Swimming Clubs

[Nate]

It's been awhile since I've posted anything on here so I thought I'd make a post on something quite significant that's happened to me lately - I've joined a proper swimming club!!

Is anyone here part of a swimming club? Masters club? Or even part of a group that goes swimming on a regular basis?

I've been wanting to join the club since I became a lifeguard two years ago, watching the club swimmers swim with such grace and execution and at such great speeds. They train almost daily and their fitness is mind blowing, I wished that I stuck at swimming at a young age and worked my way up through the club ranks. I heard that there is a seniors squad that swim in the early morning sessions and for the past year or so I've been working on my swimming, stamina and technique to see if I can impress the coach into letting me into the seniors squad - not to compete, but just to improve my fitness and then see where it goes.

After a chat with the coach he tells me that I'm more than ready to join the club and as long as I was dedicated, willing to work my socks off 5:30am four mornings a week that there'll be a space for me in the squad. So a month ago I turned up to my first session, I felt like a sore thumb - the other guys were tall, athletic adonis's and they flew up and down the pool like a hot knife through butter. I was a bit overwhelmed and joined the slow lane on the left where a 30 year old Irish lady introduced me to the fold and told me that her lane is the 'fitness' lane and that they do a slightly altered set to the 'pro' swimmers. We'll have slightly less sets or a bit more rest (but only slightly, I must add, it's not easy).

I've been going for a month now, four mornings a week, and my fitness has improved unbelievable amounts. My goal is to be able to keep up with the 'pro' sets by the end of Summer. The hardest part about it is waking up at 5am and getting yourself out of bed when your body is still aching from the workout the day before - once I get my trunks on and dive into the pool you just keep your head down and focus on hitting the times and constantly improving.

I'll keep you guys updated on here if you'd like on how my swimming is going with the club (if you want to hear about it,i suppose) - so is anybody here part of a club? Or used to be?

[speedoboi]

Congratulations! I am really happy for you. Keep us updated and post pictures as well. I am still trying to find a private male instructor here in Toronto.

[frankjath]

Wow Nate I'm very proud of you! Keep it up I'm exited you found something you love to do. Not to mention you get to be around other guys who wear speedos.

[paspeedo]

Hey Nate--Good to hear from you again!

Glad everything is going well with you!

Keep us updated

[diveguy]

Congratulations! You're putting all us couch potatoes to shame!

[Snowbrief]

Nate, not certain how you could have questioned your abilities, you definitely are swim club material! Sounds like your club is co-ed, which is even cooler!

Keep us posted mate, you might encourage more of us to do something, like Dive said, get us "couch potatoes" moving after this winter. How did your swim-a-thon go?

[PeterSF]

Well done, Nate - go for it!
Peter

[swimmy]

We could be a swimming club right here. Surely I'm not the only one here who strives to swim every day for fitness. Virtually every evening I go to my neighborhood rec center and do a quick set in the weightroom, then do some laps in the pool. It's just how I stay in shape, kind of something I have always done. I encourage others to join me in person or afar, but be warned the swim workout is gonna be the hard part. It kicks my butt. Which, by the way, generally is covered by Dolphin, Speedo or Sporti briefs. Wear what you want.

[electric2010]

Congrat's Nate. Keep up the hard work.

[Nate]

Nate, not certain how you could have questioned your abilities, you definitely are swim club material! Sounds like your club is co-ed, which is even cooler!

Keep us posted mate, you might encourage more of us to do something, like Dive said, get us "couch potatoes" moving after this winter. How did your swim-a-thon go?

The Swimathon is in two weeks time, I'll let you know how it goes. I'm hoping with this extra training I'll be able to beat my target of 1 hour 30 minutes this time.

Swimmy, a 'SpeedoForum' swim club sounds like a cool idea. I remember starting a general swimming thread a while back and seeing if people would post their daily swims on there and how they got on, maybe with a post-swim speedo selfie in there for good measure perhaps I'll re-ignite that thread and see if we can have a club of our own and motivate each other to get in the pool and reach their fitness/swimming goals.

[Nate]

First swim back after the Easter holidays and the Coach says "Right guys, nice easy one today, let's work off the Easter eggs and booze we've all consumed over the weekend." This was like music to my ears.

The set consisted of
WARM UP
400 swim
300 pull
200 kick
100 swim

MAIN SET {Repeat twice}
4 x 150 pull or swim @ 2.50
4 x 100 IM or anything but freestyle
4 x 50 @ 1.00
100 easy

COOL DOWN
3 x 200 with paddles

By my maths that's 4200m. I felt pretty good, there were alot of people struggling today after a heavy weekend on the booze, I guess I slept my hangover off yesterday so I was ok. I wore a Speedo suit I bought from American Amazon as it wasn't available on any UK sites, it's a very tight fitting suit but I like the colour. The photo isn't the best, had to get a quick snap in before anyone caught me taking a cheeky selfie, I'm not sure I'd hear the end of it if I got caught haha
As today's set was a fairly easy one I'm guessing tomorrows is going to be tough. Thankfully I've got 10 days off work so if I do need to recover by going back to bed I have plenty of time :p
Hope you enjoy the update and hope it motivates you to go to the pool today and swim swim swim

[Boywear]

Wow! Well done matey! Great snap too!

[Snowbrief]

Nate,
You look absolutely wonderful in that suit, or any suit you wear because you wear the most properly used suit for swimming in the right suit.

Keep up the good work in the club, and may you do the best in the swim-a-thon.

[...:::sam:::...]

5200m! Post Easter shake out alright! Well done.