I had a goal to finish the front crawl training and swim three times a week. That has worked out pretty great. I could go on with further lessons, but I know the trainer will put me on an endurance regime, and I know I will hate it after a few weeks. It is much more important to me that I keep exercising two/three times a week than how well I do at it. So my goal is to slowly, steadily, consistently and patiently build towards swimming 1k, which is the goal I would otherwise also pursue with a trainer.
Ooh what's front crawl training? God I wish I wasn't so insecure about my body to swim. I'm a somewhat hairy man and haven't been in a pool shirtless since I was like.. 14? Swimming is so nice and easy on your joints. Totally agree with getting in being the priority over how successful those sessions are. Turning up is a huge chunk of the battle! Let me know how the 1k swim progresses, very keen to hear how it goes!
It's also called the American or freestyle crawl. Today I did half a kilometer with small breaks. And dude, my swimming pool has all shapes and sizes, from bald muscle gods to hairy elderly people. Unlike a gym, the pool is actually fairly representative of society at large.