How can I improve my swimming speed (breaststroke or sidestroke)?

Training to be a SEAL and can complete every other requirement for the PST perfectly almost double...only I'm not so sure about the swimming part, in which i have to swim 500yds using breaststroke or sidestroke in less than or equivalent to 12 mins 30secs, and I know this is bad considering the SEALs are mainly in water but i really need to improve my swimming and speeds!!|||Although another answer provided a lot of information, I couldn't disagree with the answer more.





Swimming 500 yards is not a matter of building strength (unless you are as weak as a baby), it is a matter of building some basic endurance. Competitive swimmers need to lift ... you just need to finish in 12.5 minutes.





Your first effort should be to find a teacher/coach or someone who could help you to learn the proper stroke mechanics. Without good stroke mechanics you are basically "spinning your wheels" in the water as you are not getting much out of your stroke. As you learn the mechanics you should be practicing by doing short swims in a high school/college pool. Start by doing 12 - 20 one length swims with 15 seconds rest between each one. After a week, alternate one length with two lengths at a time (25 yds and 50 yds). After two weeks, see if you can do 8 four length swims. If you can do that, you can do 500 without stopping.





The big thing is that you MUST force your self to GO SLOW at the beginning of your swim. Take long gliding strokes. If you fatigue at the beginning, you'll be fatigued the whole way. So, go slow and avoid fatigue.|||A couple of thoughts. First, check out this video. This is the stroke they do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lUHudMN1鈥?/a>





Second, what is your experience in the water. They have to do more than swim well. They have to be rock solid in very difficult water conditions. I get the feeling you're not comfortable with swimming. The water part of their test is not just swimming in a pool. It's getting the crap beat out of you while you're in the water. They practice in the ocean where it's dark, cold and has waves. If you think you're going to learn to be comfortable in those condition just by pool swimming, I think you're wrong.





Even if you passed the swimming portion of the test (which wouldn't be too hard with some instruction and training), the next part would be brutal. Have you seen the shows about the training they do (or the pararescuers because it's the same)?





However, if you are comfortable in the ocean, being underwater, in cold, with waves then you should be fine. Watch the video, practice the stroke, time yourself and if needed practice. Best of luck!|||With the breast stroke, you need to increase the strength in both your upper arms and shoulders, and in so doing you will be able to carry the heavy packs that the SEALs carry with them. Might I suggest that you find some small nylon pouches, small enough to wrap around your wrists, but not ones that would hinder you in the event you got into trouble. Maybe the type I am thinking about are the ones that runners put on their legs and fill them with wet sand so it helps to build up their leg strength so they can endure many miles of hard running.



Anyhoo, fill these small nylon sacks with wet sand and then going slowly, so you can adjust to the additional weight of the wet sand, start your breast strokes through the water, if the weight around your writs is too light, then increase the weight with additional sand til you feel comfortable with it and practice using these nylon pouches wrapped around your wrists, both wrists, everyday.



Another way to accomplish this same goal is to stand in waist deep water, such as in your pool and with both wrists wrapped with these nylon pouches, kneel down in the water and go through the motions of extending your arms fully out and then bringing them to each side of your body and keep doing this til you get tired. Don't over do it, take it in measured steps, doing slightly more each day then you did the previous day and when you start doing the laps in the pool with the breaststroke, you will notice that you will seem to fly through the water with ease, almost as if you were born to be in water.



You do know that besides swimming, another requirement in order to be a SEAL is to be an accomplished scuba diver!



Also, doing 100 pushups every morning and 100 pushups every evening will also help to increase the strength in your arms and shoulders. Pullups also build up the strength.



Good Luck friend and by selecting the US Navy, you have selected the very best outfit to serve in.



The second answer to your question sounds good, however, you must keep in mind that this person was not training for a SEAL Team, but coaching probably a high school swimming team, which is terrific. I told you what I went through when I was told by a medical doctor that I had polio and that I would probably be wearing a leg brace for the rest of my life. My dad told the doctor in so many words, that this was bullshit and from that day forward, I would spend endless hours in the family pool, hanging onto the side in the deep end with nylon pouches full of wet sand around my bum leg and learning how to kick in unison. I would do this for as many as 4 hours each day after school, everyday for four years and the more I did it, the stronger my left leg got. I then was able to join the YMCA swim team and after 6 short months, I earned the right to be the anchor man on a 10 man relay team, we never lost one single match.



Many people may find it difficult to hire a swim coach, I didn't need one, my dad was an officer in the Marine Corps and if he said I could accomplish something, I had better accomplish it or its curtains for me. I still swim everyday as I am afraid that if I stop swimming everyday, the disease could come back and I sure don't cotton to becoming a cripple. I am 60 years old now and my legs are very strong, thanks to my dear old dad and his determination to always succeed at whatever you do.

If its worth doing it, then by god do it well.



I also spend several years in the Marines from 1968 to 1977.