Are You Guilty Of These Bad Swimming Habits? (Everyone Does One For Sure!)

No one wants to be labelled a swimmer with bad habits! Similarly, it would be very annoying if you bump into a swimmer that have these traits. What are these bad habits though? Mark explains some of the more known bad habits and how you can get rid of them before you become hated in the pool!
00:00 What are the common bad habits in swimming?
00:26 Sprinting your swim warm up
01:07 Pushing off too soon
02:11 Always using swim toys
02:49 Swimming without stopping
03:39 Racing the swim drills
04:45 Stopping your swim before touching the wall
05:36 Pulling the swim lane rope
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[@gtn]

Are you guilty of any these habits? Let us know in the comments below 👇

[@Choedron]

And stop looking forward. Look down, so your legs does not sink even so slightly 😂

[@MaggieDiMenna]

My biggest pet peeve when swimming public sessions is when someone pushes off RIGHT as I’m coming in for a flip turn. And then they swim a 25 sprint, rest, and push off AGAIN right as I arrive for my next turn for my entire set.

[@gtn]

Best to show them this video then 😉

[@BGS22202]

This one is especially annoying when it’s someone slower (who knows they are slower because you keep lapping them). Wait for me to turn - You know I’m going to pass you!

[@TriKaggie]

Hahaha story of my life!!!

[@StuWebRT]

Public sessions are public sessions. It’s the responsibility of the faster swimmer to work around the slower one

[@luct6038]

I always wonder if it's people with no awareness at all of their surrondings. Do they think everyone stops atter two laps? Do they not notice the difference in speed between swimmers? Just like the people who block the whole wall when resting. Do they enjoy people brushing up against them to make their turn? I certainly don't enjoy having to squeeze by...

[@scotts6067]

I'm guilty of swimming. That's bad enough.

[@DaveStecker]

As an adult onset swimmer I’m thankful for the toys. Fins and snorkel allow me to focus on actually warming up without going too fast as well as polishing up certain aspects of the stroke without worrying about sinking or breathing. I don’t put any stock in the times I swim while using them (for obvious reasons). So far, I’ve made good progress in the swim but I need to continue using the tools to help me get to the point that I only need to use them sparingly. I’m also lucky that I can go to the pool when it’s not busy and I don’t usually have to worry about upsetting others.

[@MrSarkiemarkie]

Not letting faster swimmers past at the end of a length. If someone touches your feet then they're going faster

[@maximilianemusterfrau1265]

💯👍🏻 Good point! It's so boring!

[@ahrenek]

This is a big pet peeve of mine too!

[@rivernet62]

If they're so fast they can jolly well swim around. "Let them pass" -No Competitor Ever

[@MrBraindead101]

As a fast swimmer, I remember EVERYONE has as much right to be in the pool as me. I don't tap people's feet. I either overtake if there's room, cut my length short and turn early, start my rep early or late to avoid others and even change my set to avoid traffic jams. There's no need to get in a conflict.

[@lollipopsaresmelly]

Shouldn't it just be a rule though? Your ruining bith your set and theirs

[@mikekent9488]

I love this. Thanks for sharing

[@jdm8007]

It might also be good to mention the ones who use the fast lane as if it were the slow or social one! At least, here in The Netherlands there are swimming pools divided in "groups", and unluckiky lots of people just don't know how to use them 😅 And lifesavers at the pool don't care about it, in most cases 🙅🏻‍♀️

[@oumtaha3834]

Tell me

[@gtn]

One of our biggest pet peeves!

[@trinerd]

Same here, lots of breastrokers swimming 4:00/100 m pace in the "fast lane".

[@sigivara6405]

a lot of this can be solved by talking to each other. Not all I know, but being polite and just ask the affected person helps

[@andriabrickman9780]

I love my pull buoy and paddles. Probably use them a bit too much some days.

[@AdamMullery-tg5xn]

I was guilty used a pull buoy pretty much exclusively for 1.5 years (some weeks at 10,000m+ a week) this year I have started rotating it out over the year. (some sets look like x10 300m; 33% free ,33% PB , 33% PB + Paddles) Now learning to kick and I have found it to actually help my running fitness.

[@TriKaggie]

Oh so many!!!! A common theme at our pool is not swimming in a straight line when doing what appears to be backstroke/near drowning experience, bombing into the water when you’re coming into a turn so it scares you to death, pissing in the pool, doing one length & getting out after disrupting the whole format of the lane direction, constantly talking about football at the end of the lane (whilst taking up the whole end of the lane) and finally when people get in the fast lane out of “principle” even though the other lanes are basically empty 😅 a lot goes on at Irlam Leisure Centre…

[@markrimmer4955]

My pool isn't quite that bad (mostly) but I get a guy who dives in (ignoring the rules) at the deep end, swims to the shallow end, gets out and walks around to the deep end to repeat. He's watching his watch and dives no matter what. He once dived as I pushed off and literally landed on top of me. Now, there's washing machine practice, and then there's dangerous. Unfortunately, the 15 year old acne-clad life-guard won't challenge this 'senior citizen'. Sigh...

[@abiandeniz1749]

🤣

[@robislavovic826]

Fins when swimming butterfly - guilty as charged. I mean, I try my best to have at least equal distance covered with and without fins, but swimming fly with them feel so good. I think I might be addicted to it! 😅

[@henry-uf3cq]

Me: No I don't. Mark: Pulling the lanes during backstroke Me: Dang it

[@gtn]

It happens to the best of us🥲

[@horsiesarepretty]

Speeding up while being overtaken is another one. I’m not talking about people doing alternating easy/hard reps, I’m talking about people that are going at the same pace except when they notice someone is overtaking them…

[@thatlittlevoice8292]

That depends. If some guy waits at the wall and starts chasing after my turn, then that guy has already forfeited basic etiquette and i'm obligated to make it more difficult. But if he's just closed a 20 m gap, then I'm happy to let him pass.

[@laurajones4317]

The one i hate the most is when someone decides to race you when you are trying to pass them. Dude. I caught up to you, i'm swimming faster, just let me pass without all out sprinting in the middle of my long set.

[@markrimmer4955]

Yep - ego wins! They speed up so you end up side-by-side at the end of the lane. Then they pretend you're not there and cut across into you. More often than not, they're the ones who set off really fast from the outset and get progressively slower...

[@michaelflanagan5587]

I sprint the warmup, but only because it is so darn cold. I need to go hard to get warm.

[@matthewwilson4103]

Guilty as charged - I swim with Toys way too often. I'm going to correct that starting today. 😁

[@jobrenden6687]

Currently I'm overusing devices (buoy, fins and pads)+I'm somewhat rushing the drills.

[@robohippy]

Well, as a swimmer only, I don't think I do any of these. However, I am lucky to have a pool where I get a lane to myself most of the time. Some times I do have to share, which in my pool means I swim on one side and the other person swims on the other side. Some times I do end up pushing off more towards the center of the lane rather than on my side. This seems to happen far more with back stroke rather than with freestyle. It seems with my back stroke flip turns, I roll over to one side or the other rather than spinning like I am on a rotisserie....

[@nellyhartmann27]

Also, in u tube it says one has to take one's breath after every 2 strokes. I usually take my breath, especially crawls, after 15 strokes. Is that ok?

[@sebastienbrochard9812]

I used to just swim ... when I swam. Worked on myself and have learnt to brake session up, and added drills. ☺️

[@kimweidner7351]

Fins when exhausted and pulling on the lane line for backstroke sets. 😬🤫🤭☺️🙃

[@pierce9128]

My bad habits is not been confident enough to ask a person who is just floating about in the lane when i have a session to get done. (Im a member of a hotel leisure centre with one swimming lane in the pool) I managed to ask one lady and explain about what i had to do and how she was just floating in the lane wasnt letting me get it done. She went to the staff and complained about me saying if i want to swim like that i should use a public pool.

[@Jameslindley123]

When someone who you KNOW is slower than you pushes off just as you're coming into the wall, and you end up stuck behind them, just wait a few seconds for me to push off then come in behind me!

[@markrimmer4955]

Yeh, but these people don't seem to know you are there or that you are faster - they oblivious/ignorant. At least, that's my experience. Can be very frustrating!

[@rgnicol88]

Drills and technique work right here 🙋🏼‍♂️

[@gary1201]

Definitely going too fast in warm up, which then ruins my real session annoyingly so.

[@markrimmer4955]

I'm guilty of non-stop swimming, although I vary the pace between sets. In running I never stop, I jog recover between efforts and with swimming its the same - my pace varies a lot. My pet hates include the milling about at the end of the lane so I can't reach the wall, and the guy who never takes his flippers off! And I disagree about not knowing who's behind you - its a VERY useful skill to know what is going on in front and behind in a busy public lane. My biggest pet hate is when people cut across the end of the lane to turn when you are beside overtaking - they seem to have no idea there are other people in the lane at all! Still, all this is good training for the 'washing machine' I suppose...

[@davidcervantes9267]

I pull on the lane rope right before doing my open turn. Can't do flip turns yet.

[@vincentbolt8707]

Mine wasn't mentioned but it is swearing at people who despite being told what the rules and etiquette are, still continue to do things like stand in the middle of the lane, or not paying attention and swimming into other people.

[@13Joshuahun]

If I’m around fast swimmers I tend to get distracted by trying to match or beat them sometimes. So rather than focussing on my own swim, I start competing for no apparent reason!

[@thatlittlevoice8292]

You're not alone. It's the reptilian part of our brains. There's something about the public pool that makes otherwise rational people play mind games with perfect strangers.

[@nittynat123]

I do this!!!! I start putting pressure on myself, so I tense up and nothing flows, and end up feeling crap!

[@sebastienbrochard9812]

You can feel Mark releasing yeeeaaarrrs of holding back!? 🤣😂

[@SBoots29]

Non stop swimming. My time is limited so I need to get it done.

[@blubbblubb6239]

What I really hate is a bunch of ambitious male swimmers (Mostly between 16 and 45 years old...) joining the pool past work and behaving as if the whole pool is their own. They block the ends chatting, they overtake you while sprinting so close that they will bump into you and are overall very rude. Then their next lane will be relaxed and you are stuck behind them... Another very anoying behaviour are other people (again mostly male swimmers), who are pretty slow breaststroke swimmers, but swim in the sporty lanes instead of the relaxed lanes... Unfortunately my pool does not have proper rules in place and does not enforce any rules either...

[@jq5261]

In my pool it's mostly middle aged women doing this. Swimming slowly and leisurely in the fast lane, refusing to stop and let me pass, instead kicking off the wall right in front of me so I'm stuck behind them for another lap if there is someone else coming down the other side.

[@gtn]

Do these attitudes stop you from going to the pool?

[@blubbblubb6239]

@@gtn partially, it is really no fun. Recently I try to go as early as possible for my training mate, to avoid most of these... thankfully yesterday most people were rather watching football ;-)

[@panzerveps]

I used to be the guy with the toys. I just started swimming a year ago, and they've been a great tool to learn technique. Now I can finally do a structured workout without feeling like I'm about to die. My biggest ick are the slow swimmers who kick off the wall as I'm about to turn.

[@nellyhartmann27]

Im 74 y.o. trying to do 3 strokes lap swims every day for 1 hour. In our condo pool, 1 man he swims endlessly, for 1 hour 20 minutes, breast strokes with head up above water, doesn't sink. Why is it he doesn't sink? I saw in u tube telling us once you have your head up above water, you will sink. I see this also with other swimmers doing the crawl. How can that be? I swim always with head down.

[@nittynat123]

Damn I'm a fan of the toys!!!!

[@janemarshall6454]

Bashing your feet most of the length and then refusing to go in front when you give way at the wall! Happens often in masters and pushing off as soon as you do and ending up right on top of your feet the whole way 🤬

[@sasktev]

I'm the non-stop swimmer but i have no idea how to structure a training session otherwise 😭

[@trinerd]

One of my pet peeves: during coached sessions, when you get people "negotiating" main set's reps, paces, rest times, etc. back in the 90s, old school coaches would have smacked them in the face with a kicking board for even whining about the main set...ahh the good ol days..😀

[@alisonwilks302]

My only crime is the pull buoy - I am innocent on all the other charges but I’m still a horrible swimmer 😩😩😩😩

[@gtn]

As long as you use it to improve your stroke, it is totally fine :)

[@wordswithhayley]

My bad triathlon swimming habbit is erm... not training swimming nearly enough as I should because it is a faff.

[@CarlCookson-bp6ww]

The none stop swim…😊

[@suttonfarms2343]

My least favorite bad habit is someone joining in the lane without notifying you while you’re swimming 🤦🏻‍♂️😳

[@CoelhoSports]

I've never been in a pool where people swim behind each other doing laps. One lane is generally wide enough for two people to swim back and forth on each side of it, so 10 lanes holds 20 swimmers using half a lane each. Put up a board with lanes on it and times and have people reserve half a lane during peak times. If you have people swimming behind each other, how do they not crash into each other? I'm confused.

[@rivernet62]

If the pool is full, more than 2 per lane, you "swim circles" which works fine if everyone is a little considerate.

[@CoelhoSports]

@@rivernet62 i've never seen that. sounds chaotic.

[@rivernet62]

@@CoelhoSports "How to circle swim" lots of hits about how common it is

[@luct6038]

​@@CoelhoSportsLast night, at my pool, we were probably 10 people per lane when busiest (50m lenght, thank god). Having only two people per lane sounds sweet!

[@CoelhoSports]

@@luct6038 hope they use extra chlorine, there.

[@idilgumruk2579]

You should add, going to the "very fast" lane in the public pool as a mediocre swimmer and swim breaststroke the whole time. If I can pass you twice in a 50 m pool in 400 meters you're not a very fast swimmer. There are three more lanes for you to swim in without kicking people in the head.

[@ask666oO]

Not counting the reps even though I lead the set 😅

[@lilfeeder4404]

Which set of goggles is Mark using?

[@gtn]

They are The Magic5 goggles

[@mikechun4734]

Toys…fins 😖

[@cherylvoutour2021]

I’m guilty of too many toys.

[@iggalan]

The topic quickly moved from bad habits in training to swim etiquette, tell us Mark what happened recently in the pool? 😂

[@gtn]

Hahahah he clearly had to get something off his chest 🤣

[@Webinthamind]

People doing breast stroke in the fast lane 😾

[@user-sq5fr5su3t]

I hate fins ;)

[@megmikerodriguez6011]

Did I miss the disgusting habit of hacking my phlegm into the gutter in the shallow end of the pool? I've recently learned this might be a NO-NO?? 🤮🥴

[@rachelmims2782]

Oh lawd! I'm a jerk. Sorry...really. I'm sorry.

[@gtn]

Well now you won't be! 😉

[@greenhornfishing9442]

Splashers.i.e.being lazy with there technique and smacking the water Hard,when they're suppose to glide through the water..

[@gtn]

It can be a hard habit to drop though 👀

[@idilgumruk2579]

Hmmm maybe they're open water swimmers 😅

[@greenhornfishing9442]

I thought so myself but it was constant..

[@PepeDalinShow]

I just hate drills so much. so boring 🥱😂