What’s your swim training type (and what does it say about your personality)?

When you arrive at a swimming training session, how do you approach it – and what does it say about the type of person you are? Here’s a light-hearted look at some of the styles we’ve seen. Can you see where you and your swimming pals fit in?

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Do you recognise yourself, or anyone you swim with?

Most likely you believe that your approach to training is the best one – or, if you’re more modest, at least the one most appropriate for you. We’re not going to argue here that one style is better than the other. In fact, most have their merits at various times and depending on your reasons for swimming. You might also find yourself moving between training types depending on your mood and where you are in your training cycle.

We do however suggest that you pay attention to how you approach your swim training and experiment with different styles. For example, if you’ve had a heavy week at work, try being a slacker or a show-boater for a session. If you’re just back from a break, have a go at being an accelerator to give yourself time to get used to the feel of the water before attempting to swim fast. If you’re feeling brave, try the meteor’s approach. You might surprise yourself how long you can keep going. If you want to experience swimming with faster swimmers, become a hanger-on for a session (but try not to annoy anyone). If you need a reference from your coach, be a work horse for a while. Variety will liven up your training and will also teach you something about yourself and what swimming at different effort levels feels like. Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works for you.

Just to be clear, this table has been produced by us at H2Open based on our own observations without recourse to any psychologists or personality specialists. If you’ve got any suggestions for other swim training types, we’d love to hear about them.