Swimming Training To Be A Lifeguard

I would like some help with swimming training to be a lifeguard. I’m a 24-year-old male, height 1.77 m and weight of 71 kg.
I recently had a swimming tryout for a lifeguard position I hope to get for the summer.

I failed this try-out because I was out of shape; the speed of my front crawl was ok:100 meters (2x50 m) under 3.5 minutes (50 meters fast crawl and 50 meters pulling another person while crawling with one hand) ... but after this, I had to swim 50 X 6 (300 meters) continuously, and under 8 minutes, I failed and ended up doing it in 18 minutes(terrible), so my question is: What do I need to do, what kind of training must I do(preferably on land because I can't afford to go to a swimming pool regularly) to succeed this tryout, please reply I’m in desperate need of advice .

Many thanks for your question. This sounds like a challenging test for a lifeguard position, and it is clear that your stamina and overall fitness level are holding you back.

As for training on land, it must be cardiovascular-based. In other words, jogging or cycling at least three times per week. But it must be structured in a similar way to your swimming test. The information you have given looks like a shorter distance swim first, followed by a longer, more endurance-based swim. It is the longest swim that is the hardest, and putting it after the shorter initial swim makes it even harder.

Your land training must follow this pattern. A shorter-distance jog, run or cycle is followed by a longer-distance run or cycle so that your body is trained to deal with long-distance endurance exercises whilst slightly fatigued. The actual distances and times that you cover will depend on your current fitness level and should be increased as your stamina improves.

I should make it clear at this point that if jogging, running, or cycling is something that you do not regularly do, you should start slowly and gradually and maybe even consult a physician before you begin this training.

There is no substitute for sport-specific training, and swimming is the best way to improve your swimming stamina. Any cardiovascular training will help boost your stamina, but the demands of front crawl cannot be transposed accurately onto land. Maybe consider a trip to the swimming pool once a week along with your other two runs or cycles.

The front crawl technique tends to go wrong and get out of shape when tiredness and fatigue kick in, making it slower and less efficient. One of our best-selling books How To Swim Front Crawl contains loads of exercises to help keep your technique precise and tidy. You can try them as part of your training, and along with your cardiovascular training, you will be well on the way to passing your lifeguard try-out. Click the link below for more information.

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HOW TO SWIM FRONT CRAWL EBOOK:  everything you need to master front crawl swimming stroke. 22 easy drills that focus on each part of front crawl technique. From body position to breathing and timing. Decades of teaching experience all packaged into 1 easy file. Download to your device and master front crawl TODAY! (click here for an instant preview). 

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Learn How to Swim Faster

I would like to learn how to swim faster. What are techniques for faster swimming?

Good swimming is about efficiency through the water, and fast swimming is about good efficiency. The more efficiently your body moves through the water, the faster you swim without trying to swim fast.

We are, of course, talking about swimming at a basic level because if your basic swimming technique is incorrect, then your attempts to swim fast will result in a lot of effort for probably a slower swim.

What exactly do we mean by efficiency? If something is efficient, then it can work or move with the minimum of energy used.

As we swim, our bodies must be streamlined. In other words, we must make our body as long, thin and pointed as possible so that we ‘cut’ through the water with the minimum resistance. Our actual body shape and size have no real relevance here.

If we take the simple ‘push and glide’ exercise of pushing away from the poolside and gliding across the water's surface, we will find that keeping your hands and feet together will result in a longer distance glide than if your hands are apart. This is because your body position is more streamlined and, therefore, more efficient.

The task now is to transpose this streamlined position into your swimming strokes. For example, a long stretched-out glide during the breaststroke or a long stretched-out body position during the front crawl will result in a long-distance swim with less effort.

Quite often, swimmers make the mistake of trying to swim fast by kicking harder and faster or pulling with the arms harder and faster, resulting in sudden tiredness for very little distance gained. This is because the efforts put into kicking and pulling faster are at the expense of technique and efficiency.

Sure it is possible to kick faster and pull harder to gain swimming speed but only if a streamlined and efficient body position remains constant throughout.

My best-selling book The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming contains all aspects of learning to swim, including gliding, breathing and relaxing, plus over 80 separate swimming exercises to help all parts of basic swimming. You can download it, print out the parts you need and take them to your pool to try out. Click the link below for more information.

The Complete Beginners Guide To Swimming

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