How to start fast in an open water race

We all know that starting fast can give athletes a great advantage in any race. In an open water race where a lot of people are competing is even more essential because it will help you get a better place in the racing terrain. That means that if you don't start fast you will find yourself stuck in the middle of a huge group of swimmers without the ability to slip out of this situation without getting bumped or tripped and losing a great deal of time and precious seconds of your time. A fast start is also good for triathletes too, although many of them approach the swim as a warm up for the bike and wun work they have to do later on their race. A part from the psychological boost they'll get, keep in mind that a few seconds lead in swimming translates into a lot more seconds in the bike part of the race because cycling is much faster than swimming.

Swimming workout: Find your balance point in breaststroke

I know that a lot of you enjoy a nice swimming practice on Sundays. So, I have a special workout for you that will help you find your balance point in breaststroke. Before you get into the water you would like to try a dryland exercise that will hep you get the feeling of the basic rocking motion in breaststroke. The exercise is called rocking drill (obviously you can find the same drill under a different name) and you lie on an exercise mat on your chest (prone). Then you alternately rock your head and chest up as you bend your knees and raise your heels toward your buttocks, then you rock you head and chest downward as you straighten your legs. I would love to hear your comments on the workout, and let me know what would you like the focus of the next workout to be. Enjoy!!!

Mistakes to avoid during the release and recovery in backstroke

Although the release and recovery in backstroke seems as an easy job to do, swimmers make many mistakes during these two phases of the armstroke that can lead to an increase in resistive drag or disrupt the rhythm of the stroke. These mistakes are: to bring the arm out of the water with the little finger up and the palm facing out, to bring the hand out of the water with the palm facing down, to initiate recovery by lifting the hand rather than rolling the shoulder up, and to swing the arm low and to the side.

Let's take a closer look to each one of these mistakes that can affect your swimming technique.

Low profile breathing swimming workout

A lot of swimmers, especially young ones and beginners, tend to rotate to much or they rise their heads up while breathing in freestyle. Swimmers who do that mistake lose balance and they don't swim straight which leads to neck pain and loss of speed. We all know that the better the technique the better we work out. With that in mind, I'll post various swimming workouts that will help you improve your swimming technique as well as challenge you aerobically. If you have any questions about the workout or the format that I'll use to write it, please make a comment or pm me. 

Common mistakes during the insweep, upsweep, and release in freestyle

This is the last post on the mistakes during the armstroke in freestyle series and it will cover the insweep, the upsweep and the release. You can find the rest posts of these series here (recovery and entry) and here (downsweep).

What can go wrong during the downsweep in freestyle

Today we're going to discuss the mistakes that swimmers usually do during the downsweep in freestyle. The most common of them are to drop the elbow, to maintain the arm in an extended position, to slide the hand out to the side too much, and to slide the arm out to the side too little.

Common mistakes during the recovery and entry in freestyle

As you already know the armstroke in freestyle is divided into seven parts: the entry and stretch, the downsweep, the catch, the insweep, the upsweep, the release and the recovery. Today we're going to discuss a few common mistakes that swimmers do during  the recovery and the entry. Making these adjustments is important to improve your technique. 

5 tips to avoid sinking legs

Dealing with sinking legs is a major challenge for beginner swimmers as it adds huge amount of drag. The extra drag from this low body position slows swimmers down dramatically and  can be really frustrating because swimmers can't enjoy this activity. The prevailing theories that begginers have on sinking legs typically revolve around: 

• I'm sinker.
• I'm a weak kicker.
• I'm not going fast enough.

Four easy steps to freestyle [video]

Today's post is about freestyle and how to learn it for the beginners or improve it for intermediate swimmers. It’s something I wanted to post for a long time now but since the swimming facility in my home town was closed for eight months it was impossible. In the following video I present 3 freestyle drills that will help you learn how to breathe properly and how to move your body during this stroke. Before you start practicing these drills you should be able to balance in the water and can put your face in the water.

Breathing mistakes in butterfly

The butterfly stroke has five elements: armstroke (entry and stretch, outsweep, insweep, upsweep, and recovery), kicking, body position, breathing, and when you put them altogether, timing is crucial. Swimmers tend to do mistakes in each one of these elements and through this blog I try to help them identify these mistakes and correct them. I have already blogged about the mistakes that swimmers do during the recovery (here), when they kick (here), and timing mistakes (here). Today I will go through the most common mistakes during breathing when swimming butterfly.

Tips to improve your kicking

Kicking is a very important aspect in swimming and we all know that better kicking equal better swimming. Here are a few tips from Wayne Goldsmith that will help you improve your kicking in no time.

Common mistakes during the insweep of the armstroke in breaststroke

As you already know the armstroke of breaststroke is divided into four parts: the outsweep, the catch, the insweep, and the recovery. A few days ago I blogged on the common mistakes that swimmers tend to make during the outsweep of the armstroke (see here). Today’s post is about mistakes swimmers do and should avoid during the insweep.

The most common mistake that swimmers make during this phase of the stroke is to direct the hands forward. The forward speed of the body will drop off dramatically once swimmers begin to move the arms forward during the insweep. Consequently, they will either terminate the insweep early or they will waste time and effort performing a movement that is non propulsive. The forward and inward arm movement produces an outward and backward drag force and a forward and outward lift force. Swimmers are bound to decelerate when they sweep the hands forward during the insweep because any small forward component of force that may be produced by this direction of limb motion will be negated by the large backward component of the drag force they are also producing.

Common mistakes during the outsweep of the armstroke in breaststroke

The armstroke of the breaststroke is divided into three parts, the outsweep, the insweep, and the recovery. During these parts swimmers can make mistakes that they should avoid. Today I’m going to list down the common mistakes that can be done during the outsweep of the armstroke. The mistakes that are more common during the other two parts will be described in the following days.

Make the best out of your backstroke start

Just as with the forward start (see here), there are several kinds of backstroke starts. Three basic types are the traditional start, the newer Japanese start, and the catapult start. In the traditional start, the hips are close to the wall and the shoulders close to the block, so the torso is practically vertical and the knees are bent to an extreme. The Japanese start is characterized by the torso angling slightly away from the wall and the head leaning back; this is the quickest of the starts. In the catapult start, the hips are away from the wall, the knees are bent only to about 90 degrees, and the shoulders lean in close to the hands, so the torso is angled into the wall. The catapult start is better for age groupers because the pressure of the feet is directed horizontally into the wall.

Improve your butterfly

Butterfly has a bad reputation among most swimmers as being difficult. They complain about having to race or train fly, and when they are allowed to choose their own races at meets, they avoid it. Swimmers have the choice of using a racing stroke or a survival stroke. Racing stroke is forward and fast; survival stroke is vertical ans slow. Most swimmers (particularly age-groupers) think butterfly is difficult because they swim survival stroke in practice all the time ans in races as soon as they get tired. Survival stroke is indeed difficult, exhausting, inefficient, and ugly. 

Tips for a perfect backstroke turn

Being blind to the upcoming wall unnerves many swimmers, whose tentative backstroke walls cause them to lose a lot of time to their competitors. Aggressiveness walls can cover a multitude of swimming errors. Here are some tips, devided into the three parts of a flip turn, that will help you do perfect backstroke turns.

Tips to improve your freestyle turn

There are two basic kinds of turn, the flip turns and the open turns. No matter the kind, it is helpful to think of the turn as having three parts: the approach, the turn on the wall, and the send-away. When the turn is done correctly, it speeds up the swimmer while allowing a brief break from swimming.

Improve your breaststroke pull

Two days ago I wrote about the key points that swimmers and their coaches should have in mind during the breaststroke kick. Today's post will be about breaststroke pull.

Of all the competitive strokes, breaststroke is the slowest, and there is a reason for this. The double arm pull, though truncated, is strong, but the recovery of the arms creates resistance that slows the swimmer. The kick is powerful, but again the recovery of the legs creates tremendous resistance that slows the swimmer. The puzzle for the coach and athlete is to find ways to lessen the resistance and maintain the momentum created by the powerful pull and kick. Because of the dramatic decelerations, streamlining is key to the stroke, especially at critical moments such as the transition from pull to kick.

Improve your breaststroke kick

Yesterday I wrote about some key points for backstroke that swimmers should have in mind during their practice. Today's post will be about the key points swimmers and coaches should focus on during the breaststroke kick. For the majority of the beginner or leisure swimmer, breaststroke is difficult to learn and even more difficult to master. Some coaches prefer to teach it first and before they start to teach any other stroke because it's easier to learn the breaststroke kick if you haven't learned the flutter kick. Either way, it needs time and effort to master this skill. I'll provide some key points of the breaststroke key to help you.

The aim with the breaststroke kick is to catch onto and press backward against the water with flared-out feet and sins, all the while maintaining horizontal streamlining with the rest of the body. This takes specialized ranges of motion of the hip, knee and ankle. It;s easy to describe the kick but difficult to do well.

Key points to master backstroke

The fundamentals of backstroke and those of freestyle share many similarities. Both strokes are swum horizontally in the water with the body rolling on its long axis, both are asymmetrical with alternate arm stroking and alternate leg kicking, and in both, the arm pull is down the length of the body. In backstroke, however, the head is more easily controlled and does not lead to as many problems as in freestyle, and freestyle is faster because of biomechanical advantages.

There are some key points that all swimmers should focus on if you want to master that stroke. It is better if you focus on one point each time to gain the most out of each point. If you train an age-group squad you should try to mix the focus on every set (e.g. 20x50 back, change focus every 1 or 2 length).