30 swimming goals, from your first length to open water

Swimming goals for beginners

Start with goals about showing up and staying calm in the water. Speed comes later.

• Swim 25 m without stopping.
• Swim 100 m without stopping, in any stroke.
• Go to the pool 2 times a week for 4 weeks.
• Breathe out under water on every stroke for 10 lengths.
• Float on your back for 60 seconds.
• Swim 10 lengths in one session, with as much rest as you need.

Swimming distance goals

A distance goal is a total you add to, so a missed day costs nothing. In a 25 m pool, 40 lengths make 1 km. It is the same sum behind rowing goals, which also count metres.

• Swim 1 km without stopping.
• Swim 1,500 m in one session.
• Swim 5 km in one week.
• Swim 10 km in a month.
• Swim 100 km in a year. That is about 2 km a week.
• Add 100 m to your longest swim each week for 8 weeks.

Swimming technique goals

A technique goal is about how you swim, not how fast. You can work on it every single session.

• Breathe on both sides for a full 400 m.
• Learn a flip turn and use it for a whole session.
• Swim 25 m of freestyle in 20 strokes or fewer.
• Start every session with one drill set for a month.
• Learn a second stroke well enough to swim 200 m of it.
• Kick 200 m with a board without stopping.

Swimming speed goals

A speed goal is a time over a set distance. Test it on the same day each month, after the same warm up.

• Swim 100 m freestyle in under 2 minutes.
• Swim 400 m in under 8 minutes.
• Take 5 seconds off your 100 m time in 12 weeks.
• Swim 10 x 100 m, starting one every 2 minutes 30.
• Hold the same pace for every 100 m of a 1 km swim.
• Swim 50 m flat out once a week and write the time down.

30 day swimming challenges and bigger goals

A day-count challenge suits swimming when the number is sessions, because few people can swim every day. If one sport is not enough, triathlon goals add a bike and a run.

• Swim 12 times in 30 days.
• Swim 20 sessions in 60 days.
• Swim 100 sessions in a year.
• Join a club or masters session once a week for a term.
• Enter a first open water swim of 750 m.
• Finish a 5 km swim, in a pool or in open water.

What is a good swimming goal?

A good swimming goal is specific, a little hard, and about something you control in the pool. A review of 35 years of goal research found that specific, hard goals lead to higher performance than being told to do your best.

In sport, the kind of goal matters too. A review of 27 studies found that process goals, the ones about how you do the skill, had the largest effect on performance. Goals about beating someone else had almost none. So "breathe on both sides for 400 m" is a stronger goal than "be faster than the next lane".

Write it the way SMART goals are written: "Swim 1 km without stopping by 30 June, training twice a week." It names the number, the date and the plan.

How to track swimming goals

Log the number after every swim, before you leave the pool. Lengths are easy to lose count of, so count in sets: 4 lengths is 100 m in a 25 m pool.

The record is what does the work. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that writing it down beat keeping it in your head.

A distance goal is an amount: you add metres. A sessions goal is a day count: you tick the day. Either one can be a picture that fills up as you log, and most fitness challenge ideas are tracked the same way.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good swimming goal for a beginner?

Swimming 100 m without stopping, in any stroke. It is small enough to reach in a few weeks and clear enough that you know the day you have done it. After that, aim for 400 m, then 1 km.

How many lengths is 1 km?

40 lengths of a 25 m pool, or 20 lengths of a 50 m pool. A mile is about 64 lengths of a 25 m pool.

How often should I swim to reach a fitness goal?

It depends on the goal. For general health, the CDC says adults need 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, and swimming counts. Three swims of 50 minutes gets you there.

Should my swimming goal be about distance or time?

Start with distance. It only goes up, so every swim adds to it. Add a time goal once you can swim the distance without stopping, and test it once a month, not every session.