Hello there! It’s me, The Unconfident Swimmer, starting to feel less of the ‘un’ to be fair. I’ve just realised I haven’t written an article since January - believe me a lot has changed - especially my confidence and stamina. 

The past couple of months have been hectic, so I’ve really struggled with time and swimming, however yesterday I was pretty proud of my achievement - I swam 1100 metres! It may not seem like a lot to some, but to someone who was petrified of swimming a couple of years ago, I’d say this is progress 😊

I have also been cycling quite a lot recently, and walking a lot too. I’m keen to keep up with my swimming as I enjoy it a lot - and I love using my Apple Watch 😆

I’ve come up with some things that help me stay motivated, even after a bit of a hiatus from swimming. Here are my top tips:

Set yourself small and achievable goals that you can complete in a relatively short period of time. This will help keep your motivation level high and help you stay focused on improving your swimming.

Mix things up by changing the intensity, distance or type of swimming you are doing each session. This will help keep your body challenged and motivated. 

Record your times and any improvements you have made over time. This will be a great way to stay motivated by seeing your progress. 

Find someone to swim with who has similar goals and abilities. Swimming with a friend or teammate can make it more fun and you can take breaks and chat, and then get back right to it! 

Put on your favorite tunes and listen to them while swimming. Music can help you focus and stay motivated. But make sure you use waterproof earphones 🤣

Have one or two larger goals that you want to accomplish over a longer period of time. Having these larger goals will keep you motivated to continue swimming and make progress. For example, mine is to increase how many laps I do per minute, as well as the total distance - before my goal was 500 metres, now it’s 1500 metres! 

Make sure you are getting enough sleep and rest between workouts. This will help you stay energised and motivated for each session. 

Find ways to incorporate fun activities into your swim workouts. Whether it’s playing games or listening to music, having fun will help keep you motivated and excited about swimming. I personally enjoy counting in fives whilst swimming and once I’ve hit for example, 25 I’ll think ‘oh only 5 more until 30!’ It’s a good little game and it keeps me motivated. 

Anyway, I hope these have helped in some way, and I’m sure they are transferable to other exercises 😊

Bye bye,
The Unconfident Swimmer x