Whether you’re a triathlete, an injured runner, or just looking for a new way to improve your fitness, swimming is an amazing form of movement for all athletes. Swimming is a low impact that delivers high cardio, tones muscles and builds strength.
If you’re not familiar with the pool, though, it can feel a little intimidating.
Swim training requires a lot of awareness of how your body moves. It also requires more planning compared to other endurance sports–you can’t just run out the door or jump on a bike. You need access to a pool, which can require some research. But don’t worry. Brian Johns, a three-time Olympian for Team Canada, a former world record holder, and the Head of Coach Science at FORM, created this guide for athletes who had never trained in the pool before.
He’ll help you understand what equipment you need, what to expect when you arrive at the pool, and how to do your first workout in the water.
Essential Equipment
Before you make your trip to the pool, you’ll need the right equipment, first. This might require some purchases, but feeling comfortable and strong in the water is well worth it.
Let’s start with the basics.
Basic Swim Gear
- Swimsuit: Beach attire probably isn’t going to feel comfortable, especially as you start to train harder.
Find a suit that is form-fitting, but still comfortable, so that your attire isn’t creating any unnecessary drag. Check out SwimOutlet who stock a wide range of suits. - Goggles: Choose goggles that are smaller, form-fitting, and comfortable during long workouts.
Many goggles today now come with features that help you better understand and engage with your swimming. For example, FORM uses augmented reality so you can see your workout data in real-time. The Smart Swim 2 goggles are worth checking out for an enhanced swim experience. - Swim Cap: For those with longer hair, it’s a good idea to tuck it into a swim cap so it stays out of your face and reduces drag while you’re working hard.
Nice-to-Haves
These are the basics for getting started. But there are a few pieces of equipment that will help enhance your training and improve your technique.
- Kickboard: These isolate legs and focus on your kick, while easily staying streamlined on the surface with your head out of the water.
- Pull Buoy: Conversely, these isolate your arms while keeping your legs afloat on the surface. Pull buoys are great for focusing on your arms, but it can get pretty tiring when you first start.
- Fins: With a bit more work from your legs, fins keep your body on the surface and allow you to swim at a faster speed. This helps you work on your technique at higher speeds.
Most pools have kickboards and pull buoys available for you to use, so check with your local pool before making any additional purchases. Fins and other advanced equipment, like paddles or snorkels, will likely need to be purchased.
Getting Acquainted With Your Pool
Before you jump in, take some time to familiarize yourself with the pools in your area.
Here are a couple of key details to know as you prepare for your swim:
Pool Length
Knowing the pool’s length is important to make sure you’re preparing for a training session appropriate for your swimming level.
- 50m (Olympic-sized) pools can be a challenge if you are just starting. It means swimming for a longer distance before you get to break at the wall. On the flip side, a 50m pool will be more similar to an open water race environment if that’s what you’re training for.
- 25-yard/meter pools are more commonplace and are likely more accessible at a community center near you. Training in a 25m pool can be easier to train in as the frequent turns provide a little rest at the end and a boost at the start of each length.
Workouts are usually structured by distance (e.g., 4 x 100m), so knowing your pool’s length helps you better understand your training sets and whether you need to do two lengths of 50m each or four lengths of 25m.
Clocks
Most pools have clocks on the pool deck to help you keep time and structure your training (more on that in a bit). Make a mental note of where the clocks are located before you start swimming. This will relieve some anxiety when you’re in the midst of your training and trying to remember where to look at the start of your next set.
Some pools will have sweep hand clocks, often with multiple colors, where you can watch the hands move on the clock face to keep time. Others will have electronic clocks where you can read the time as you would on a digital watch.
This may seem like a simple nuance, but for those of us who are so used to reading our time digitally, it may take some time to read the old-school way, especially in the heat of a hard set.
Pool Depth
In most areas, it’s required by law to post pool depth around the facility. If you’re building up your confidence in the water or learning how to train, it’s better to start in the shallow end if possible.
The ability to stand on the bottom of the pool with your head completely out of the water makes it easier to relax during your training, regardless if you’re trying hard or just getting comfortable in the water. It also makes it easier to gather your thoughts, find the clocks, and think about what to do next in your training. It also helps reduce any anxiety and lets you focus just on your technique and training.
Understanding Interval Training
Take a moment here and think about how hard it would be to go out for a 30-minute bike ride right now. Probably not very demanding.
How about a 30-minute run? A little harder than the bike, but pretty doable for many athletes.
Now think about swimming non-stop for 30 minutes. This is much, much more difficult, even for well-trained athletes.
That said, your approach to swim training should be different than what it might be for running and cycling, especially for more aerobic-based training.
Truth be told, only elite long-distance swimmers or triathletes will swim for 30 minutes non-stop at any point in their training (and rarely at that). This is because swimmers rely on interval training to get the same physiological benefits while minimizing the risk of injury or fatigue.
There are two ways that interval training is typically used for swimming:
1. Timed Intervals
For this kind of interval, you complete each interval within a set time. For example, 4 x 50 on 1:00. If you swim 50m in 50 seconds, then you can rest at the wall for the remainder of the interval before starting the next one at the 1:00 mark.
Swimming faster during the interval is harder, but you have more rest at the end of the interval. Structuring sets like this can make it easier to ensure that your workout fits within the time that you have. However, you have to be careful about setting your intervals so that you are not getting too much or too little rest based on your swimming ability and training goals.
2. Fixed Rest Intervals
At the end of each of these fixed-rate intervals, you get the same amount of rest regardless of how quickly you finish the distance.
Using fixed rest tends to be simpler to help you structure a workout, as it does not require you to know how fast you are ahead of time. FORM goggles use fixed rest intervals for guided workouts so that the intervals are easier to follow for most athletes, especially as they are just getting started.
Both forms of interval training are effective in helping build your workouts in the water. Start with simple sets so to help you get comfortable.
For example, a set of 8 x 25’s freestyle on 15-second rest will help you get comfortable with interval training. Here you would only go one length at a time, stop at the wall each time, and learn to look at the clock (or inside your FORM goggles) to know when to go for the next interval.
As you become more comfortable with interval training, you can make longer, more complex sets that can better fit your individual fitness needs.
Swimming Technique Simplified
Learning how to interval train opens up a critical part of your swim training: improving your technique.
Swimming technique often comes across as a complex topic thanks to the hundreds of YouTube videos about how to ‘fix’ your technique.
However, swimming technique is actually pretty simple. It all comes down to two main objectives: reducing drag and creating propulsion.
Reducing Drag
Water is 830 times more dense than air, so the repercussions of poor technique feel much more severe than they do during running or cycling.
Focusing on reducing drag is often underappreciated, but it goes a long way to improving your overall technique.
Here are some tips to help you reduce drag and make your swimming feel smoother:
- Keep your head, hips, and heels in line at the surface of the water.
Like a boat, you want your body flat along the surface to reduce drag. - Minimize unnecessary head movements.
The head is the front of your boat, if your head is swinging side to side with each stroke, so will your whole body increasing the drag you create. - Practice your streamline.
Being comfortable in a streamline will give you a better feel of how long and tight your body can be in the water, and when you are too loose and create more drag.
Creating Propulsion
The way your arms and legs move creates propulsion. It’s likely what comes to mind when you think about technique. The extra density of the water can let a swimmer feel like they are ‘catching’, then ‘pulling’, and finally ‘pushing’ the water as they propel themselves through the pool.
Follow these tips to create more propulsion and make your swimming feel longer and stronger.
- Keep your armpits open.
The muscles that run through your armpits, such as your lats, are the biggest muscles used for swimming. Keeping your armpits open ensures that you are using your biggest, strongest muscles for as long as possible through your stroke. - Accelerate through your finish.
You can’t apply maximal force on the water for the full arm stroke. If you try to, your hand will slip right through the water. Instead, smoothly ‘catch’ the water as your hand enters, then accelerate your hand in a straight line, past your hips. This will feel like you are surging through the water with a powerful finish to each stroke. - Keep your recovery relaxed.
Having a relaxed, but purposeful, recovery is key to maximizing the propulsion you can create. Like putting a letter into an envelope, sliding your hand back into the water will help you place your arm back into the water smoothly, ready for the next powerful stroke.
Beginner Swimming Workouts to Get You Started
Your first goal as you start swim training is to practice being consistent. First, practice with consistency by following your workout plan and leaving on time for your intervals. Don’t worry too much about how fast or perfect your swimming is, just practice with good habits. This makes it easier to evaluate your future training.
Once you get the handle of interval training first, you’ll then be able to focus more on your technique and your effort as you build up your training. Here are a few workouts to get you started based on your experience:
Basic (700m or ~20 minutes)
- Warm-Up:
- 1 x 100 Free @ 20 seconds rest (SR)
- 1 x 50 Free Kick with a Kickboard @ 20 SR
- 1 x 50 Free with Pull Buoy @ 20 SR
- Main Set:
- 8 x 50 Free @ 20 SR; just focus on finishing the interval, finding the clock, and leaving on time.
- Warm-Down:
- 1 x 100 of your choice
Intermediate (1500m or ~40 minutes)
- Warm-Up:
- 100 Free @ 20 SR
- 100 Free Kick with a Kickboard @ 20 SR
- 100 Free with a Pull Buoy @ 20 SR
- 100 Free @ 20 SR
- Main Set (A ‘Pyramid’ to practice your consistency for longer):
- Building Up, hold your technique:
- 50 Free @ 15 SR
- 100 Free @ 20 SR
- 150 Free @ 25 SR
- 200 Free @ 30 SR
- Coming Down, get faster with each interval:
- 200 Free @ 30 SR
- 150 Free @ 25 SR
- 100 Free @ 20 SR
- 50 Free
- Building Up, hold your technique:
- Warm-Down:
- 1 x 100 of your choice
Advanced (2500m or ~60 minutes)
- Warm-Up:
- 100 Free @ 20 SR
- 100 Free Kick with a Kickboard @ 20 SR
- 100 Free with a Pull Buoy @ 20 SR
- 100 Free @ 20 SR
- Technique Focus:
- 4 x 50 Free with Fins @ 20 SR; feel the length of your stroke
- 4 x 50 Free without Fins @ 20 SR, keep the same feeling of length
- Main Set (Get faster as the intervals shorten):
- 2 x 300 Free @ 40 SR
- 3 x 200 Free @ 30 SR
- 4 x 100 Free @ 20 SR
- Warm-Down:
- 1 x 100 of your choice
Pro Tip: If you’re using FORM goggles, you can use HeadCoach™ workouts, which are generated specifically for you. The workouts are personalized to you based on your swimming speed, workout length, and areas for improvement and are automatically loaded into your goggles.
With FORM goggles, all you have to do is show up to the pool, pick a workout, and follow the instructions to get the perfect workout designed specifically for you!
Follow these tips and you’ll be comfortable training in the water in no time (and well on your way to setting and achieving your swimming goals).
