More swim tips and advice aimed towards triathletes of all abilities. If you’re a beginner, they’ll keep you from flailing about like you being attacked by sharks, or if you see yourself as seasoned veteran, they’ll show you how it is possible to shave off the seconds without having to shave your legs.

Swim Tall
Water is 1000 times denser than air. So the simple most important factor is to slip your body through the smallest hole in the water. Imagine a central axis extending from the top of your head to the opposite end of the pool. Rotate your body along this axis with each stroke, stretching your leading arm as far forward as you can. Keep the muscles in your lower back and abs taut as you power through the water. Doing so will keep the propulsion coming from both your arms and legs.

Drop An Anchor
Swimming with just your hands is like jumping with just your feet. Instead, grip the water with your entire forearm and hand, holding your forearm at a right angle to your upper arm and digging in like you’re gathering sand with a shovel. Keep your hands broad, flat and firm. You’re not pushing your arm through the water as much as anchoring it and pulling your body over it.

Heavy Rotation
Each stroke begins with your leading arm having entered the water, and that side of your body (the low side) pointing almost at the bottom of the pool. The other side of your body (the high side) should be raised, with the arm that just finished its stroke getting ready to return to the water. Power is triggered when you drive down the high side of your body, throwing your high side arm forward along the central axis into the leading position and rotating your hips and torso. Meanwhile, your low side arm is the pulling arm under water, working with your rotating torso to provide acceleration.

Keep Your Head Down
Freestylers used to hold their heads high. That forced the rest of the body to drop, turning it into a high-drag plough. Try and look pretty much straight down at the pool. Obviously in open water you need to sight, try to keep this to a minimum though in order to avoid and un-necessary drag. In both situations not only will keeping you head down avoid drag but it keeps your torso high, reducing strain on your neck and lower back.

Find Your Glide Path
In the pool, fewer strokes is better. Your goal should be a high distance per stroke. Elite swimmers like Michael Phelps can easily traverse a 25m pool in seven strokes(each hand entry counts as a stroke). Try to keep yours below 20 by conserving momentum. Pull yourself over your anchor and continue to glide forward with one arm forward and the other back. When you begin to slow, start the next stroke.

Drag Your Feet
If you’re a good kicker, you’re a good swimmer. The secret is turning your feet into fins. Leverage rules, your legs should be taut, scissoring though the water, while your feet remain flexible. This will help them snap at the down stroke of each kick, adding oomph and helping twist your torso along the central axis. If your feet don’t flex as well, buy a set of fins to add flexibility.

Don’t Waste Breathe
Gasping for air every time your head nears the surface is a great way to drown. Instead make each breathe count. Exhale all the air from your lungs before taking a quick, full breathe on the high side. Beginning swimmers need to breathe after each stroke, but as your endurance improves, try breathing on alternate sides – that is after three strokes. It’ll reduce the strain on your neck and shoulders that results from always breathing on the same side.

Happy training!!

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