RandomCollegeGirl

Hi. I'm a college girl, and I really enjoy swimming laps to stay in shape. I'm a decent swimmer, but I've never done swim team and don't have any interest in swimming competitively.

What's a good distance to swim 3-4 times a week? Something along the lines of running 2-3 miles.

TropicalTriceps

In a 25m pool, probably 200 laps a wk to stay fit. One hour a day would be more than enough. Glad to see someone enjoys swimming!

It's the best when you have an ocean around to play with though .

RandomCollegeGirl

Thanks... when swimmers say lap, does it mean one-way or round trip?

TropicalTriceps

I stopped competitive swimming back in middle school so I cant even remember anymore to tell you the truth. I believe we used numbers only (50m, 100, 200, etc). I meant one way though. It was a rough estimation. I think that as long as you push yourself sufficiently, one hour of swimming 3x a week is fantastic.

gatordan

a lap is generally one way down the pool, two laps is there and back. If I had to guess I'd say somewhere around 40-50 laps would be equivalent to 2-3 miles running, but that's just a ballpark from my personal experience from the HS swim team.

SallyBowles

i thought a lane was down to the other end of the pool, and a lap was there and back...

gatordan

that's not how we did it on the HS swim team, but I don't know.

All I know is that when I swam a lap was one way across the pool.

College_Here_I_Come!

a lap is down and back, a length is only from one side to the other.

but anyway, to the OP, if you're swimming 3-4 times a week just to stay fit, then 2000 yards each time done within a half hour is excellent.