Introduction

In the last 5 months I have been providing swim coaching to a small group of my clients. This has been 80% stroke technique work. During this time I have had to radically realign my perception of what is efficient, fast swimming and how to best teach these skills to triathletes, not to full-time swimmers. In short, triathlon swimming is about efficiency, then fitness and speed. For full-time swimmers, technique was learned at a very early age and so swimming is much more about fitness, power and speed. These differences demand radically different approaches to all aspects of swimming. Please start by reading my article, Improving Your Swim Technique. This article is meant to give the essence of what I'm talking about here, and to give you a few very valuable measurement tools. I will explain common swim technique errors and the drills used to fix them. The first section delves into the subject of Balance and Side Swimming, the second section will be devoted to explaining some common drills, and then provide a matrix of common swim problems and associated drill fixes.

So Many Problems, So Many Drills. Where do I begin?

Just as our fitness training follows a logical progression, our skills training does as well. It's difficult to fix C if A and B are also jacked up. My progression is as follows:

1. Proper Balance: this refers to a swimmers ability to perform all movements fluidly around a natural point of buoyancy. This skill is reflected in a proper horizontal body position and smooth transition from side to side while swimming. For some athletes, improper balance can be caused by an ineffective kick. I have included a Fin Progression below to help you fix this.

2. Side Swimming: It's my term, I don't know if someone else has already claimed it. By this I mean that the swimmer should try to spend as much time as possible swimming on his side. This accomplishes at least two things:

a) Reduces frontal area exposed to the water, thus reducing drag.

b) Gets the large lat and shoulder muscles into the pull of your stroke. A flat shoulder style of swimming recruits the smaller delt muscles.

3. Propulsive movements: this refers to the stuff that makes you go forward. These are drills that teach you how to catch and pull the water more efficiently and effectively.

Balance and Side Swimming

You will hear "Balance" a lot these days in triathlon circles. I suspect it's because some very smart folks realized that they had to teach something to non-swimmers that swimmers could already do instinctively from years of practice: maintain a horizontal and streamlined position in the water. Fortunately, the most common drills that solve balance problems also develop side swimming skills.

You swim in a tube. Anything sticking outside of this tube creates drag. Drag slows you down. The most common source of drag is your legs. We have all seen people that swim with their legs 12-18 inches below the water line. This is a huge source of drag and must be fixed before we can move on to anything else.

Swim Drills

Kicking/Lower Body Balance and Side Swimming Drills

1. Stomach Kick: Kick on your stomach, head first, arms are at your side. Try to achieve horizontal body position by using buoyancy to bring legs up.

Head: Neutral to down. Experiment with head position to bring feet to surface.

Arms: Both arms held loosely at your sides.

Legs: Toes pointed, ankles relaxed. Boil the water on the surface, no big splashes. Small kick.

Breath: Roll head easily to side. This is the hard part. It helps to exhale slowly and smoothly while your head is underwater.

Remarks: Imagine that you have a float in your chest. Push down on this float to bring your feet up. Use this downhill swimming technique and head position to bring feet up, NOT a harder kick. Buoyancy vs Power.

2. Right Side Kick (RSK): Kick on your right side, with right shoulder pointed to the sky.

Head: Relaxed, underwater, look at the side of the pool. Advanced it to look at the bottom, but be sure to maintain vertical shoulders when on your side: shoulders perpendicular to bottom of the pool.

Arms: Left arm extended, right hand rests on left thigh.

Legs: Toes pointed, ankles relaxed. Keep width of kick within "tube" created by your body: relatively narrow.

Breath: Take a small sculling motion with right hand and roll head easily to breathe. Exhale slowly and smoothly.

Remarks: Keep shoulders perpendicular to pool bottom. "Point belly to the side of the pool." Relatively narrow kick. Smooth breath by rolling your head up to the sky.

3. Left Side Kick (LSK): Kick on your left side, with left shoulder pointed to the sky.

Head: Relaxed, underwater, look at the side of the pool. Advanced is to look at the bottom, but be sure to maintain vertical shoulders when on your side: shoulders perpendicular to bottom of the pool.

Arms: Right arm extended, left hand rests on right thigh.

Legs: Toes pointed, ankles relaxed. Keep width of kick within "tube" created by your body: relatively narrow.

Breath: Take a small sculling motion with left hand and roll head easily to breathe. Exhale slowly and smoothly.

Remarks: Keep shoulders perpendicular to pool bottom: "Point belly to the side of the pool." Relatively narrow kick. Smooth breath by rolling your head up to the sky.

4. Single Switch (SSwitch): 1 arm pull to move from right to left side. Start with Right Side Kick. 6 kicks, then pull and roll over to Left Side Kick. 6 kicks left side, roll, repeat.

Head: Relaxed, underwater, look at the side of the pool. Advanced is to look at the bottom, but be sure to maintain vertical shoulders when on your side: shoulders perpendicular to bottom of the pool.

Arms: Left arm extended, right hand rests on left thigh. Pull with left arm to initiate roll, right arm return over the water to Left Side Kick position.

Legs: Toes pointed, ankles relaxed. Keep width of kick within "tube" created by your body: relatively narrow.

Breath: Breathe when you pull and roll to alternate side. Exhale slowly and smoothly.

Remarks: Keep shoulders perpendicular to pool bottom. Relatively narrow kick. Smooth roll from right to left and back again. Roll from the hips, as well from the shoulders. Think "Point belly to the side of the pool."

5. Triple Switch (TSwitch): 3 arm pulls to move from right side to left side. Start with Right Side Kick. 6 kicks, then pull three arms strokes, ending up on your left side. Kick 6 kicks on your left side, then take 3 arm pulls to rotate over to your right side. Repeat.

Head: Relaxed, underwater, look at the side of the pool. Advanced is to look at the bottom, but be sure to maintain vertical shoulders when on your side: shoulders perpendicular to bottom of the pool.

Arms: Left arm extended, right hand rests on left thigh. Pull with left arm to initiate roll, right arm return over the water to Left Side Kick position.

Legs: Toes pointed, ankles relaxed. Keep width of kick within "tube" created by your body: relatively narrow.

Breath: Breathe when you pull and roll to alternate side. Exhale slowly and smoothly.

Remarks: Keep shoulders perpendicular to pool bottom. Relatively narrow kick. Smooth roll from right to left and back again. Roll from the hips too. Think "Point belly to the side of the pool." Focus on transferring "Side Kick" skill to "Side Swimming" skill.