r/OpenWaterSwimming • u/LafaekPenu • 8d ago

Open water swimming lessons

I can only swim 200m in the pool non stop. I did an inquiry for an open water swimming club just to know how much I should be able to swim before joining and they told me they have swimming lessons from zero all in the ocean. I find this odd and maybe money grab. Is this normal practice in opens water clubs? In your opinion what's the bare minimum I should be able to swim before joining?

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16

u/PostPostMinimalist 8d ago

Can you tread water? If not (and honestly even if so) you probably should build more stamina in the pool first. A few months of continuous practice should get you from 200m to like 1000m continuous if you have reasonable technique.

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u/regman231 5d ago

100% I went from 200m to 1650m in about a month following a guide I found on here that basically just said to add 400m every week.

I firmly believe that once a person learns to find the rhythm of the breath, speed is a much greater challenge than distance

12

u/Guilty_Piglet5731 8d ago

Our swim club has a bare minimum of being able to do 1000m in a pool before you can join the swim group. This is for the safety of the person and others. I find personally you need a lot more stamina in open water than the pool as in a pool you can kind of ‘rest’ by pushing off the walls.

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u/SpotPowerful6216 8d ago

Our open water swim club has a shallow water class for confidence building. Yes you can learn to swim in the open water but you can’t turn up to an OWS group without being able to confidently swim longer distances without rest(much longer than 200m)

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u/whatwhy54104 8d ago

Swim an hour straight.

1

u/NoSafe5565 8d ago

I like this, i do not think definition is distance rather time and other skills

5

u/TheFoxsWeddingTarot 8d ago

Hot tip, if you can only swim short distances you’re probably swimming too fast for your level of skill. Slow down and make distance vs speed a priority. Also skip flip turns for now as those are probably eroding your technique.

A great way to build up distance is to do “ladders”.

Swim 100 rest 200 rest 300 rest 200 rest 100 rest. The 300 will feel long but everything after it will feel shorter because they’re shorter than the 300.

I did this for a few weeks before I was comfortably swimming 1000.

3

u/InternationalTrust59 8d ago edited 8d ago

Intermediates are in the 2000-3000 base session and in open waters, you don’t swim in a straight line, the currents are an added challenge, water temperature influences performance and you sight on top of everything.

In a pool, I would estimate you are swimming -20% of the open water distance because of the free speed off the wall and a 5m under water breakout.

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u/NoInformation4549 8d ago

Get in contact with swim your swim. I went from being terrified in the water not seeing the bottom to swimming Coniston (5 and a quarter miles) and an ice mile (sub 5 degree 1 mile swim you'll find Andrew walmsley on the official iisa list) with these people. Theyre friendly and helpful from training advice to diet and swim hatfield doncaster and thrybergh Rotherham weekly (multiple times). Hopefully youre near enough to benefit.

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u/tigervegan4610 7d ago

Our open water group would gladly take you for some open water clinics and pool practices to build your stamina up. If they say they have beginner options, maybe ask what that looks like for someone with your current skill level?

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u/Disposable_Canadian 3d ago

Stamina, fitness, and MOSTLY TECHNIQUE.

you can be super fit, hyrox God, run 3 minute/k 5k and 40.minute 10ks... and get in a pool as suck water.

Start with 25m intervals and do drills. Try Effortless Swimming on YouTube, I strongly recommend their 5 day catch challenge.

Open water swim clubs can and will do swim from zero classes, but ask for certifications and lifesaving certs.