Swim: Drills

Following the catch entering the pull phase 

I have a theory that water hates swimmers and will do whatever it can to stop them. Technique is absolutely crucial within the sport and I have truly come to learn the value of acquiring and maintaining proper stroke technique.

As I more or less took up swimming when I began triathlons (50 months ago), I virtually started from scratch. I fell in love with it right away, or the challenge of it, at least, and did my best to truly become a student of the sport. I spent my lunch time watching youtube videos of Thorpe, Phelps, and Hackett, while also buying and routinely studying Ernest Maglischo's 'Swimming Fastest,' which I highly recommend.

During this punishingly steep learning curve, I learned the 'who came first' of swimming. You need good technique in order to swim to gain fitness, but you need fitness in order to gain good technique.

So with time in the pool spent swimming with those painfully faster than me, I slowly but steadily improved.

 Throughout it all, the one constant has been drills. If you can, have a Master's coach or competitive-swimming friend critique your stroke and help you find drills to correct any imperfections. Here are the drills that I'm currently doing each swim workout following my warm-up:

1) 50 yards of kick, face down, arms above my head, focusing on relaxed shoulders and body position in the water. Just raise chin and scull your hands to take a breath.

2) Flutter kick on side, with the arm on the bottom pointing ahead towards the opposite wall of the pool and the other arm at the water's surface flat against your side. Count to 20 then alternate, focusing on the complete roll to the other side and extension of your arm in what would be the 'glide' phase of the stroke. Repeat for 50 yards.

3) Swim normal freestyle, but make a fist with both hands. Emphasize catching the water with your forearm, not your fists, and pulling with the forearm.

4) Kick incorporation. I swim what I believe is a 2-beat crossover kick. This means that I do a major downbeat kick with my left leg when my left arm is in the pull phase of the stroke, and vice versa with my right arm. In between each kick, just to keep my legs in line with my body, I do the tiny 'crossover' kicks.

Hopefully should you be interested in these drills those descriptions weren't too confusing. But please do look into stroke analysis and the substantial improvement that can be found in drills.