Swimming endurance advice & tips

[TMHeimer]

Yup, mine had that option! Without mask/fins/snorkel I sink like a rock. That would have been difficult for me. With them I can go all day

Absolutely. That's why I'm not in favour of the 300. Swimming and doing anything that invoves scuba and fins are at best distant cousins. It makes sense IMHO to be able to do a proper swim stroke if you are doing any activity in water too deep to stand in. Or even if just fishing from a boat or jetty.

 

[mbs]

Absolutely. That's why I'm not in favour of the 300. Swimming and doing anything that invoves scuba and fins are at best distant cousins. It makes sense IMHO to be able to do a proper swim stroke if you are doing any activity in water too deep to stand in. Or even if just fishing from a boat or jetty.

I respect your opinion, but I will disagree on this one. Training for scuba, not swimming. Pretty sure I will always have my mask/fins with me. Not too mention extra buoyancy from a wetsuit. Not worth an extended argument for sure...

 

[TMHeimer]

I respect your opinion, but I will disagree on this one. Training for scuba, not swimming. Pretty sure I will always have my mask/fins with me. Not too mention extra buoyancy from a wetsuit. Not worth an extended argument for sure...

Yes, and it's been discussed to death before. Have to get this in though-- suppose the boat sinks and you are in just your bathing trunks? We agree to disagree, all good.

 

[mbs]

Yes, and it's been discussed to death before. Have to get this in though-- suppose the boat sinks and you are in just your bathing trunks? We agree to disagree, all good.

Come on, really? How many folks on those monster cruise ships do you figure have passed a swimming test. But enough of these hypotheticals.

 

[dmaziuk]

If you're a swimmer
a) you won't have a problem with mask clearing drill: you're used to chlorine and know how to keep it out of your nose, and won't panic when it gets there.
b) You won't have an issue with trim: you know what horizontal trim is and how to get there.
c) You'll be relaxed in the water.

Choose any three.

 

[TMHeimer]

Come on, really? How many folks on those monster cruise ships do you figure have passed a swimming test. But enough of these hypotheticals.

Probably not many, which I don't think is a good situation.

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Like the OP I wasn't happy with my swimming abilities. I picked up some lessons from Total Immersion (a book and some videos) and spent some time relearning how to swim from scratch:

• Initial focus on a balanced, horizontal float in the water before practicing the breath and kick, then only later the stroke - if you aren't floating properly you will always struggle and expend excess energy
• Learning strokes and kicks that are efficient (i.e. largely bubble/splash free): you shouldn't fight or force the water.

I went from only being able to swim a short distance to being able to swim for an hour or more. A weekend in the pool would cover most of the exercises.

The video below gives an idea of what the stroke looks like: plenty of further info on google. Basically swim smarter, rather than harder.

A swimming coach would go over this, but if time is an issue doing a few exercises may help.

Cheers
Rohan.

 

[60plus]

Anything that helps your general fitness is good. I suggest that when preparing for diving snorkelling with fins is ideal. It helps build up the correct leg muscles, gets your lungs used to pulling a bit to breath, gets you aware of what your lungs are doing and gets you used to a mask and clearing it by controlling you breathing through your nose or mouth. When diving you don't use your arms for propulsion (normally) but if snorkelling for exercise fine to use your arms to swim.

 

[TMHeimer]

Anything that helps your general fitness is good. I suggest that when preparing for diving snorkelling with fins is ideal. It helps build up the correct leg muscles, gets your lungs used to pulling a bit to breath, gets you aware of what your lungs are doing and gets you used to a mask and clearing it by controlling you breathing through your nose or mouth. When diving you don't use your arms for propulsion (normally) but if snorkelling for exercise fine to use your arms to swim.

Absolutely. It would be nice if there were a way to make snorkeling experience a prerequisite for a scuba course. It would surely make some of the mask and airway skills easier for a lot of people. I suppose some places are just to cold or boring to think about snorkeling.

 

[Alaskan Scuba Dude]

I'm starting diving lessons the 28th and want to increase my swim endurance for the 200m test. I figured I've wanted to be more fit for a while, what better time to start than now? I've been doing combined leg/cardio workouts and found that my cardio endurance is good. Any arm exercises, swim practice advice or breathing exercises you could give? Also when swimming, is there anything I could practice to be more efficient in the water and use my energy better in terms of strokes/breathing? TIA!

I've seen swimmers use snorkels to learn to swim and they also use swimming fins. The right kick technique is required. Watch a few YouTube videos. One lap freestyle, next lap breath-stroke.