winter/spring...
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Meanwhile, her dog Daisy misses her...


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"I signed up at the pool for swimming lessons which was lots of fun. I was the only guy and about 10 or 12 really attractive females"

Well, that makes things interesting.

I'm on a biz trip so naturally I headed up to the pool in the fitness center. No-one there. One possibly attractive woman entered, but left as soon as she saw the pervert dog-paddling in the shallow end. Not my fault, the whole pool was the shallow end. I can't swim in 3 feet of water, my fingers scrape the bottom and ruin my manicure.

As a Hornet maintainer at a training squadron, I, along with several other mechs, was selected to qualify for a back-seat, e-ticket ride. Part of our qualification was the swim-qual portion which included treading water and drown-proofing. Drown-proofing was a bit tricky to learn, but once I got it down, I found to to be a very good way of relaxing.

I taught my daughter how to do it as well, and schooled her in how to bet with her friends that she could go longer than they could before having to touch the side of the pool. She could go for over a half-hour, quite easily! Not bad for an 8 year old!!! :D

Randy

Can you explain "drown proofing"?

Drown-proofing is basically a means for floating near the surface of the water, similar to treading water. A technique used by Naval Aviators as a means of survival in the event of an ejection over water.

Simply described, you tuck your chin into your chest and kinda roll into a semi-ball shape, arms and legs hanging. I usually cross my legs at the ankle, it just feels more natural that way.

Floating just under the surface, all it takes is a stroke or two of your arms, in a treading water fashion, to raise your head up/out of the water to take a breath. Blow out through your nose as you lift your head out of the water, take in the next breath and return your head to the "chin-tucked-into-your-chest" position and just relax.

Once you get your rhythym down, you'll find you only need to take a breath about once every 30 - 40 seconds...it's really very relaxing (in a pool...not sure of it would be so relaxing in 10 - 20 foot swells/waves. :D )

Here's an example:
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Randy

I grew up around two rivers and several lakes. For the first dozen or so years of my life, I was a fish. Then, a water skier. Got the Mile Swim merit badge, etc. Today, the distance I can swim underwater with a single breath is pathetic compared to before.

I still feel like a fish, and my favorite place to swim is a fresh water lake. Specifically, Coeur d'Alene Lake. Love to swim. If I were a dog, I'd be a black lab.

I'd argue that swimming is the kind of exercises, and I'd suggest not worrying about whether it burns fat. My waist is 33 inches, and my exercise routine involves doing stuff, stuff that I enjoy, lots of it, and eating sensibly and not until I'm hungry. I mean......I have no discipline. But I like to do stuff. Lots of stuff. I do not have cable or Direct TV.

dogs and daughter can swim together in a nice lake!

I will just advise people to be very careful when swimming in a river - we've had several deaths this year. People can easily get trapped in rapids or strainers (that are invisible) and held under water.

Everybody needs to learn drown-proofing! I'll add that is a very low energy way to survive in water; can be used in chop too if you time it right.

John - some add'l lessons will be invaluable - an instructor can see what you are doing (wrong) and correct that; it could be as simple as rhythm or harmonizing arm and leg movements, or not getting the body horizontal (lined out) in the water...

Different body configurations can call for different strokes. I was never fast due to small hands & feet, but always felt "at home" in the water & had a mean scissors kick (long legs).

Hey, I just stumbled across an interesting swimming product. A watch-lap counter that can tell when you've finished a lap. You don't have to push a button to signal the completion of a lap. It uses accelerometers to detect several regular strokes that tell it you are swimming, then a couple second interruption of that regular movement that tells it you are turning between laps. Reviews say it works. Also reports seconds/lap, strokes/lap, calories expended, distance, etc. (when you enter info like pool length and weight). And the usual watch functions too. Swimovate. No connection, I'm not planning to buy one unless I become a serious swimmer, but thought it was cool. The watch itself could be a bit more stylish and streamlined.

You know, I surfed, dived, snorkled, kayaked, etc., etc. but never in my life have I ever enjoyed swimming. Don't know what it is about it, but it's always been the lowest on the list of things I liked to do. I will swim if I have to cross a river or lake, and learned how to swim when I was young, but I considered it a survival skill more than anything else.

Me too Marv. I love to dive, but I'm not a swimmer. I'd rather go ride a bike.

Yeah, I think I'll get on my motorcycle for a while today (or maybe my mountain bike, hmmmm).

Hi jyl,

Great that you're getting back in the pool and trying to improve your swimming. I learned at a young age and swam on the team in middle and high-school and now do it as part of my workout routine about 3 to 4 times a week.

Let me see if I can help a little with regards to swimming freestyle.

Fly is a tough stroke, because your technique depends a lot on conditioning. You cannot be smooth without strong neck, shoulder, core and thigh muscles. I would forget about it for the time being.

You can try breast-stroke though and it's a good change-up when you're getting tired of free.

I swim 2-3 times a week in a pool and enjoy it(as far as exercising goes). Although I consider myself a decent swimmer, I think swimming in a lake or the ocean would be a different matter.

Thanks for the form help, everyone. I'm starting to feel more at home in the water, and getting to the far end alive is less of a surprise than before! Actually I can do about 150 yd (6 laps of the pool I'm using) with a pretty relaxed, sort of smooth, not super slow crawl. After that I start blowing and get thrashy. This is up from, oh, maybe 10 yd at first, so I'm pleased :-)

Hey, my old swim trunks are no good any more, the waistband has lost all the elastic, it is way too big, and without the drawstring the whole thing would fall off. Plus when I get in the water, the whole thing inflates like I'm wearing a flotation aid.

So I need a swimsuit.

My, in the 20 years or so since I last bought a swimsuit, things have gotten complicated.

There's long and loose surfer-type "board shorts", snug thigh-length "jammers", the infamous show-and-tell skintight skimpy "briefs", and "square cut" suits that are snug but have about as much coverage as, say, runners' shorts.

There are basic black and solid colors, wild geometric and florals, and logo-wear.

And there's different materials, lycra and polyester and nylon and who knows what else.

So, what is a suit or style of suit that will be practical and long lasting for pool swimming, isn't an offense against the fashion gods, and won't automatically revoke my man card?

This is purely for lap swimming. Not going to be used for lounging, sunbathing, beachcombing, river rafting, whatever.

Go for the Speedo brief!


Just kidding, although my son wears them for practice. He swaps them out for Speedo Lazr jammers for national meets.

I just wear my beach board shorts. I'm not out to impress anyone or make record times.