Lap Swimming?

[Sirelroka]

Does any body out there do lap swimming for exercise/weight loss? I found out there is an aquatic center just down the street from my apartment and was thinking that might be a good way to get better condition. However, I've never done lap swimming and could use any advice about what I would expect and any etiquette I should know if I decide to go that route. The nice thing is they also have a fitness room (weights and whatnot) there too. Thoughts?

 

[cyklon_300]

If two swimmers are splitting a lane and you wish to join them and swim in a circular manner, get both parties agreement before jumping in. Some people are quite opposed to circle swimming...but at peak periods, not consenting to do so is seen as pretty rude.

Frequently, the new person checks in one swimmer, gets the ok to circle and then takes off without letting the other swimmer know the plan. Head-on collisions hurt.

If you're going to swim circles, try to find people that are swimming at approximately your pace. If your forced to join faster swimmers, be cognizant of where the others are and yield at the wall to let them pass.

Buy a kickboard and a pull-buoy to vary your workouts.

Swimming rocks.

 

[Hank49]

I watched my son in swimming practice. They had a 25 yard pool and would have up to 6 swimmers sharing a lane. There's enough room. If you have to overtake a slower person in front just pick you time.
From what I saw, pretty much everyone on the team was in great shape. But they swim for like 2 hours straight 5 days/week. I really like S.H.I.T. week. Super High Intensity Training.....

 

[Sirelroka]

If two swimmers are splitting a lane and you wish to join them and swim in a circular manner, get both parties agreement before jumping in. Some people are quite opposed to circle swimming...but at peak periods, not consenting to do so is seen as pretty rude.

...but, circular swimming as opposed to what? Sorry if this is really dumb.

 

[coach_izzy]

Does any body out there do lap swimming for exercise/weight loss? I found out there is an aquatic center just down the street from my apartment and was thinking that might be a good way to get better condition. However, I've never done lap swimming and could use any advice about what I would expect and any etiquette I should know if I decide to go that route. The nice thing is they also have a fitness room (weights and whatnot) there too. Thoughts?

It depends on how challenging you want to make it and how good your technique is. You can find people swimming laps for over one hour and you they still remain overweight because the intensity is low (you cannot go high intensity for long periods of time, and this is because of the interactions of the fatigue mechanisms on the energy systems and the nervous system). You can only swim for about 20 minutes of intervals and you'll be in far better shape, if you can handle it that is. Get an experienced coach to watch your form for a session or two. Their wisdom is invaluable and you'll see how much it benefits you. If your technique is not that good, you'll waste a lot of energy and don't get much out of it.

Swimming is great, but it's performed in an environment where the actions of gravity are negated, thus, you will lack in a lot of aspects if you do it exclusively (for instance, there's no eccentric action in swimming) not to mention that postural muscles get overpowered and you neglect them completely, you will end-up hunch-backed like a lot of recreational swimmers and bench pressers (known as anterior cross syndrome). Combine your in-land training with your swimming for more thorough, conditioning, and have a lot of fun! Best of luck

 

[*Floater*]

...but, circular swimming as opposed to what? Sorry if this is really dumb.

as opposed one swimmer taking one side of the lane and then just swimming back and forth on that side - works better with 2 swimmers than circular swimming imo, but doesn't work if you have more than 2 swimmers.

as for how many people can fit in one lane, that depends on how similar their swim speeds are. if you are constantly overtaking people ahead of you then it becomes a real PITA.

 

[cyklon_300]

ok, cancel my reply on circling...it's been covered by others.

The advice to develop proper form and swim at a high intensity is solid.

You want good hydrodynamics so that you can develop an efficient, yet powerful stroke. You often see swimmers with bad form that are unable to push their pace and their physique never changes.

 

[redacted]

Life is good when you have your own lane. I'm old and slow so I can split a lane with someone, almost always younger and faster. But if the only option is 3 or more I usually get out of the way or try some other time. I'm the one with the bad form and a mask and snorkel. It may take me an hour to knock out 2Km but it is still good exercise.

 

[lowwall]

If there are only 2 people in a lane, you can each stay on one side of the lane. Since doing this essentially divides one lane into two, it's called splitting.

Circle swimming is where everyone always stays to their apparent right side of the lane. This means people facing the opposite direction will be on your left so will pass by safely. You can accomodate a lot of people in a lane when circle swimming if they are reasonably closely matched in speed.

If you are being overtaken while circle swimming, just stay as far right as you can, it's up to the passer to make sure the other side is clear and they can get by safely. If you want to be nice when you are starting out, if you are about to be overtaken, stop at the wall and squeeze to the side until the passer makes their turn. But this is not a requirement, more advanced swimmers usually won't do this, especially if they are doing interval training.

Competitive swimmers prefer circle swimming because it's what they are used to and you won't have to stop and reorganize everything if a third person gets in the lane. A lot of recreational swimmers prefer lane splitting, because they either don't know any better, think lane splitting will dissuade anyone else from getting in their lane, or are simply territorial jerks.

As usual, communication is the best way to avoid problems.

Alex

 

[chip104]

Here this illustration should help:

In the fast lane you have tandem swimming. In the medium and slow lane you have circle swimming. As lowwall said, a lot of recreational swimmers are afraid of circle swimming, but it can be a challenge to pace with faster swimmers (but don't be embarassed to begin out in the slow lane and work up).

These are some of my common ettiquette:

Just to add to lowwall's overtaking thing - if I'm behind someone who I want to take over, I just switch over to breast or fly (or half fly since I'm lazy like that) and then "cheat" at the wall by just switching to the opposite lane so the slow poke ahead touches the wall while I don't.

If I'm in the fast lane and obviously not fast enough for the others, I'll swallow my pride and move down a notch.

I don't use a kickboard in the lane (especially fast) if there's other swimmers coming up behind me with not enough space between. I'll move down a lane for the 4 laps and switch back over.

If I've just finished resting at the wall and someone else is also resting and is faster than me, I'll ask them if they are gonna go. Just a courtesy cause it'll save the trouble of them overtaking me half way up the length.

Have fun swimming laps. It kept me sane throughout undergrad.