AJ, that's my kind of exercise . . .
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For a while now I've been realizing that my fitness levels have dropped significantly. When I had to take the 200m fitness test for the PADI Open Water course, the fact that I got out of breath shocked me. PADI further recommends that you build your fitness levels for longer and more enjoyable dives.
So how do you guys keep your fitness level up? Or do you find yourself out of breath underwater?
I have decided to take up jogging, which is all a bit novel for me but I found a great technique for starting out using the Couch 2 5k approach, I've shared the links in my blog about my adventures with jogging Learning to dive and the fish thereafter... ...not quite as fun as scuba, but good for the body and mind!
Improper breathing technique will also turn what should be an easy fun aerobic freestyle for beginners into a grueling, flailing and sinking anaerobic ordeal.Developing a good breathing technique is perhaps the biggest challenge for beginner and intermediate swimmers. Problems with breathing can easily knock on into other parts of the stroke. For instance, breathing can cause scissor kicks, poor body position, cross-overs and lop sided strokes.
Many swimmers have a problem with their stroke technique that is related to their breathing without realising that their breathing is the cause of the problem.
How To Master Breathing In The Freestyle Stroke
try to swim 1 km every day
[snip]
However, I don't do the he-man GUE times, nor do I think it's at all necessary.
The GUE swim requirements aren't particularly herculean. The pace of the rec requirement is 1.2 kph / .73 mph. I believe it's meant to be attainable to people who don't swim regularly as a form of exercise.
In 14 minutes, it's 275m for rec classes, 375m for level 1 tech/cave, 450m for level 2, and 550 for level 3.