The most common question I hear in the triathlete world about the mysteries of swimming efficiently usually involves something with breathing. In freestyle, it is the first step to get your body position right. Then, for many, you throw in breathing and everything goes haywire! This has to do with lack of balance, using your head instead of your core to breath, and a few other factors.

As technical as the sport of swimming can be, it is tough to narrow down the answer to the often-asked question, 'what should I concentrate on?' So, I came up with a 'top ten' list of steps to improving your swim for a triathlon. These aren't necessarily in any order, but should go a long way in helping you achieve your goals, whether you are a beginner or trying to go pro.

Coach Mat writes: Heading into the wall, somersaulting, and pushing off that wall - the basic flip turn. Wow! Looks neat. But is it necessary?

While watching the swimming events in the Olympics last week, I started thinking about how different the freestyle stroke is (or should be) for Olympic sprinters and amateur triathletes.

Can you point your toes and straighten out your feet? When you kick on your back, do you tend to go very slow, stay in one place, or even go backwards? Do you have a tough time with swimming drills because your kick is not propelling you forward fast enough? Do you wear fins in workouts just to "keep up"?

Lately there has been a lot of fuss over swim drills. With the introduction of Total Immersion a few years back, people have been saying that swim drills are the hot new thing on the market. New?

How to get Faster in the water! When swimming a particular workout, remember that every swim set has a distinct purpose. Swimming is different then biking or running in that you can hammer every day without tearing up you ligaments and joints. Since you don't feel the same type of soreness as in running and biking, swimming leads many of us to think that we didn't swim hard enough.

Drill Application PROBLEM: Ineffective kick DRILL: Vertical Kick Drill

Kicking/Lower Body Balance and Side Swimming Drill Progression Application: poor horizontal position, "dragging the legs," caused by poor balance (has not found buoyancy "sweet spot.") and/or inefficient kick. Inefficient transfer from side to side, with too much "flat shoulder" swimming. If inefficient or ineffective kick, use Fin Progression below.

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.