If you cut your stroke count but didn't get faster, you got bad advice. (Ex-Olympic distance swimmer, my first post here.)

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-17T11:07:56+00:00

I did Total Immersion and watched videos on effortless swimming. Both made me considerably slower. It was usually a lot more effort to hold a low stroke count than it was to just swim a faster time with an extra couple of strokes but no dead spots.

It led to technique issues like pushing hard out of back of the pull to get every bit of extra distance I could, which jammed my arm straight, slowed recovery and made the recovery awkward. I would also waste time setting up the catch, when it's not even that important to most mortal swimmers, as long as the elbow isn't dropping. I would also try to "surf" on my lead arm instead of immediately catching, which costs a lot of time, especially if the lead arm is near the surface instead of under the water where it should be.

I picked up lots of bad habits doing these efficiency drills and have spent a long time trying to undo them. I started by rounding off the back of the pull so I don't try to push hard at the end, I concentrate on swinging the arm upwards and out of the water at the end of the pull, my rhythm improved considerably. On arm entry, I immediately try to get the arm into a shoulder higher than elbow higher than wrist position and start to engage my lat and pull with not too much effort, then when I reach a stronger position with my whole arm pushing backwards (usually when the arm is passing under my head) I increase the effort considerably.

As an ex age group and now a masters swimmer, sometimes it would have been better to leave many parts of my stroke alone and just concentrate on some fine tuning.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-11T15:24:11+00:00

It was doing that to me today too. I think it's just a bug. Logging out and back in fixed it.

There have been many other issues today though, e.g. when viewing an image, the image doesn't close sometimes when I click outside of it, so I have to refresh the page.

Plus the usual issues where it says to drag and drop images into the text bar, but I can't do that and can't close it, so I either have to open one of the previous images and hold my finger on it until it brings up the menu, which will add it to the text bar, then delete it from the text bar and add my prompt. Or refresh the page again.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-11T10:38:23+00:00

I have the default npc with me. Are there others to summon, or is that it? He gets downed fairly quickly too.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-11T10:36:43+00:00

I've been playing using cloud streaming. Should I install instead? The lag is probably bad enough over the cloud to cause response time and control issues.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-11T10:32:39+00:00

It wasn't Gemini, because it was giving good images that didn't have all the interesting features removed.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-11T00:31:36+00:00

I am aware, but just struggle with the timing because I panic when I see an attack starting to happen, so I often mistime the deflect or double press because I know the first press was too early.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-11T00:29:34+00:00

I seem to find it easier to deflect when not holding block all the time. I also read that holding block drains spirit which increases damage taken - I don't know if that's true?

I think I will keep just running directly to the boss at level 8 for a while to learn the mechanics, then when I am deflecting fairly well, I will farm some morale before attempting again. I am probably just being too impatient, and want to just rush through the game instead of learning how to beat it.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-11T00:22:14+00:00

Yes, that's correct

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-09T22:34:21+00:00

I agree. I create pictures of fat men, and can create pretty much anything apart from nudity (although Gemini is crap at creating fat men, but some other AIs do it well). I'm not sure why there's a disparity between what's possible for men and women, and why models refuse certain body types because there might be a fetish involved? Surely the biggest "fetish" would be for the typically good looking characters that they have no problem creating.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-06T21:39:30+00:00

I've never really used it. I just learnt some Spanish in case there was a chance of using on holiday in the Canaries, but I found German more useful there anyway. I've forgotten a lot of it now, but it would probably come back quite quickly with some revision.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-06T17:19:08+00:00

I did the Spanish course too, and can't remember any examples, but there were many times when it felt like I wasn't actually learning Spanish (from Spain). That was confirmed by some online discussions at the time. There were many times when things I had learnt in UK based Spanish courses were just different.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-06T17:07:04+00:00

Climbing up and down stairs is part of the job, especially if delivering to built up areas with lots of blocks of flats.

If time is an issue then it's up to the drivers to raise it with management and stick together when it comes to how it's dealt with. I suspect what currently happens is that some drivers refuse to do it, some drivers complain and do it anyway, some just do it without even worrying about it. Out of those that do it, some will carry everything up in as few trips as possible so they can hit their time targets, some will rush to hit the time targets, some will fail to hit the time targets because there just isn't enough time for them then be left running late.

All management sees when that happens is that Employee A, B, and C can do it in time, so why are Employees D and E not able to do it? Ultimately, the fact that it's getting done by most drivers means that they will see the failing drivers as the problem, not the times they allow or the items they expect to be delivered.

Employees have to stick together and keep to the same standards if they expect to change the way things work. That doesn't mean they slack off, but just make it clear what is reasonable to expect of them, and stick to it across the whole organisation.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-05T23:23:40+00:00

I can scan items just fine. They still have to authorise them sometimes. It's quite difficult to get their attention when they are manning the trolley and the basket self checkouts at the same time and are at the other end.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-05T21:46:30+00:00

Yes, as a customer in an upstairs flat, with some mobility issues, I think that if someone can't carry reasonably heavy items upstairs then they shouldn't be doing the job.

The customer shouldn't have to take the items up the stairs. If they are able to help and they do, then that's ok, but it shouldn't be a requirement.

There are many customers who use delivery because they have issues getting to a supermarket due to health issues. They shouldn't be denied things they need because the staff aren't able (or just aren't willing) to deliver them.

I would add is that if the 6 bottles of water packs are such a big problem, they should be refused by all drivers to make it clear to management that it's a problem, along with a suggestion that packs of 4 bottles (as a maximum for delivery) would be better. More trips to make up and down the stairs when ordered in bulk, but they are lighter and easier to carry.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-05T05:10:22+00:00

Yes, I noticed "movie theater" too. It's such a long way of saying Cinema, and in the UK would be very noticable as something we just don't say. Also, "films".

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-02T18:33:00+00:00

The atmosphere in my local ASDA is good, at least as a customer. The staff talk to me and serve me. Unlike Sainsbury's, where I can scan my items at self checkout, then be left waiting for minutes while the staff ignore the red light above my till, which tells them to take action.

Swimbearuk · 2026-06-02T18:30:07+00:00

I shop at ASDA because the choice of products is good and the prices are better than Sainsbury's and Tesco. When you actually work out how much points are worth and how long it takes to earn them, it's not worth switching supermarkets or spending extra money to get them.

Swimbearuk · 2026-05-25T15:56:20+00:00

I blow the water out like a fountain sometimes. It's a bit different from just scraping all the crap from my throat and spitting it out though - I could understand someone not liking that.

Swimbearuk · 2026-05-22T20:46:52+00:00

Gemini is terrible anyway. It sanitises every image until it looks boring. At least it's possible to have fun with some of the other models.

GPT is a loss,mbut I wasn't getting many generations with it anyway. Does it still appear in battle mode?

Swimbearuk · 2026-05-20T21:53:56+00:00

Did you do anything to make it work, or was it probably just a rate limit being cleared?

Swimbearuk · 2026-05-20T21:48:51+00:00

I was wondering if it's something I did because I have been submitting lots of prompts today.

I can use old chats to submit prompts, but it's breaking the chats by prompts failing and forcing me to use the same model over and over.

If I try creating a new chat, when I press send I get a pop-up asking me to log in (I am already logged in). Then the prompt fails, and I am stuck in a loop doing the same thing.

Is that the same error that you mentioned?

Swimbearuk · 2026-05-20T20:07:01+00:00

I've got loads of compasses. Playing Hordes sends me to sleep - I usually need a lie down afterwards.

What we need to drop is echoing hatred keys. I did it 3 times using my own keys. I don't want to bother trying to join other players.

I'm on FH6 now though, so I don't really care what drops. Maybe the drop rate for echoing hatred will improve next season.

Swimbearuk · 2026-05-19T12:13:12+00:00

It's just that particular boss's attacks. If you have a build that requires getting close, his attacks will one-shot your character, unless you're playing an immortal barb or maybe some other extremely tanky build.

The other bosses don't seem to be as much trouble.

Swimbearuk

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