The question: How can I improve my swimming?
The answer: It depends.
It depends on your skill level, what you’re hoping to accomplish, and what you’re looking to improve upon specifically (ie: technique, strength, speed, endurance?).
How about we start with 8 tips everybody can benefit from.
Swim Tip #1: Warm up before you push hard
Warming up is essential to starting any physical activity to prevent injuries and to ensure the most effective workout. Start your swimming workout with a few slow laps just to make your blood run through your muscles. Start slowly and gradually pick up the pace. The performance you will be able to put forward in the following workouts and exercises will depend upon how well the warm up was done. I usually add some swimming drills during the warm up to get the right feeling with the water and with my body.
Swim Tip #2: Swim three times a week
While competing I was usually swimming twice a day every day of the week excluding Sundays – which was only one practice. This is a hard training program, even for the most elite; however, it is not essential for the swimmers who simply wish to swim for fitness. Regardless of what your goal is in the pool (weight loss, building muscles, general fitness) you should strive to swim at least three times a week. One pool session is better than none, but because of the way our body gets accustomed to training, anything less than three time a week is not optimal.
Swim Tip #3: Swimming interval training
Swimming interval training is the most effective in training your cardiovascular system. Interval training is built on a cycle of high and low intensity efforts. The low intensity activity needs to be tailored so that your body needs to work hard to recover before the next high intensity activity starts. Click here for a beginner’s insight to interval training in a pool.
Swim Tip #4: Focus on swimming technique
Regardless of why you’re looking to improve your swimming, the key is to get stronger and faster but to never lose your technique. The right technique will help you prevent long-term injuries, and utilize all the strength and endurance you have gained while training. Make sure you are keeping your focus on your technique – every lap, every stroke, every swim. Keep your strokes clean and maximize your track or you will soon reach the limit of your swimming performance.
Swim Tip #5: Always use the flip-turn
Flip turns, for backstroke and freestyle, keep the swimming rhythm and fitness training continuous. Below is a good video presented by Live Strong describing effective flip turns. Eventually, I will post a drill sequence that will help you learn how to do flip turns.
Swim Tip #6: Improve coordination and ability: Do Drills
Related to #4, Swimming drills are a set of swimming exercises aiming at improving the technique and speed of swimmers. To improve your coordination, drills such as kicking fast with slow arms will help you learn to feel the water. Feeling the water is essential to becoming a better swimmer.
Swim Tip #7: Ask someone to tape your swimming
The most elite athletes achieve a good awareness of what their body is doing after years and years of training, but also by watching themselves swim. Having control of your body in the water is crucial. Increase your awareness by taping yourself training and reviewing it afterwards. If taping your swimming is out of the question, ask someone (whose depth of swimming knowledge exceeds your own) to watch you swim and ask for feedback. This is one of the best swim tips I would give anyone looking to improve their strokes.
Swim Tip #8: Cool Down
Just as warming up is key to perform a successful training, cooling down is just as important. After a hard training, your muscles build lactic acid. To flush that lactic acid out of your body to prevent soreness, swim at a slow and relaxed pace, focusing on stretching and regaining the right feeling in the water. This will help your muscles recover.
I hope this helps. Questions, comments, suggestions, and requests are always welcome!
Remember: “Cold days don’t matter. Rain means nothing. And a national holiday means two practices instead of one.” Swim strong!
Hey,
Thanks for the tips. But, I need a little more help. I’m an avid runner and cyclist (usually 3.5 miles in running a day and about 10 biking 5 days a week) but i recently got the news that i have a horrible stress fracture in my right foot. The Dr. told me to swim. I can “swim” but I have never swam competitively, don’t have ANY gear, and don’t really even know where to start. Help?
I would say the best place for you to start is getting some decent gear!
SUITS: For the men - I realize Speedos are slightly unnerving and unsightly for those who swim “recreationally”, but you should at least consider Jammers. They are the bicycle shorts of swimming. For the women - I highly suggest a one-piece suit, where the straps connect mid-back. Try on suits before you buy and make sure it is comfortable to swing your arms in and doesn’t tug on your skin.
CAPS: For the men - not always necessary, but if you want to save your blonde locks from going green, I suggest one. For the women - I suggest a cap to 1) keep your hair from getting everywhere and 2) to protect your hair from the chlorine.
GOGGLES: Probably the most difficult piece of equipment to purchase. Everyone has their preferences, but I personally like double-straps (they stay on better). Also, things to note are: how to goggles fit into your eyesocket – air should not be able to enter/exit, and the bridge piece over your nose – make sure it doesn’t hurt or rub against your nose (scabs are not pretty!). Again, try them on for comfort.
For you, NewSwimmer27, I would start a pool workout by simply swimming as many laps as you can in 20-30 minutes while keeping your heartrate above 115 BPM. In this “beginner” phase, I highly suggest asking someone for technique advice to ensure proper form and avoid any additional upperbody injuries. From there, build up to interval training. Then, endurance training. I would also suggest investing in a buoy to take some pressure off your foot.
Hope this helps, and please feel free to ask more questions!
Hey newswimmer27,
Lianne gave some excellent advice. I’ll give you my big word of warning: For a beginning swimmer, avoid the paddles.
I hear it frequently that “I heard from a friend that paddles are the way to go…because they build your upper body strength.” While this may be true, they’re very dangerous in the hands of a new swimmer and can lead to some serious shoulder damage if you don’t have the proper stroke technique down. Swimming also involves a lot of “stabilizer muscles” in addition to the major muscle groups, and it takes some time to build up these smaller, secondary muscles prior to safe paddle use.