Picture a first lane swim at a council pool in Bristol on a wet Tuesday evening. The slow lane is busy, the lifeguard is perched on a high chair, and the sign on the wall says swim clockwise. Within two lengths the questions start. Why am I gasping? Why is there water in my ear? Is it fine to be here on my period?
Almost everyone who takes up swimming asks the same things. Here are the questions readers have sent DailyStoke over the years, answered with facts checked against the NHS, the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS UK), the RNLI and World Aquatics rules.
For the bigger picture on fitness, weight loss and chlorine, read our companion guide to swimming for health. For everything else on water, the Water & Sport section is the place to start.
Getting started in the pool
How do I start swimming if I’m scared of the water?
Fear of water is common among adults. The fix is to take it in small, repeatable steps rather than forcing yourself into the deep end.
Start with your face. Many nervous swimmers panic at the moment water covers their nose and mouth, so practise in the bath or the shallow end first: breathe in, lower your face, hum out slowly through your nose, then lift up. Do it until it feels boring.
Next, learn to float. Hold the poolside, lie back and let the water take your weight. Floating teaches you that water supports you, and it is also a survival skill, which we come to below.
Open your eyes underwater briefly once you are comfortable; seeing the pool floor helps your brain make sense of where you are. Then buy goggles. And don’t go it alone: most leisure centres run adult lessons, and a friend who shares the goal makes the early weeks easier.
What safety rules should every swimmer follow?
The RLSS UK Water Safety Code is the simplest checklist going. It has five parts:
- Stop and think. Look for dangers and read local signs.
- Stay together. Swim with friends or family, and choose a lifeguarded venue.
- Call 999. At the coast, ask for the Coastguard. Do not go in to rescue someone yourself.
- Float. If you fall in or get tired, stay calm, float on your back and call for help.
- Throw. Throw something that floats to a person in trouble.
The RLSS “Float to Live” advice is worth memorising: tilt your head back with your ears under the water, try to control your breathing, spread your arms and legs, and scull gently with your hands if you need to. It is normal for your legs to sink.
In a pool, check the depth markings and never dive unless the water is marked as deep enough. Head-first entries into shallow water can cause serious spinal injuries.
At the beach, the RNLI’s advice is to swim between the red-and-yellow flags, which mark the area lifeguards judge safest. A red flag means the water is dangerous and you should not go in at all.
How do you breathe properly while swimming?
Breathing is where most beginners come unstuck, and the cause is nearly always the same: holding the breath underwater, then trying to snatch a huge gulp of air on every turn of the head.
The answer is to breathe out steadily while your face is in the water, through your nose, your mouth or both. By the time you turn to breathe, your lungs are already empty and you only need a quick, small inhale.
In front crawl, roll your head to the side rather than lifting it forwards. Lifting the head drops the hips and legs, which creates drag and makes everything harder. A useful rule of thumb is to keep one goggle lens in the water and one out as you breathe.
Keep your mouth opening small: it takes in just as much air and far less water. Once you are comfortable, try breathing every three strokes, alternating sides, to keep your stroke balanced.
What is the fastest swimming stroke?
Front crawl, usually called freestyle, is the fastest of the four competitive strokes. Butterfly is second, backstroke third and breaststroke the slowest.
The 50m world records in a 50m pool show the order clearly:
| Stroke | Men’s 50m world record | Women’s 50m world record |
|---|---|---|
| Freestyle | 20.88, Cameron McEvoy (Australia), 2026 | 23.19, Kate Douglass (USA), 2026 |
| Butterfly | 22.27, Andriy Govorov (Ukraine), 2018 | 24.43, Sarah Sjöström (Sweden), 2014 |
| Backstroke | 23.55, Kliment Kolesnikov (Russia), 2023 | 26.56, Sara Curtis (Italy), 2026 |
| Breaststroke | 25.95, Adam Peaty (Great Britain), 2017 | 29.16, Rūta Meilutytė (Lithuania), 2023 |
McEvoy’s swim at the China Swimming Open in Shenzhen broke Cesar Cielo’s 20.91, a record that had stood since 2009.
Freestyle wins because it offers the best balance between propulsion and drag. The body stays long and flat, and one arm is always pulling.
How do I keep my hair dry while swimming?
Honestly, you can’t keep it completely dry if your head goes under. What you can do is limit how much water gets in.
Tie long hair up in a tight bun first, then put a swimming cap over it. Latex caps are the cheapest; silicone caps are thicker, softer, last longer and grip better. Some swimmers wear two caps for a better seal.
Even then, expect damp edges. Wetting your hair in the shower first means it soaks up less pool water. Our swimming for health guide covers chlorine and hair care.
Where can I buy swimming goggles, and are Speedo or TYR better?
Neither brand is better across the board. Goggles are as personal as shoes, and the right pair is the one that seals around your eye sockets without pressing hard.
Try before you buy if you can. Specialist swim shops, larger sports retailers and many leisure centre receptions sell goggles, and staff will often let you test the seal. Press the lenses gently against your eyes without the strap: if they stick for a second or two, the fit is good.
Tinted or mirrored lenses help outdoors, clear lenses suit dim indoor pools, and wider “mask” styles are comfortable for beginners and open water. Prescription lenses are widely available.
If you buy online, choose a retailer with a simple returns policy. For more on swimming and surf kit, see our sailing and surf gear guide.
Health and the body
How do you get water out of your ear after swimming?
Tilt your head so the blocked ear faces down and gently pull the earlobe in different directions to straighten the ear canal. Hopping on the spot with your head tilted helps some people. A hairdryer on its coolest, lowest setting, held well away from the ear, can dry what is left.
What you should not do is push cotton buds or fingers into the ear. The NHS lists this as one of the main things to avoid, because it can damage the delicate skin of the canal and push water and wax further in.
Water left sitting in the ear can lead to otitis externa, better known as swimmer’s ear. To lower the risk, the NHS suggests wearing earplugs or a swimming cap that covers your ears, and not swimming while you have an ear infection.
See a pharmacist or GP if you have ear pain that has not improved after three days, discharge, swelling around the ear, changes to your hearing or dizziness. If you have grommets or a perforated eardrum, ask your doctor before swimming or using any drops.
Does your period stop when you go swimming?
No. It can seem to, because the pressure of the water may slow the flow while you are submerged, but your period carries on as normal. You still need protection.
There is no medical reason not to swim on your period, and plenty of elite swimmers race at every point in their cycle. Many people find that gentle exercise eases cramps.
Your options are tampons, a menstrual cup, or period swimwear, which has an absorbent lining built into the costume. Pads do not work in water.
Which tampons are best for swimming?
Any regular tampon works for swimming. Brand matters far less than choosing the lowest absorbency that suits your flow and tucking the string into your costume.
Applicator styles come down to preference: cardboard, plastic or none. Organic cotton tampons are available from several brands if you prefer them. A menstrual cup is another option, and many swimmers find it lasts a full session without any concern about leaks.
Whatever you use, the NHS advice on toxic shock syndrome is to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and not to leave tampons or cups in longer than needed or recommended.
When can I go swimming after a tattoo?
Wait until the tattoo has fully healed, which usually takes a few weeks. A new tattoo is an open wound, and pools, the sea, lakes and hot tubs all carry bacteria that can cause infection. Chlorine can also irritate the skin and affect how the ink settles.
Follow your artist’s aftercare sheet and keep the area clean and out of the sun while it heals.
See a doctor or pharmacist if the tattoo becomes increasingly red, hot, swollen or painful, or if it oozes. These can be signs of infection.
How do I waterproof a wound for swimming?
Small, closed cuts and grazes can be covered with a waterproof plaster or a transparent film dressing, sold in most pharmacies, for a short pool session. Press the edges down firmly on clean, dry skin and change the dressing afterwards.
Open, weeping or deep wounds are a different matter. Keep them out of the water until they have closed. That includes surgical wounds: ask your surgeon or practice nurse when it is safe to swim, as it depends on the operation.
If a wound becomes redder, more painful, swollen or starts to smell, speak to a pharmacist or GP.
When can babies go swimming?
According to the NHS, babies can go swimming at any age, before or after their vaccinations. If your baby is feverish or out of sorts in the days after an injection, it may be better to wait a few days.
Small babies lose heat quickly, so start with short sessions in a warm teaching pool rather than a cooler main pool. Hold your baby close, stay relaxed and get out at the first sign of shivering. Use a swim nappy, and remember that armbands are no substitute for supervision.
Formal lessons can come later. Swim England’s Learn to Swim Programme runs from baby and pre-school classes upwards.
How many calories do you burn swimming for 30 minutes?
It depends on your weight, your stroke and how hard you work. Harvard Health Publishing’s widely cited table gives these estimates for 30 minutes:
| Body weight | General swimming | Vigorous laps |
|---|---|---|
| 125lb (about 57kg) | 180 | 300 |
| 155lb (about 70kg) | 216 | 360 |
| 185lb (about 84kg) | 252 | 420 |
Fast front crawl and butterfly sit at the top end. Treat any figure, including your smartwatch’s, as a guide. For how swimming compares with running, and how to use it for weight loss, see swimming for health.
Records, pools and the Olympics
How fast does Michael Phelps swim?
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history with 28 medals, 23 of them gold, retired after the Rio 2016 Games. In his best 100m butterfly, 49.82 seconds at the 2009 World Championships in Rome, he averaged about 2 metres a second, a little over 7km/h or roughly 4.5mph.
The fastest swimmers in a sprint are quicker still. McEvoy’s 20.88 for 50m freestyle works out at about 8.6km/h, helped by the dive start. That is impressive in water, which is roughly 800 times denser than air, but modest beside a sprinter on land.
His 2017 Shark Week “race” against a great white was really a solo swim compared with a computer simulation. The shark won.
How big is an Olympic swimming pool, and how many gallons does it hold?
An Olympic pool is 50m long and 25m wide, built to a length tolerance of plus 1cm and minus nothing, so no swimmer ever races short. World Aquatics, the governing body formerly known as FINA, requires a minimum depth of 2m for the Olympic Games and World Championships. Some venues go deeper: the Beijing 2008 pool was 3m, Paris 2024 was 2.2m.
At the 2m minimum, the pool holds 2,500 cubic metres of water. That is 2.5 million litres, roughly 550,000 imperial gallons or 660,000 US gallons.
The rules set the water temperature between 25C and 28C. Lanes are 2.5m wide. An Olympic final has eight swimmers, with lane ropes in set colours: green on the outside, blue in the middle, yellow for lanes four and five, where the fastest qualifiers race. Many modern competition pools have ten lanes, with the outer two left empty in finals.
When did swimming become an Olympic sport?
Swimming has been on the programme at every modern Summer Olympics since the first, in Athens in 1896, when the races were held in the open sea. It is one of only a handful of sports that have never missed a Games.
Backstroke appeared at Paris 1900 and breaststroke was on the programme by St Louis 1904, when some races were swum in yards. The first purpose-built Olympic pool came at London 1908: a 100m tank laid inside the athletics track at White City. Butterfly became its own event only in 1956; before that, swimmers were allowed to use the butterfly arm action in breaststroke races.
Women first competed in Olympic swimming at Stockholm 1912. The 10km marathon swim was added in 2008. Paris 2024 had 37 swimming events, and Los Angeles 2028 is due to have 41.
How is swimming different from other competitive sports?
A few things set it apart. It is low impact: the water supports your body weight, which is why so many people keep swimming into their seventies and beyond. It works the whole body, legs, arms, back and core together. It needs very little kit, just a costume and goggles. And unlike football or tennis, it is a skill that can save your life.
It is also unusually lonely: hours staring at a black line, often before dawn, with no conversation and no scenery.
What happened to the International Swimming League?
The International Swimming League (ISL), founded by the businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, launched in 2019 with a team format, equal pay for men and women, and a promise of a professional path for swimmers. At the time, the American breaststroker Lilly King told BBC Sport it would encourage more swimmers to stay in the sport after college.
Three seasons followed, in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The league was then dogged by unpaid prize money and fees, and in March 2022 it cancelled its fourth season. In late 2025 its leadership said it was preparing to return, with autumn 2026 described as the ideal start and 2027 as the alternative. In January 2026 a US jury found in the ISL’s favour in its antitrust case against World Aquatics, but awarded only $1 in damages.
Where can I follow the women’s surfing world tour?
One of the old posts merged into this guide covered the 2019 women’s Championship Tour, won that year by Carissa Moore of Hawaii. The tour has changed since. From 2026 the World Surf League has dropped its one-day Finals and returned to a season-long points race, with the world titles decided at the Pipe Masters in Hawaii in December. Molly Picklum of Australia is the 2025 women’s champion.
For the full picture, including how to watch, see our beginner’s surfing guide. If the travel bug bites, our surf trips guide covers where to go.
Frequently asked questions
How many lengths of a 25m pool make a mile?
A mile is 1,609m, so it is just over 64 lengths of a 25m pool. Most swimmers treat 64 lengths, or 1,600m, as a “swimming mile”.
Which way do you swim in a lane?
In most UK pools you swim clockwise, keeping to the left side of the lane. Check the signs at the end of each lane, and pick the lane that matches your pace.
How often should I swim to get fitter?
The NHS recommends adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week, and lists swimming as vigorous. Three 25-minute sessions of steady lane swimming would meet the vigorous target.
Is it safe to swim straight after eating?
There is no good evidence that eating before swimming causes drowning. A large meal might make you uncomfortable, so leave a little time after a big lunch. Our swimming for health guide has pre-swim food ideas.
Can I swim in contact lenses?
Optometrists advise against getting contact lenses wet, because water can carry organisms that cause serious eye infections. Prescription goggles are a safer choice.
Can adults learn to swim from scratch?
Yes. Many leisure centres run adult beginner classes, and progress is often quicker than people expect once fear of putting the face in the water is overcome.
What is cold water shock?
It is the gasping and rapid breathing that happens when you are suddenly immersed in cold water. The RLSS advice is to float on your back until your breathing settles, then swim to safety or signal for help.
Why do my eyes sting in the pool?
Usually because of chloramines, compounds formed when chlorine reacts with sweat, urine and other body waste, rather than chlorine itself. Showering before swimming helps everyone. Goggles solve the problem for you.
