National Learn To Swim Day 2024 is on Friday, May 17, 2024: swimmers: How much do you swim?
Friday, May 17, 2024 is National Learn To Swim Day 2024.
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The reply to your question must include the goals of the swimmer.
If the goals are simply good health, a daily swim where the heart rate is around 150 for 40 minutes or longer is satisfactory.
If the goals are to learn to swim faster and to compete just for fun, then recreational swim teams (summer leagues) will suffice. For an older swimmer, those practices usually are about 90 minutes long, four to five days per week plus a swim meet once per week. In their swim practices, they will likely swim 2 to 2.5 miles per day.
The scale continues based on how fast a swimmer wants to go. I've coached every level up to national record holders and Olympians. Swimmers at that level will put in two practices (sometimes 3 as they will likely lift weights) per day and will attend swim practice six to seven days per week plus meets. They will likely swim 4 to 10 miles per day. My high school swim team's best swimmers were swimming 5.5 - 7 miles per day. I know some world class coaches who have had select groups of their swimmers swim up to 17 miles in a day!
Contrary to what Justin claims, swimmers cannot reach their top performances without a coach as swimmers, unlike people who work out on the land, are in a fluid environment and cannot see or feel positional changes. Justin might be a good swimmer, but without a coach he will remain good ... he will not ever be excellent or elite.
How should I go about starting to swim?
First, determine what you want from swimming; do you just want to workout, or do you want to eventually compete locally or nationally? Depending on your answer, there are a few, quick ways to find a place to learn and train.
Go to the P.E. department at your high school to find out if they have a swim team, if they do, this is a great way to get into low pressure swimming that is seasonal and doesn't require any special training or knowledge.
If swimming with adults (usually no one younger than 19) is OK with you, you can also swim year round with a Master's Swim Team and they are very accomodating to all types of swimmers (experienced or the very beginner). ( )
If you want to really get into swimming and compete to eventually get into National meets, then you can look at USA Swimming's website and find a swim club to join. Each club has different levels of skill (beginner to experienced) and is usually comprised of younger people (5 years and younger to 18)( ) These are usually year round clubs and are broken up into workout groups by ability and age (junior high and high school together, elementary school, etc). The coach will place you with people of similar abilty and will teach you accordingly, so don't worry about knowing the rules or all the strokes.
Depending on the club, they can be highly competitive, but not all are. If you live in a metropolitan area, you will have lots of clubs to choose from so check each one out to make sure it is a good fit for your goals.
Keep in mind that if you do want to join a USA Swimming Club and compete nationally, it isn't cheap; money or timewise (swimming requires money and LOTS of time). I worked out 5 hours a day (once in the morning and once in the afternoon), 5 days a week and one 3 hour workout every Saturday morning on the weekends that weren't completely taken up by a swim meet.
Whats a swim team like???????
if you're going to be on a swimteam you'll have to learn breaststroke and fly as well. One stroke will probably end up being your specialty though... mine was freestyle.
I swam 4 days a week for an hour and a half almost non-stop.
If you're really serious about it, they'll probably ask you to do really early practices.
The coaches will probably be hard on you but this is good because you'll achieve your best. It's a lot of fun though, I did it for 5 years and made nationals twice.
Good luck
