Category: Swimming

Learning how To swim the basics of swimming can seem like a daunting task while teaching someone seems fairly straight forward.

There’s a reason why parents spend $1000’s of dollars so their children can swim properly. However, with the right tools and instructions, anyone can learn how to swim without having to dish out tons of money for lessons.
Here’s what you’ll need.
If you have your own pool or a friend has one that’s a great place to start. If not a lot of pools offer public swims and usually they are free! Take advantage of this. Bathtubs are also a great place to get your kids comfortable in the water. There are also certain exercises that can be done in the pool to help get your child ready.
Continue reading The Basics of Swimming – Getting Started

The expedition Greenland-Tasersiaq was the brainchild of Premek Morgan, a climber and trekker from the Czech Republic. Here is his story: Quite simply we would attempt to go where people hadn’t trodden for around 100 years since the Inuit abandoned this area of the hinterland for summer hunting…. Check out also this video about winter swimming in Nuuk, Greenland:

The preparation was meticulous for we had to carry all supplies for 25 days on our backs in rucksacks. We turned to a nutritionist combined with the sports science of Newman, one of the other expedition members in order to get it right.
In the end, we relied heavily on fats such as ghee, olive oil, salami, and lard in the traditional polar way with the remainder coming from carbohydrates. We utilized thermos flasks and ate a hot meal 3 times per day which was an absolute masterstroke, especially at the start of the trip when we were carrying 35 – 45kg bags.
Continue reading Extreme swimming in Greenland

Breaststroke is probably the most common recreational stroke. It is commonly used in the slower lanes during lane swim, and you can find many people doing an alteration of Breaststroke known as “Head up Breaststroke”. Head up Breaststroke remains one of the more versatile lifesaving strokes as it allows the rescuer to maintain eye contact and to communicate with their victim.

Breaststroke begins in a streamlined position with the body facing downwards to the ground. Palms should be facing each other as the arms begin to move the hands move away from each other and draw semi-circles first away from each other than towards the chest simultaneously.

This pulls the body upwards and allows the swimmer to get their head out of the water to breathe. This is followed by a whip kick, and the arms push out with palms together again away from the chest back to the starting position. Make sure you allow for a 1-second glide as your stroke whip kick will push you forward.

 

Technique

To begin Breaststroke, make sure to start in a streamlined position with body facing towards the ground.

Stroke Cycle:

1. To begin your body should be horizontal to the ground and on the surface of the water. Arms are straight and hands are together (palms should look like they’re praying), legs should be straight back and your face should be completely submerged.
2. Begin by spreading the water in front of you with your palms. Your arms should be simultaneously pushing the water away from each other like you’re clearing the way for yourself.
3. When your Arms are a shoulder length apart being a semi-circle motion towards your chest. Your palms should be pulling the water towards your chest.
4. When your palms get to your chest your elbows should be nice and high this is when your head should come out of the water. It is important to let your body bring your head up, and not to just simply lift your head.
5. Bring your Arms back together at your chest palms should be touching again like you’re praying.
6. As your hands are moving together and pushing your head up, you should begin your whip kick. Your legs should begin to move simultaneously towards your buttocks.
7. Before you kick your head should begin to go back into the water.
8. This is the power stage, As you whip your legs around and back together to perform your whip kick your arms should shoot out streamlined and face should be back in the water. This is one smooth powerful movement.
9. GLIDE!!! Allow for a 1-second glide to let your body shoot forward.
10. Repeat Cycle as you begin to slow down.

Common Mistakes

Because of how many different variations there are of Breaststroke and how it is a relatively easy stroke to change up. Many swimmers make mistakes that they don’t realize because it doesn’t affect their ability to swim. Are they swimming at their maximum potential? No, but nonetheless they manage to keep themselves afloat and moving forward. Here are some common mistakes to look out for:

Pulling too far back: Pulling too far back is a very common mistake. The main purpose of your arm movement is to bring your upper body up and your head out of the water. Many people pull all the way back to their hips, this helps you move forward in the water but doesn’t help you get your head up to breathe.

Lifting their head up: Breaststroke is not a stroke where you should be looking forward. If you watch competitive swimmers they are always looking down when their head comes out of the water. Make sure to be looking down, If your head does not come up naturally then you need to pull hard with your arms to build that momentum. A swimmer should not lift their head up just to breathe as it causes the body to no longer become streamlined.

Extended Breathing: Lastly, A very common mistake for breaststroke beginners is to keep their head too long to get in an extra breath. Like Frontcrawl the swimmer should be exhaling in the water at all times, the split second they have when their head comes up is enough for one inhale. Remember that you should never be breathing more than once when coming up.

Butterfly is the most exciting stroke to learn. It is definitely the most impressive and only a select few can really master it. It is a great stroke to learn for competition or to impress your friends. The second fastest stroke and the hardest to learn, it is extremely exhausting and is mainly used for competition.

Butterfly begins in a streamlined position similar to Frontcrawl with palms facing the ground and the body horizontal on the surface of the water. Usually, Swimmers being with a couple of dolphin kicks in order to gain momentum before beginning the arm cycle. As part of the body movements from the dolphin kick, your chest will go lower and higher naturally with the kick.

As your chest begins to go down, you want to pull back with your arms back to your chest and kick which will cause your body to shoot up and out of the water. As the arms finish near the hips they go into recovery mode, they should exit by the hips and finish at the start position.

Technique

1. Begin with several dolphin kicks to help build momentum. It is extremely difficult to get the body out of the water with just arm strength.
2. As the chest starts to decline, place arms in a ready position. Arms should be extended apart and with palms facing downwards towards the bottom of the pool.
3. As the chest rises, arms should pull back in a semi-circle motion almost similarly to Breaststroke. They should be pulling together towards the chest, not straight back to the hips.
4. As your hands come inwards towards the chest when they meet again at the shoulders they should begin to drive down to the hips. Important that they do not meet. Your hands should almost draw a figure that looks like an “S” and a “2” (s2)
5. This is when your hips should starting the kicking motion of the dolphin kick. Hips should be driving down hard creating a strong first kick to help push the upper body up.
6. As the shoulders and chest exit the water this when you want to breathe.
7. As the body is out of the water, this is the best time to move your arms back to starting position. Hands exit palms up and rotate as they head back in the recovery cycle, they should start with palms turned downwards again.
8. As they enter the water, you begin your second dolphin kick, which helps creates the rising and declining chest.
9. Repeat

Common Mistakes: As the hardest stroke to learn, one can only imagine the number of mistakes a swimmer will make when they begin the stroke. This being said if you’re making a mistake in any part of this stroke you will most likely be unable to swim it. This stroke severely punishes the swimmer unless it is done almost perfectly.

Dragging Arms: Swimmers are unable to time and get their arms in recovery while their body is out of the water. This is usually because they are either late while starting their recovery or their body is not coming out of the water enough. Work on your dolphin kick to help get that strong first kick to drive the body out and to move the arms up as quickly as possible. Don’t be afraid to make a big splash, it’s not supposed to be pretty.

Poor timing with kick: Many swimmers struggle with incorporating all the arm movements with the dolphin kick. Usually, they up kicking only once. It is extremely important to get that second kick in on time in order to build momentum to help get that body up every time. The higher up you go the less drag you create and the faster and better you will swim.

Straight Arm Pulls: Many swimmers disregard the figure 8 rule with their hands and believe that pulling straight backward towards the hip create the most pull. As this might pull you forward in the water it will not help pull you up and out. Remember the key to butterfly is driving the body out of the water; not through it.

Backstroke or Backcrawl is the only stroke which is done on your back. It is a very common stroke and used mainly for distance swimming. It is much slower than Frontcrawl or Butterfly but faster than Breaststroke. Backcrawl excels at distance swims because it allows the swimmer to keep his/her airway open at all times.

However, it is very difficult to see which direction you are going. Many pools have flags at both the shadow and deep ends of the pool. This is for backcrawl swimmers to warn them that they have about 5 meters until they reach the wall. Advanced swimmers will know how many strokes they need before they make contact.

Backcrawl is similar to front crawl. They are both done in a streamlined position, they use a variation of the flutter kick and the arms have alternating movements. Backcrawl is done with the body being completely parallel to the ground at all times.

The arms alternate as they pull when they are submerged but remain straight during their recovery period. Head should be up and out of the water at all times, the swimmer should be looking up at the ceiling and not forward at their legs.

Technique:

Always start Back Crawl in a streamlined position.

1. On your back streamlined begin with both arms in front of your head with palms facing up.
2. Begin by choosing a Starting Arm and using that arm to pull you backward. A good way to think about this is reaching back and pretending to grab something.
3. Start to pull your body forward by moving your arm towards your hip. Make sure your arm remains as close to your body as possible creating a semi-circle. Halfway through this motion, your arm should be perpendicular to the ground. Advanced Swimmers will use an S-Pull.
4. As your Arm approaches your hip your alternating arm should begin step 1.
5. Your starting arm will begin its recovery position as it leaves the water it should come out with thumbs up and the arm should rotate as it makes its way towards the head. As it re-enters the water make sure it goes pinky in. This rotation should only be completed once during the recovery stage.
6. It is important to keep both arms opposite from one another as they should never meet.
7. This should be combined with a consistent flutter kick.
8. Breathe rhythmically.
9. Make sure your head is looking at the ceiling and not backward to see where you are going and not at your feet.

Common Mistakes:

Backstroke is a relatively easier stroke to learn. Here are some common mistakes to look out for:

Splashing: Splashing is not your friend. Many swimmers think that the bigger your splash the faster you’re going to go. Splashing with your arms during backcrawl can be extremely counterintuitive. Big splashes will cause water to go up and into your face restricting your airway or worse going up your nose and swallowing water. To prevent this make sure to rotate your arm during the recovery cycle and that your pinky is going in first.

Looking at your feet:  By looking up and at your feet, you will cause your body to break its streamlined position making it much more difficult to swim and float on the surface of the water. To prevent this make sure you force your belly up and to look at the ceiling at all times.

Catch up: Catch up occurs when your arms are catching up to one another. This most commonly happens when one arm rests at the hips and waits until the other comes to the hip before beginning its recovery cycle. To prevent this practice on moving your arms slowly and pausing each arm at the end of their cycle.

Freestyle or front crawl is the fastest and most efficient way to swim. Freestyle is one of the 4 major competitive events in professional swimming. For the Freestyle event, swimmers are actually allowed to use any of the 4 strokes; Frontcrawl, Backcrawl, Breaststroke or Butterfly, hence the term “Freestyle”.

However, it maintains the same fundamentals of any race; the first person to finish wins. This is why Frontcrawl is more often known as freestyle because it is always the preferred stroke when competing in the freestyle event.

Front crawl is done with the body being completely parallel to the ground at all times. The arms move in an alternating motion. One arm moves from being fully extended as it enters the water and pulls the body forward as it moves to the hip.

The other performs a recovering movement going from the hips out of the water to the top of the head and out. These movements alternate performing a crawl and create pull with each arm motion. This arm movement is combined with a flutter kick which is a strong and consistent kick to help maintain consistent forward movement.

Technique:

To begin Front Crawl you always push off in a streamlined position.

Stroke Cycle:

1. 1. Start with the arm of your choice (“Starting Arm” the other will be known as your “Alternating Arm“) Begin to pull towards your hip keeping your arm straight as it draws a semi-circle under the water. Advance Swimmers will use an “S pull”.
   2. As you begin your pull makes sure to sweep down and pull towards your chest.
   3. From there, your hand begins to move toward the hip making sure to push the water down as your advance. Simultaneously your hip rotates to the direction of your Starting Arm.
   4. Both Arms should be completely opposite of one another at this point. One should be at your head in a streamlined position while the other horizontal along your body at your hips.
   5. You begin your recovering position by bringing your Starting Arm out of the water, drag your fingertips along the water and run your thumb up your body. This will create a high elbow, which is the most efficient way to preserve energy and the fastest way to get your arm back to its streamlined position.
   6. As you are recovering and completing step. Your Alternating Arm should be starting step 1.
   7. As your Arm begins to leave the water, if this is a breathing rotation, rotate your head to the side of the recovering arm and inhale quickly making sure to not slow down arm movement and completing the inhale before the arm reenters the water.
   8. Flutter kick should be used during the entire cycle.
   9. It is important to make sure both arms are always opposite of one another.

   Common Mistakes:

   Although freestyle is the most common and usually the first stroke a swimmer learns there are equally as many mistakes. Here are a few to look out for:

   Extended Breathing: Many swimmers with poor breathing technique extend their recovery cycle to allow for more breathing time. This slows down the cycle which slows down swimming and destroys the rhythmic cycle of the stroke. To prevent this practice exhaling in the water and only allowing one inhale during the recovery cycle.

   Inconsistent Kicking: Many beginners focus too much on their arm movement and forget to kick consistently. This causes the legs to sink and drag the rest of the body down making it harder to maintain a streamlined position.

   Reaching for the Ceiling:  Many beginners keep their arms straight coming out of the water creating a full circle. This wastes a lot of energy that could be used for pulling and creates zero directional pull for the swimmer. Try to focus on keeping your elbows high and bent.

Learning to swim can be tough. Especially for young children. But before we get into how to make learning to swim like playtime, let’s imagine the average swimming lesson from a toddler’s point of view: we get put in this big pool full of water and right away we start holding on to the wall or getting dunked under water.

Our eyes sting from the chlorine and before we know it, someone is moving our arms around and telling us to kick and kick and kick and… After 30 minutes we’re exhausted and hope we never have to do that again. This The Guardian video is also very helpful:

This visualization is certainly not the ideal learning experience for any child, but unfortunately, many children share this unpleasant experience. One not-so-obvious reason why parents need to create a fun learning environment for swim lessons is the level of fun effects a child’s capacity to learn.

Continue reading Teaching your child to swim

In Sydney, at 14, Leisel Jones became the youngest swimmer to make the Australian Olympic team in 24 years. She already had Olympic and World Championship silver medals to her credit, but in 2003, she was aiming for gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Leisel retired in 2012 and this video shows that all:

The Jones File
Name: Leisel Jones
Nickname: “Lethal Leisel” and “Weazel”
Age: 33
Date of Birth: Aug. 30, 1985
Born: Katherine, Northern Territory
Height: 5-9 (176cm)
Weight: 132 pounds (60kg)
Club: Redcliffe Lawnton, Queensland
Coach: Ken Wood
Family Members: Rosemary (Mother)
School: Southern Cross, Redcliffe
Pets: King Charles Spaniel (Cloe), Rat (Minx)
Favorite Band: Grinspoon
Relaxation: Reading
Favorite Car: Ford
Favorite Food: Cold Rock ice cream
Sponsorships: Uncle Toby’s, Speedo, Innoxa and Ford
After Swimming: Perhaps to design her own clothing label
Continue reading Australia’s Swimming Legends – Lethal Leisel Jones

Young Michael Phelps, 18, who set eight individual world records in four events during 2003, was Swimming World’s unanimous selection as its Male World Swimmer of the Year.  Here is an article he wrote some years ago for Swimming Technique.

One-Arm Butterfly Drill
World record holder Michael Phelps, who does at least 400 yards or meters of drills at every workout, explains and demonstrates his favorite drill, the One-Arm Butterfly Drill.

At the ripe old age of 17, Michael Phelps has established himself as America’s greatest all-around male swimmer, Uncle Sam’s answer to Ian Thorpe.

In 2000, just barely past his 15th birthday, he became the youngest man to make a U.S. Olympic swim team in almost 70 years. In Sydney, he improved his time in prelims, semis and finals, and finished fifth in the 200 meter butterfly.

By 2001, he was ready to take command of his event, lowering the world record at the U.S. Nationals in April while he was still 15, then taking it down to a stunning 1:54.58 while winning gold at age 16 at the World Championships. At year’s end, he was named Swimming World’s male American Swimmer of the Year.

Continue reading Michael Phelps: One-Arm Butterfly Drill

Mel Goldstein, the man behind the success of YMCA Indy SwimFit, continued to push himself in the water, a sign of his dedication to a healthy lifestyle. A former world and national champion at the Masters level, Goldstein hit the water five days a week for training sessions that feature 3,000-3,500 yards of work.

When he was 65 years old, Goldstein also incorporated three days of running into his weekly schedule, taking to the roads for 32-minute runs on Wednesday and Friday. On Sunday, Goldstein goes for a long run, a workout that stretches up to 80 minutes.
Always looking for variety in his workouts, Goldstein’s favorite set was one that allows for mixing and matching. Following a warm-up swim, Goldstein moved into four rotations of a 400 pull, followed by a 200 stroke, followed by a 100 free (easy) and capped with a 50 (fast). The workout translates into a 3,000-yard practice.
Continue reading How Mel Goldstein Trained