Swimming
I got a swim membership in May 2026, hopefully I will maintain the habit. This is a running log of my thoughts and progress.
I’ve also compiled my understanding of correct swimming technique here.
Starting point
I have always been a poor swimmer. In college, some friends taught me the basics, but I didn’t swim at all in the 15 years after that.
Day 1: 5/22
I can swim 25m, but it was tough.
In my head, I think I imagined the water to have more resistance. In reality, it was very easy to flop around and I had to make an effort to keep my body straight.
Breathing is probably my main obstacle now. When running, I generally keep a rhythm of slowly breathing in and slowly breathing out, but that obviously doesn’t work in the water. I’ve been told that being buoyant is important, so I should make an effort to keep air in my lungs.
Practically, this means holding my breath for a pretty long time, quickly exhaling as I push my arm back, and quickly inhaling as my arm goes above my head. Opinions vary on this, but it makes sense to me and I think I’ll try it next time.
There are lots of small things about my form that I can feel are wrong, but I’ll just have to work through them one by one.
Day 2: 5/29
I felt like I made some progress.
Swimming 25m is still not easy, but it felt better than the previous week.
Breathing exercises feel like they are doing good. I settled into a rhythm of holding my breath for one stroke, exhaling during the second stroke, and inhaling at the end of the third stroke. Expelling all of my air during a single stroke was too hard.
I focused mainly on keeping my breathing correct, and rotating my body along with each stroke for streamlining. Other things that tended to slip that will come with time are:
- Kicking too hard when I get uncomfortable
- Arm not entering the water at a good angle. Probably need to keep my elbow higher so my fingertips enter first.
- Keeping my head down even more, to keep my legs up. I was told it should feel like I’m watching my belly button.
One thing I realized I think, is that there probably isn’t a magic form that will suddenly make swimming effortless. It’s still a physically taxing activity, and it will make me tired. I was emboldened by Tim Ferriss saying that after learning the Total Immersion technique he suddenly was able to swim long distances, feeling better after leaving the pool than getting in. But he had the body already. He just needed to learn how to use it. I don’t have the body, so this will be hard work for a while.
One more thing I want to try to keep in mind next time (even though there is still a lot) is to keep my arms closer to my body as I stroke. That is supposed to maximize my thrust, by keeping energy from being expelled to the sides. I think that especially when I breathe, my arms open up and I lose a lot of momentum, which then makes me more uncomfortable.
Day 3: 6/5
Well, disregard everything I said previously I guess. Swimming was very tiring because I was doing it wrong.
I went back to the Total Immersion guide and revisited it with context from my previous swims. I found this pdf guide and watched some Youtube videos alongside (I should pick up the actual DVD at some point). This gave me a new appreciation for the principles it teaches of caring only about reducing drag, and moving your weight effectively.
I went through the early drills, and slowly built up the foundation of how I hold my body in the water. This made a huge difference. I still need to get the hang of taking breaths as I swim, but in generally going 25m was no longer a challenge. I was able to focus on paying attention to what my body is doing, without being preoccupied with trying to move forward.
I can definitely see how this approach to swimming makes it much easier and more enjoyable. I actually can’t wait for my next session.
Day 4: 6/12
There were a lot of people at the pool today, so I didn’t feel comfortable working through drills slowly. I ended up swimming for most of the 30 minutes I was there, which is a pretty huge improvement compared to my first session.
I had space in my head to consider what my body parts were doing as I was swimming. My head still tends to come up if I don’t pay attention. Sometimes I noticed that I seemed to be going slower - this was a sign that my form was getting sloppy.
For maybe the first time, I could feel the propulsion as I rolled my body and pushed my other arm forwards. It did not feel like I was pulling myself forward with my arms, so I think I’m doing something right.
Day 6-7: 6/25-6/26
I think I finally felt the sensation of relaxing into the water. I had previously been focusing on pointing my face straight down, but it was actually my entire chest that needed to be pressed into the water. I was sitting lower in the water than what I was used to, but the balance felt much more natural. Once I had that position, I realized that I had unconsciously been using my arms and legs to try to keep my body up. My kicking and paddling were slightly aimed to push my body higher. When I was laying comfortably within the water, I finally could understand that those motions are unnecessary. These were all ideas that I was extremely comfortable with in writing, and I thought I had been doing a decent job at following them, but it was only once I felt the correct way that I could see the difference.
Breathing is still a big hurdle for me, though. It makes me nervous and messes up my form. I am probably trying to lift my head out of the water, where I should just be rolling sideways to barely get my mouth out. I imagine that I can already breathe fine even when I think my head is too low, and I will have to get used to that.
Things I want to try next time.
- Practice breathing.
Top of the head is always pointed straight forward. Rotate the head sideways along with the body’s rolling motion. Always keep one goggle in the water. Lift the chin slightly – instead of the entire head – to help clear the water with my mouth. Or, thinking about pressing your ear into your shoulder. Quickly expel air from my mouth before taking a sip, to clear water. Breathe deep from the stomach to get plenty of air from a short sip. Return the head down quickly – along with the recovering arm – to reduce the time spent out of the water.
- Practice kicking
It’s a minor factor but one I haven’t been putting any thought into, and pairs well with breathing when drilling.
Kick from the hips, to avoid just kicking with the shins. Kicking from below the knees drops your hips and increases drag. Small kicks paired with the body’s rolling motion will create a scissoring motion that is very effective.
Drill 1: Torpedo kicking
With arms at your side, kick a little bit, stop kicking, and start kicking again when the legs begin to fall. This is good practice to focus mainly on keeping the body horizontal, and also on kicking technique.
Drill 2: Skating with breathing
Skating position (front arm extended slightly down, back arm flush with body, with body rotated so that high shoulder clears the water). Take sips of breath as needed, focusing on correct form to keep head from coming up out of the water. One side per pool length.
Drill 3: Skating with over-switching
Swim in skating position, holding it long enough to ensure good form. Then take a breath along with the back arm’s recovery. Switch sides and repeat, taking plenty of time in skating position. Kicking should be light and constant, with a pause during the switch to maximize glide.
Think about keeping recovery time short, because having a limb out of the water makes you heavier.
Day 8: 6/30
Drilling went well, but I’ve firmly established that I’m having a hard time with breathing.
Torpedo kicking was really hard, too. I can balance myself fine with two arms held in front. But with hands to my sides, my legs drop immediately. I try pushing down with my chest and head, but it doesn’t seem to help. Is my core weak? I’m not really sure. Maybe being able to balance with my arms forward is good enough, but this might be at least a yellow flag.
Now, breathing. My head position is hard, as well as the actual inhale/exhale technique. Practicing while walking was pretty helpful to get a sense of having one goggle in the water, and getting used to breathing near the water line. I still feel like my head is rising when I take a breath, so I need to keep paying attention to this. I saw one tip that it can help to keep your eyes pointed in the water, rather than sideways or up. Just a little thing to keep your head from pointing away too much.
And I’m not really sure how much I should be inhaling and exhaling. I get tired after a 25m length, which probably means I am holding too much CO2. But, I’ve also heard people say that it’s important to keep a set amount of air in your lungs to help with buoyancy. They say to hold your breath for most of the time, blow out air as you turn your head, and take a sip in when you clear the water. This is what I tried to to during this session. I would hold my breath for two strokes, breathe out on the way up on the third stroke to maybe 40-50% capacity, and fill up again with a quick sip. But maybe this is keeping too much CO2 in my lungs.
Next time (I should have tried this time) I will try slowly breathing out until I’m basically empty, and then take a quick sip of fresh air. This will probably make my body sink a little, so I need to pay extra attention to balance, but it’s not like I’ll sink to the bottom.
Sidenote: I’ve seen some videos of swimmers who seem to have their head completely submerged in the water, and when they take a breath it looks like they’re reaching up out of the water with their mouth. Is this what it will feel like?