YOUR

SWIM
GUIDE

Beginner/Improver

A COMPLETE
SWIM GUIDE
IMPROVE YOUR SWIM WITH THIS COMPLETE GUIDE
SWIM GUIDE

TRIATHLON SWIMMING

THE BASICS
Words Elizabeth Hufton, Tom Ballard Photo James Lampard

IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN SWIMMING FOR YEARS, HERE’S HOW TO START

AGAIN FROM SCRATCH AND LEARN TO SWIM FOR TRIATHLON

L
earning to swim as an adult can
be a daunting experience. Some
people even develop a fear of
the water that needs to be overcome
before you can even take a stroke.
The first thing to say is that a course
of adult swimming lessons at your
local leisure centre can get you
through the absolute basics and
won’t cost a fortune. Professional
coaching is the only way to learn if
you really can’t swim a length.
Freestyle or front crawl is the stroke
most commonly used in triathlon.
Lessons will often cover breaststroke,
backstroke and sometimes butterfly too,
but it’s the freestyle stroke that you need
to really focus on.
The stroke is usually taught in stages.
First, you need to get your body position
right: you need to be horizontal in the
water (no sinking legs) to minimise drag.
Then you’ll look at your kick action:
keeping your legs straight but relaxed for
a kick that balances your stroke without
dragging you down. Breathing and body
roll usually come next, and you’ll learn
how to breathe bilaterally (from both
sides). The arms are the last piece of the
jigsaw; your arm action is much easier to
master once you’ve got the rotation and
breathing right. Fix your technique before
you worry about speed.

62 MARCH 2012
 SWIMMING THE BASICS
MOVING UP
Swimming fast is all about efficiency.
You can have the strongest arms and
the most powerful kick, but unless all
aspects of your technique are brought
together in a fluid, harmonious and
efficient stroke, your freestyle may see
you lagging behind by T1.
We sent Tom Ballard for a Gatorade
training day with Jack Maitland, coach to the
world number one and two, Alistair and
Jonathan Brownlee. Here’s what he learned.
LEGS
Working on a solid leg kick helps aid
propulsion through the water, but its
primary use is to help keep the body in a
horizontal position and thereby reduce drag
in order to maximise power and glide from
each arm stroke. If you’ve ever found that
swimming with a pull buoy between your
legs makes you a lot faster through the
water, it’s probably because without it your
legs are sinking and thus increasing drag.
Kicking drills should make up ten percent of
swim training or 20 percent if your kick
needs work.
KICKING WITH FLOAT
Holding a float out ahead of you, do 2x25m
kicking. All the power should be generated
from the hips, so aim to keep your knees
straight, ankles loose and feet close
together to stay streamlined. Don’t kick too
deeply into the water: the downward stroke
keeps you horizontal and the upward stroke
aids propulsion, so experiment with what
depth helps you most. Leave the float at the
pool end and do another 2x25m with arms
too, but continue to concentrate on the
kicking. Repeat this drill at least twice each
technique session.
GLIDE KICKING
Another good drill for both legs and body
positioning is glide kicking. Push off from
the pool end, start kicking and bring your
arms to your sides, angling your chest down
into the water. Doing this drill lets you
experiment with getting your body as
horizontal and efficient as possible without
arm technique compromising positioning.
When you need to breathe, simply swim the
rest of the length normally, keeping your
thoughts fixed on perfecting your position.
Do 2x25m like this, then swim 1x25m
normally and repeat at least twice.
CHEST PRESSES
Building on the previous drill, and
maintaining your good kick, swim normally
A kick-board is and press your chest down into the water. If
an essential
piece of kit for you don’t normally swim with a good
pool training horizontal position, you may need to raise
your head a little more than usual so that
your crown is breaking the water. Though
this feels odd to begin with, the increase in
efficiency, and therefore in speed, can easily
be felt after a few lengths. Once you’ve
found the most efficient amount of leaning,
this position should be adopted for use all
the time when swimming freestyle.
ARMS
Your arms provide almost all the power and
propulsion through the water, so it’s now
time to bring these into the equation.
Without an efficient arm stroke to
complement your leg kick, your perfect
position goes to waste.
FLOAT CATCH-UP
A great way of maximising kicking and arm
technique is to hold a float out in front of you
with each hand resting on the back corners.
Begin kicking and then complete an arm
stroke with one arm. Focus on bending the
elbow at 90 degrees and pulling the water
back with your forearm until your hands are
in line with your upper thighs. Then do a
normal recovery, bringing the arm out of the
water again, resist twisting your hand –
keep it flat – and return it to the corner of the
float. This should all be in one fluid
movement. Immediately do the same with
the other arm before you lose momentum.
This drill promotes correct hand entry
position and underwater arm technique as
well as kicking to aid propulsion. Do sets of
2x25m with the float resting until you’ve
recovered between each.
PULL BUOY LENGTHS
Put a pull buoy between your thighs and give
your legs a break by concentrating solely on
your arm stroke. Visualise your fingertips
entering the water where the float was in
the float catch-up drill, and focus on a fluid
technique: bend your elbow to 90 degrees,
push back against the water to the upper
thighs. Perform a relaxed recovery without
over-tensing and with fingertips trailing just
above the water; stretch forward, allowing
your body to roll naturally. Do 2x25m with
the float followed by 2x25m without.
SWIM FREESTYLE
Combine your strong kick, new chest
positioning and fluid arm technique to swim
“technique lengths” where all you focus on
is each of these elements in turn. If you
become tired and you feel that your
technique is slipping, rest until recovered
before continuing. As you become more
used to the new positions and your muscles
adapt, it should become easier to build
endurance and speed while maintaining
correct technique that will see you out of
the water with the best of them.
MARCH 2012 63
SWIM GUIDE
Dedicating time
to swimming will
make you at ease
in the water
TRIATHLON SWIMMING
BEGINNERS’ PLAN
WHETHER YOU’RE WORRIED ABOUT YOUR PERFORMANCE IN THE FIRST
DISCIPLINE OR STARTING TO SWIM FROM SCRATCH, WE CAN HELP YOU
S
OMETIMES YOU’VE got to really focus
on something in order to improve at
it, and that’s certainly the case with
swimming. But once you’ve mastered it,
there’s no looking back and your improved
technique will stay with you for a long time.
To start our beginners’ training plan, you’ll need
to be able to swim 1,000m without stopping
(that’s 40 lengths of a 25m pool); if that’s not
possible for you yet, give yourself six to eight
weeks to build up your pool time before starting
this plan.
If it’s been years since you got in the pool, the
first thing you need to do is get comfortable in
the water. You’ll need a demonstration of the
main strokes to get you started, but this needn’t
take long. Head to your local leisure centre and
find out what lessons they offer; most will run
adult courses or just drop-in swim clinics where
you can ask anything you like.
64 MARCH 2012
Once you have a basic stroke, start building
up your swim endurance. At first, you might
prefer to think of your swim sessions in terms
of time in the pool rather than lengths covered.
So set yourself a minimum pool session time,
for example 20 minutes, and go to the pool
three or four times a week – swimming little
and often is more productive than swimming
to exhaustion once or twice a week. If you find
yourself desperately out of breath at the end of
a lap, don’t panic; control your rest time (give
yourself 15 seconds to get your breath back)
and gradually reduce it as you get fitter, until
you’re swimming two lengths back to back;
then build up until you can swim ten lengths
without stopping, and so on.
When you’re comfortable swimming 16
lengths (400m) without stopping, you can
switch to using distance and start building up to
1,000m per session. There is a fine line between
not putting pressure on yourself, and letting
yourself off the hook, so if you think you might
be tempted to go too easy on yourself then find a
swim partner or a group to train with.
Race season is coming to a close, so once
you’re up to 1,000m four times a week, let the
bike and running shoes take a back seat and
dedicate six weeks to improving your swim
Words Elizabeth Hufton; Doug Hall Photos Corbis
stroke. This beginner’s plan consists of shorter
workouts, starting at 800m, but will push you
hard to build your session distance up to 3,000m
and to introduce intervals of harder paced
swimming. It also includes drills, and optional
strength and stretching sessions – you’ll find
examples of drills, stretches and strength moves
to try on pages 4-5 and 20-25 of this guide. Start
each session with a 200m warm-up and end
with a 200m cool-down.
To complete this plan, you’ll need to get hold of
some swim ‘toys’ (see page 26).
 SWIMMING BEGINNERS’ PLAN

TRAINING PLAN 1 800m to 3,200m per session KEY Pull = Pull buoy Kick =Kick board or just kicking

Day Session focus Session detail Supplemental Training

Mon Easy Easy effort; 4x100m as swim/kick/pull/drill + 15secs rest Strength training

Tue Endurance Steady effort; 2x500m alternate swim/pull + 20secs rest Stretching

Wed
Week 1

Rest day

Thur Strength Hard effort; 12x50m + 20secs rest Stretching

Fri Strength Easy effort; 1,000m choice Strength training

Max effort; 2x [2x100m + 30secs rest, 2x50m + 20secs rest,

Sat Strength 2x25m + 10secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Mon Easy Easy effort; 800m choice of drills Strength training

Steady effort; 600m, 400m, 200m, 100m building pace

Tue Endurance throughout + 15secs rest Stretching
Week 2

Wed Rest day

Thur Strength Hard effort; 3x300m pull with paddles, 4x100m swim + 15secs rest Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 1,200m choice Strength training

Max effort; 3x [25m / 50m / 75m / 100m / 75m / 50m / 25m]

Sat Speed + 20secs rest
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Easy effort; 6x100m as swim/drill/kick/drill/pull/swim +

Mon Easy 15secs rest
Strength training

Tue Endurance Steady effort; 4x500m alternate swim/pull + 20secs rest Stretching

Easy effort; 3x100m building speed every 100m; repeat +

Week 3

Wed Easy 20secs rest

Strength training

Thur Strength Hard effort; 20x50m + 20secs rest Stretching

Fri Strength Easy effort; 1500m choice Strength training

Max effort; 3x [2x100m + 30secs rest, 2x50m + 20secs rest,

Sat Strength 2x25m + 10secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Mon Easy Easy effort; 5x200m drill/swim/drill/pull/swim + 15secs rest Strength training

Steady effort; 600m, 500m, 400m, 200m, 100m building pace

Tue Endurance throughout + 15secs rest Stretching
Week 4

Wed Easy Easy effort; 6x200m alternate swim/pull + 10secs rest Strength training

Thur Strength Hard effort; 3x300m pull with paddles, 6x100m swim + 15secs rest Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 1500m choice Strength training

Max effort; 3x [25m / 50m / 75m / 100m / 75m / 50m / 25m]

Sat Speed + 20secs rest
Stretching

Sun Rest day

MARCH 2012 65
SWIM GUIDE

Build in harder
paced efforts and
you’ll see fast
improvements

TRAINING PLAN 1 800m to 3,200m per session KEY Pull = Pull buoy Kick =Kick board or just kicking

Day Session focus Session detail Supplemental Training

Easy effort; 30x50m + 10secs rest. Choice of toys
Mon Easy (e.g. fins, hand paddles)
Strength training

Steady effort; 5x200m swim, 6x200m pull, 5x200m fins +

Tue Endurance 15secs rest
Stretching

Easy effort; 8x200m as building in other strokes

Week 5

Wed Easy (breast stroke, backstroke, butterfly). + 20secs rest

Strength training

Hard effort; 16x25m every 4th hard, 12x25m every 3rd hard, 8x25m
Thur Strength every 2nd hard, 4x25m all hard + 15secs rest
Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 1500m choice Strength training

Max effort; 3 x [6x50m + 15secs rest, 4x50m + 10secs rest,

Sat Speed 2x50m + 5secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Easy effort; 7x200m as swim/kick/swim/pull/swim/kick/swim

Mon Easy + 15secs rest
Strength training

Tue Endurance Steady effort; 20x100m + 10secs rest Stretching

Week 6

Wed Easy Easy effort; 14x100m choice of pull / paddles / fins + 10secs Strength training

Hard effort; 4x200m mixed strokes +30secs rest, 5x100m

Thur Strength mixed strokes + 15secs rest
Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 1500m choice Strength training

Max effort; 2x [200m + 60secs rest, 4x100m + 60secs rest,

Sat Speed 4x50m + 60secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

66 MARCH 2012

Using different
strokes in your
plan will make
you stronger
TRIATHLON SWIMMING
IMPROVERS’ PLAN
WHEN YOU’RE READY TO TAKE YOUR SWIMMING PERFORMANCE TO THE
NEXT LEVEL, RAMP IT UP WITH OUR SIX-WEEK SPEED-BOOSTING SCHEDULE
S
PEEDING UP in the swim is a real
challenge for lots of triathletes. It can
feel as if you have a mountain to climb,
and the few seconds’ improvement you gain
from hours of effort doesn’t seem worth it.
But performing well in the swim is about
more than just taking time off your split in
triathlon’s first discipline; it’s about making
you feel confident for the rest of the race.
Words Elizabeth Hufton; Doug Hall Photos Corbis
This improvers’ plan can be used to follow on
from our first six-week plan (page 8) or to blitz
your swimming if you’ve been racing tri for a
while but are looking for a big gain in the water.
It involves longer sessions than the beginners’
plan, between one and two hours, and will
make the biggest difference to your swimming.
Because of the higher volume in this training
plan, you can use it to build up from Olympic-
distance racing to half-Ironman, or as a solid
base to start training for a long-distance tri.
SWIMMING IMPROVERS’ PLAN
All the sessions should begin and end with a
warm-up or cool-down of at least 200 metres,
or five minutes (depending how fast you
are); on longer, slower sessions you can use
your judgement and go for a shorter or land-
based warm-up (using a resistance band and
stretching, for example).
Your pool warm-up is a good opportunity to
include more drills in your training; it can be
tempting to skimp on them as you build up your
swim volume, but good technique comes with
thousands of hours of practice so it’s worth doing
these fine-tuning movements regularly.
This harder training plan also features some
butterfly stroke. This can be a tricky stroke to
master, so if you’ve never tried it, grab yourself
some one-to-one time with a coach at your local
pool and learn it step by step. Butterfly is hard
work, but for that reason it helps you become a
faster freestyle swimmer. It builds your upper
body strength and gives you better acceleration
at the back of your stroke. If you really can’t
manage butterfly, or don’t have the opportunity
to learn it, substitute it for harder efforts of
freestyle or use hand paddles to increase
resistance in the water.
As you near race season again and need to
spend more time on the bike and out running,
you’ll probably need to cut down your swim
volume to accommodate the extra training.
When this happens, drop one or both of the easy
sessions; don’t be tempted to stop doing drills
and stretching, as this constant dedication is
what will keep you in great condition come the
summer. Finally, if you finish this programme
and feel you’ve reached a plateau, it’s time to
join a swimming or triathlon club. One or two
coached sessions per week will help you push
yourself harder, while regular feedback on your
technique from a qualified coach is invaluable.
MARCH 2012 67
SWIM GUIDE

TRAINING PLAN 2 1,200m to 3,500m per session KEY Pull = Pull buoy Kick =Kick board or just kicking

Day Session focus Session detail Supplemental Training

Easy effort; 8x100m as swim/kick/pull/drill/IM/swim +
Mon Easy 15secs rest
Strength training

Tue Endurance Steady effort; 6x400m alternate swim/pull + 20secs rest Stretching

Easy effort; 3x (4x100m building speed every 100m)

Wed
Week 1

Easy + 20secs rest

Strength training

Hard effort; 24x50m every 4th 50m, swim as far as you

Thur Strength can fly + 20secs rest
Stretching

Fri Strength Easy effort; 2,000m choice (rest in middle if you need to) Strength training

Max effort; 3 x [2x100m + 30secs rest, 2x50m + 20secs rest,

Sat Strength 2x25m + 10secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Mon Easy Easy effort; 5x200m swim/kick/IM/pull/swim + 15secs rest Strength training

Steady effort; 1,000m, 750m, 500m, 250m building pace

Tue Endurance throughout + 15secs rest Stretching
Week 2

Wed Easy Easy effort; 6x200m alternate swim/pull + 10secs rest Strength training

Thur Strength Hard effort; 4x300m pull with paddles, 6x100m swim + 15secs rest Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 1,750m choice Strength training

Max effort; 4x [25m / 50m / 75m / 100m / 75m / 50m / 25m]

Sat Speed + 20secs rest
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Easy effort; 6x200m as swim/kick/pull/drill/IM/swim +

Mon Easy 15secs rest
Strength training

Tue Endurance Steady effort; 6x500m alternate swim/pull + 20secs rest Stretching

Easy effort; 4x100m building speed every 100m; repeat

Week 3

Wed Easy + 20 secs rest

Strength training

Hard effort; 40x50m every 4th 50m, swim as far as you

Thur Strength can fly + 20secs rest
Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 2,000m choice Strength training

Max effort; 3x [4x100m + 30secs rest, 4x50m + 20secs rest,

Sat Speed 4x25m + 10secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Mon Easy Easy effort; 5x300m swim/kick/IM/pull/swim + 15secs rest Strength training

Steady effort; 1,000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m building

Tue Endurance pace throughout + 15secs rest Stretching
Week 4

Wed Easy Easy effort; 10x200m alternate swim/pull + 10secs rest Strength training

Thur Strength Hard effort; 4x400m pull with paddles, 4x200m swim + 15secs rest Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 2,000m choice Strength training

Max effort; 4x [25m / 50m / 75m / 100m / 75m / 50m / 25m]

Sat Speed + 20secs rest
Stretching

Sun Rest day

68 MARCH 2012
 SWIMMING IMPROVERS’ PLAN

Don’t neglect
swim drills as you
build up your
training volume

Day Session focus Session detail Supplemental Training

Easy effort; 50x50m + 10secs rest. Choice of toys (see page
Mon Easy 26)
Strength training

Steady effort; 5x200m swim, 6x200m pull, 5x200m fins +

Tue Endurance 15secs rest
Stretching

Easy effort; 12x200m as 5 strokes fly then swim.

Week 5

Wed Easy + 20secs rest

Strength training

Hard effort; 16x25m every 4th fly, 12x25m every 3rd fly, 8x25m
Thur Strength every 2nd fly, 4x25m all fly + 15secs rest
Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 2,000m choice Strength training

Max effort; 2 x [10x50m + 15secs rest, 8x50m + 10secs rest,

Sat Speed 6x50m + 5secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

Easy effort; 7x300m as swim/kick/swim/pull/swim/kick/swim

Mon Easy + 15secs rest
Strength training

Tue Endurance Steady effort; 30x100m + 10secs rest Stretching

Week 6

Wed Easy Easy effort; 18x100m choice of pull / paddles / fins + 10secs Strength training

Thur Strength Hard effort; 5x200m IM +30secs rest, 10x100m IM + 15secs rest. Stretching

Fri Easy Easy effort; 2,000m choice Strength training

Max effort; 3x [200m + 60secs rest, 4 x 100m + 60secs rest,

Sat Speed 4 x 50m + 60secs rest]
Stretching

Sun Rest day

MARCH 2012 69
SWIM GUIDE

Practising good
body rotation
improves the power
of your stroke

70 MARCH 2012

TRIATHLON SWIMMING
HOW TO SOLVE
YOUR SWIM
PROBLEMS
SWIMMING WELL ISN’T OUT OF REACH. TWEAK YOUR
APPROACH AND YOU CAN FIX SOME COMMON FAULTS
I
f you’re an experienced triathlete who
has picked up this guide, then you
probably think that your swim needs
work. And you’re probably right – the best
swimmers in the world need to work on
their stroke, but that shouldn’t stop you
trying to fix your swim problems.
TIME AND EFFORT
The first fault you need to fix is the one in
your head. If you categorise yourself as a bad
swimmer, then you’ll never find the motivation to
fix your swim. Coach Dan Bullock (swimfortri.com)
says: “A triathlete who can’t swim is probably very focus your eyes on the bottom of the pool no more
different to someone else who really can’t swim.
A lot of triathletes will be very aggravated if
they can’t swim 100m in under two minutes,
but that’s not the same as not being able to
swim; it’s actually not a bad starting place.”
The problem most triathletes have, says
Bullock, is that they don’t give their swim
technique the time it needs to develop.
“How long did you give yourself to learn to drive
a car? Yes, there’s a period when you’re learning
to drive and then you pass your test, but I bet it
was a good year or two until you started to get
from A to B and forget how you got there because
the steering wheel suddenly becomes an
extension of you.
“People can be very ready to get their excuses
in. They will say: ‘I’ve got heavy legs’ or ‘I’m not that you can apply at the back of your stroke.Your
very buoyant’; you can throw in all the excuses
you want, but you can get past them.”
Words Rich Brady, Elizabeth Hufton Photos Corbis
FIXING
COMMON FAULTS
We can’t say this often enough: face to face
coaching is the best way to speed up. If you
just don’t feel ready for coaching, at least have
a friend watch you swim (and film you if they
can – make sure the pool is empty or get
permission from others in the pool though!)
and see if some of your problems match the
common faults listed below. Coach Rich Brady
(tri-monkey.co.uk) talks you through starting
to work on the solutions.
SWIMMING FAULT FIXING
Fault 1
HEAD TOO HIGH IN THE WATER
FIX
Look around the lanes the next time you go
swimming and you’ll see this one all the time: people
who hold their head too high in the water,
instinctively looking towards the far end of the pool.
Even very experienced swimmers make this
mistake. The problem is, when your head goes up,
your hips and your feet drop so you’re at more of
an angle to the surface, causing more drag and
slowing you down.
It’s a classic problem but the remedy is simple:
than a couple of metres ahead of you. When you do
this, your neck should be in a neutral position
relative to your body, as if you were standing up and
looking straight ahead of you. Once you start doing
this, your hips and feet will naturally rise up in the
water and you’ll become more efficient.
Fault 2
SWIMMING FLAT IN THE WATER
FIX
When we talk about swimming flat in the water, we
mean that there’s no body rotation as you go from
one stroke to the next, and that’s a problem. Body
rotation reduces your frontal area in the water,
making you faster without extra effort. Plus, if you
time it right, it will increase the propulsive power
whole body needs to roll, not just your shoulders,
and the easiest way to improve is to focus on
rotating at the hips as you push towards the back of
the stroke. Concentrating on making sure your belly
button points to the side wall of the pool on every
stroke is often all it takes.
If that doesn’t work, try incorporating this drill
into your training: after three strokes roll on to your
side and hold the position for four to six kicks. Then
take another three strokes, so that you roll on to
your opposite side, and again hold for four to six
kicks. Do this for 200m before swimming normally
for 200m while focusing on maintaining your body
roll. Repeat this anything up to five times to ingrain
the skill.
Fault 3
OVER-REACHING THE STROKE
FIX
Many people over-reach with their arm at the
start of the stroke, extending it over to the
opposite side of their body. This causes your
elbow to drop and puts you in a weak position
for the beginning of your next stroke. It can be
difficult to gauge whether or not you’re doing this,
so ask someone else to check from the pool side.
If you are over-reaching, imagine a line
extending through the centre of your body and
out through the top of your head. To ensure your
hands don’t cross this invisible line, focus on
extending your right arm so that your hand enters
the water in line with your right shoulder, and then
do the same with the left side of your body.
Rather than using a specific drill to reinforce
this, concentrate on ensuring that you’re getting
it right for several lengths during each session
until you’re doing it without thinking.
Fault 4
BENT-KNEE KICKING
FIX
A common mistake when people are trying to
swim hard is to bend the knees when you kick.
Swimming with bent knees makes your frontal
area bigger and increases the amount of drag
that you have to overcome in the water, and
there’s enough of that already. Keep your legs
straight and your ankles and toes pointed and
you’ll go faster.
The best way to improve your kick is to do
lengths while just kicking, so you can forget about
your arms and concentrate on keeping your legs
straight. You can do this with or without a kick
board to add buoyancy and stability up front. If this
is a struggle, swim with a slower arm stroke than
normal but increase the rate of your kick, focusing
on keeping your legs as straight as possible.
Start out by doing eight 25m lengths with 10
seconds rest in between each one. After several
sessions of this move, do up to six lots of 50m with
15 seconds of rest, and then four lots of 100m with
20 seconds in between to develop the skill.
MARCH 2012 71
SWIM GUIDE

HOW TO DO SWIM DRILLS

Don’t spend too much time during each session on
these drills – just incorporate them into your warm-up
and cool-down. It’s better to do them little and often.
The idea is to ‘brain train’ your stroke in the pool to
ensure that you maintain a good technique during a
race swim in the pool or open water. Don’t stress too
much about being perfect, the basics are all you need
in triathlon. Just make a few nips and tweaks to your
technique by using these drills and you’ll notice a vast
improvement in a matter of weeks.

Words Nicola Barfoot, Glen Gore, Doug Hall, Ralph Hydes, Paul Newsome, Phil Mosley Illustrations Phil Nicodemi Photos Corbis
SWIM TRAINING

MUST-DO
SWIM MOVES
BUILD THESE EXTRAS IN TO YOUR SWIM TRAINING
AND YOU CAN PUSH YOURSELF THAT BIT FURTHER

D
rills, strength work and demonstrate these for you,
stretching are as crucial to but you can keep this to use as a
success in the water as cheat-sheet throughout the year.
swimming laps. As with any Combined with a swim training
technique-based exercises, you’d programme, they will help you
be well advised to have a coach speed up over the months ahead.

72 MARCH 2012

IN THE POOL
1. KICK ON YOUR SIDE
WITH FINS ON, kick on your side with
your bottom arm out in front of you and
your top arm by your side. Get perfectly
on your side, with your hips at 90
degrees to the bottom of the pool.
Look down and turn your head up to the
side when you need a breath. Become
aware of what your leading arm is doing
– it’s likely that it’s not straight and has
drifted across the centre line. If this is
3. FINGER DRAG DRILL
A HIGH-ELBOW recovery is
important in giving you a long stroke.
You’re aiming for a slower turnover of
both the left and the right arm stroke
pulls, as opposed to the windmill-type
fast action that requires more energy.
Any lack of shoulder flexibility may
hinder you in this drill, so make sure you
also remember to incorporate some
stretching before each session.
5. WATER POLO HEAD-UP SWIM
NAVIGATIONAL SKILLS GO hand in
hand with faster swim times. Slow
swimmers have to stop to check their
position, while the fastest swimmers
are able to continue at speed, lift their
heads to pinpoint direction, and keep
swimming without a drop in pace.
Water polo swim drills will help you
achieve that. Keep your body afloat by
lifting your chest up and kicking down
SWIMMING DRILLS AND SKILLS
the case, you’ll start to drift in that
direction. Draw your shoulder blades
together and back to pull your lead arm
straight. If you’re in an empty lane, you
can really test your ability to track
straight in this position by trying this
with your eyes closed. Once you’ve got a
good feel for this drill, you can transfer
that improved alignment back into your
full stroke.
Allow the shoulder part of your arm to
brush past each ear with your
fingertips, running across the water’s
surface until your arm is fully extended.
You’ll then need to drop the hand down
into the water, pull and then repeat the
process for both the left and right arms.
Your stroke rate will slow down using
this technique, so bump up your kick rate
to keep yourself buoyant.
hard in to the water. Start off with short
distances to get this drill spot-on. Swim
five strokes, then lift your head and look
directly in front of you for two strokes.
This drill needs to be habitual. Swim
five strokes normally followed by two
strokes head-up for 8x25m with 20
seconds rest after each one. Maintain
your normal swim pace when you’re
practising these water polo head lifts.
2. ROTATION DRILL
YOU WON’T SWIM very efficiently
using just your arms and legs, you need
to engage your trunk to provide a
platform for your limbs to work from. In
order to gain as much leverage as
possible, you need to rotate your body.
Lock your hips and shoulders, so one
does not move without the other. Think
of yourself being impaled on a kebab spit.
Do single arm front crawl with your non-
4. CLOSED FIST SWIM DRILL
THE HAND PLAYS a big part with the
initial first catch of the water during your
arm-pull. A loss of grip of the hand on the
water will result in a weak pull, which
then results in a slower swim. The
forearm also plays a big part when it
comes to gripping the water and using
that grip to propel you forward. Getting
more grip on your forearms will help you
to make your stroke more powerful.
6. SINGLE-ARM CATCH-UP
TOO MANY SWIMMERS drop their
elbow as they start the pull phase of
front crawl, and lose leverage. A high-
elbow underwater position, with the arm
bent for better leverage, gives a more
efficient arm pull. Think of yourself
grabbing hold of the rungs of a ladder
lying on the bottom of the pool. Single-
arm catch-up drills are the best way to
hone your high-elbow position. Start off
working arm by your side. Also try to
breathe to your non-working side. This
encourages rotation on both sides, which
conventional single arm drills don’t do.
Tighten your core by using the same
muscles you use to stop yourself
urinating and concentrate on even
rotation to both sides of no more than 45
degrees. Keep your head still,
maintaining a good body position.
Swim normally, but clenching your fists.
This ensures that you use your forearms
for forward propulsion and not the
fingers and palms of your hands. Initially
it’s difficult to get to grips with swimming
like this. Practising this technique in the
pool allows for a general improvement in
your catch and pull motion. The strength
gains you’ll make are also significant.
Do short 25m repeats of this drill.
with one length of front crawl left-arm
only. The opposite arm remains straight
out ahead while you pull with the other
arm. Then do the next length right-arm
only. Wearing fins will help you stay
afloat and allow you to focus on your high
elbow. Do 4x50m, alternating 25m left
arm, 25m right, with 10secs rest. A
snorkel (p27) will help, as you won’t have
to tilt your head to breathe.
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OUT OF THE POOL
HOW TO STRETCH
Studies show that to avoid injury you
should either stretch regularly or not
at all – it’s those athletes who stretch
every now and again that unwittingly run
into issues with muscle injury and strains.
For this reason, you should keep stretching
regularly to avoid injury, and always warm
up properly beforehand.
TELESCOPE ARMS AND ROTATION STRETCH
THIS LOOKS COMPLICATED but is
easy when you get the hang of it. Start
lying on your front with one arm out in
front and one to the side. Tuck your toes
under. Lift your side lying arm up and in a
controlled motion bring it over the top of
74 MARCH 2012
Try these stretches at least three or
four times per week for a four- to six-week
period. Aim to hold each of these stretches
for approximately 20 seconds and repeat
each two to three times. Practise deep
controlled breathing while stretching and,
even if you’re doing it in front of the TV, pay
attention to your technique.
your body on to the other side, applying a
twist to your back as you do so. As you
complete the movement, bring your top
leg out to the opposite side to stabilise
you. This stretch boosts your chest,
shoulder and back mobility.
DOORWAY CHEST STRETCH
THE MUSCLES in your chest can
become tight when you increase swim
volume, and if you have a naturally
round-shouldered posture (typically
worsened by long hours at a desk or on
the bike) then you’ll suffer even more.
But flexibility in this area is essential for
freedom of movement in the arms and
TRICEP AND LATS STRETCH
THE TRICEPS and lats can easily
become tight when you add more
intense swim sessions to your
programme; you don’t often stretch
them in the course of everyday
movements but stiffness in these
shoulders and a good swim stroke.
Standing in a doorway or beside a post,
place your arm in the position shown
with your elbow at a right angle. Gently
press forwards with your chest and feel
the stretch across the front of your
shoulder and through the pectoral
(chest) muscle.
muscles makes swim training hard
work. To stretch them, place your hand
behind your head and lean to the side into
a wall or against a post. Relax into the
position and feel the stretch through
your triceps and lat muscles.

HIP FLEXORS
WHEN YOU’RE TRYING to keep
horizontal in the water to reduce drag,
tightness in the hips pulls your legs
forwards and lower in the water.
Stretching your hip flexors will improve
your position. Settle into the position
TOES CURLED UNDER STRETCH
TO STRETCH the plantar fascia of the
foot (a thick band of tissue running from
the ball of the foot to the heel), kneel
down and tuck your toes under your feet
and on to the floor. You will feel the
stretch through the soles of your feet.
SWIMMING DRILLS AND SKILLS
shown with your lead leg angled 90
degrees at the knee and your rear leg
stretched out behind you. Keeping your
body vertical, push your hips forward
and squeeze your glutes. You’ll feel the
stretch through the front of the hip.
Proceed gently with this stretch if you
are tight in this region; little and often is
best here. It’s a great stretch for
triathletes as the plantar fascia can
become tight and inflamed from running
on hard road surfaces.
SEATED ANKLE STRETCH
SWIM SMOOTH COACH Paul
Newsome (swimsmooth.com)
recommends swimming with long fins to
encourage ankle flexibility, instead of
doing specific kick drills. You can also
stretch to loosen up your ankles and feet.
KNEELING STRETCH
THIS LOOKS LIKE nothing, but can be
a simple and powerful stretch for
people who have inflexible ankles; in
other words, anyone who runs and
cycles a lot. In a kneeling position on a
soft surface, place your feet out straight
Sit on the floor with one leg in front and
the other bent across the top. Hold the
top leg as shown with the hand gently
pulling the foot towards you. The stretch
is felt through the top of the foot and up
to the shin.
behind you. If you are quite inflexible
through your ankles you will feel the
stretch through the top of your feet and
up to your shins.
You can lift one knee at a time to
develop this stretch further.
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SWIM GUIDE
OUT OF THE POOL
PRESS UP
THIS EXERCISE strengthens your
core, shoulder blade stabilisers, chest
and the backs of your arms. Lie on the
floor with your spine and pelvis in neutral
and your elbows bent in to your sides,
your hands underneath your shoulder
ROTATOR CUFF PULLS
USING A RESISTANCE band is a good
way to strength train at home. This
exercise helps prevent shoulder pain
when you swim by working the weakest
muscles of the rotator cuff. Attach the
resistance band to a fixed point at elbow
76 MARCH 2012
joints, legs hip-width apart and your toes
tucked underneath you. Engage your
core and push yourself off the floor until
you are in a plank position. Return slowly
to the floor by bending your elbows back
into your sides.
height. Keep the elbow tucked into your
side and move your fist away from the
fixed point, away from the centre of your
body. Repeat with the other arm, doing
3x15-20 on each arm in total.
PRESS UP ON A SWISS BALL
TO ADVANCE THE basic press-up, use
a Swiss ball. In a press-up position, place
your toes on a Swiss ball. Keep your abs
tight and perform a press-up. If you feel
this in your lower back, you are not
engaging your abs enough or may be
RESISTANCE SWIM STROKE
THIS IS ANOTHER fantastic exercise
to improve your swim strength. Fix one
end of a resistance band to a fixed point,
holding the other end in your hand.
Bend over from the waist and perform
a front crawl swim stroke action.
letting your back sag; raise your backside
slightly or walk your hands back so your
shins are on top of the ball (this should
give you a little more stability). Aim for
three sets of 15 press-ups while holding
the proper position.
Ideally you need two resistance bands
– one for each hand – and perform in a
smooth, continuous alternating
motion, as if you were swimming. This
will improve the power of each stroke
when you hit the water.

LAT PULL-DOWN
THIS EXERCISE IMPROVES the
strength of your main swimming
muscles. Maintain a wide grip to work
the maximum area of the lattissimus
dorsi muscles (or ‘lats’, large muscles in
the back). Lean backwards, but maintain
SEATED ROW
THIS EXERCISE IS especially
important for maintaining balance of
your shoulder muscles – crucial for
swimming and for your posture in
cycling. Sit with your chest pressed
against the post and your arms level with
SWIMMING DRILLS AND SKILLS
a straight back. Lift your chest up to
meet the bar as you pull it down to your
chest. Your muscles have failed when
you cannot pull your body up to the bar.
Never pull down behind the neck, as this
damages your rotator cuff muscles.
your shoulders. Pull back to your
maximum range of movement,
maintaining your body position. Do not
lean back. Keep your abdominal muscles
tight and breathe in as you pull the
handles towards you.
SLAMDUNK WITH MEDICINE BALL
THIS EXERCISE is great for improving
strength in your shoulders and arms,
which is particularly good for
maintaining a low stroke rate in
swimming while maintaining your
speed. It works your lats, deltoids and
TRICEP EXTENSIONS
THIS IS GREAT for strengthening your
triceps for swimming. Hold a dumbbell
in each hand with your arms raised
above your head. Keeping your elbows
close to your ears, lower your forearms
down behind your head and then extend
triceps. Using a rubber medicine ball,
stand with your feet shoulder-width
apart. Put both hands above your head
and throw the medicine ball down at
the ground in front of you fast and hard.
Pick the ball up and repeat.
upwards. To progress this exercise,
alternate between a set of tricep dips (sit
on the edge of a bench with your hands
next to you and lower yourself forwards
using your triceps) and this exercise,
three times.
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