How to Continually Improve Your Swimming

Welcome to swimming news this week; this week we talk about the importance of consistency, why you should get flexibility tested and I have a back stroke and a breast stroke tip for you.

00:21 – Is Your Training Consistent?
01:22 – Flexibility Testing
02:25 – ‘World’s Best Swimmer’ Now Free
02:58 – Supercharging Your Motivation
03:34 – Backstroke Head Position
04:02 – My Favourite Breastroke Drill
04:41 – Effortless Form Improves Fly, Back and Breast

Is Your Training Consistent?

If a swimmer comes to me and they tell me they are not improving I will ask them how often they are training a week and are they training consistently? You see one of the biggest things that improves swimmers is consistency with their training. If you are not doing 2-3 sessions per week at a minimum you will probably find that your times won’t come down and you won’t be improving. If you want to become a better swimmer then keep your training consistent and don’t miss too many sessions here and there. My general rule of thumb is if you miss one week of training it takes you two weeks to get back to where you were before. That can be frustrating if you go on holidays or you want to take a bit of a break but that is just how it works. With swimming you need to be in the water at least 2-3 times a week if you want to get better and more if you want to improve quicker. General rule of thumb just make sure that you stay in the water, you keep training and even if you are sick get down to the pool and at least roll the arms over because then that way you will maintain the feel for the water and you will continue to keep that swimming fitness and feel for the water.

Flexibility Testing

Last week with my swimmers I did flexibility testing, I got a myotherapist it can be a physio or a chiropractor can come in and do this too, I got a myotherapist in we ran through a couple of flexibility tests that determined if swimmers are inhibited in any of their movements that are important to their training. The biggest one which I found that stops swimmers from being able to get into the right position with their technique was the shoulder flexibility test which is this one up here; and we are looking for the angle from here to here. That was one of the worst areas for a lot of swimmers because if you can’t get your arms above here then you will probably find that you can’t get in the position with your freestyle. If you’re tight in this kind of movement and also your hamstrings that was one of the most common ones then take a look at getting that treated whether it is through physio, myotherapy or chiropractors get that treated, get your flexibility up and you will find that you will be able to get into the right position to swim faster.

World’s Best Swimmer Now Free

Earlier this year I recorded a presentation called Worlds Best Swimmer; in this presentation I cover everything that the world’s best swimmers are doing from their diet, training, strength training, flexibility all of the things that I found common whilst talking to the world’s best Olympians, tri-athletes and open water swimmers. It is everything I learnt from talking to a lot of elite athletes in swimming. You can now watch that presentation for free. If you want to get a couple of tips and give yourself a few ideas of things that you can implement into your training then that is a good place to start.

Watch the World’s Best Swimmer presentation here

Supercharging Your Motivation

One of my favourite ways to get motivated in sport is to race. The buzz and the adrenalin rush that you get at the end of a race at the end of competition is what motivates you and spurs you on to want to do better. It allows you to see where you can improve in your races and it just reminds you of the reason why you are doing all this hard training. If you find that your motivation is waning then go and race, go and get out there and compete and you might find that you are more motivated in training and you have a clearer picture of what you have to improve to become quicker in the water.

Backstroke Head Position

In backstroke the ideal head position is to keep your head straight and on center while your shoulders and the rest of your body is rotating. If you head is dead aligned and it’s your shoulders that are rotating then you will find that you draft through the water a lot better and are not wasting energy and not creating more drag than you need to as if your head is moving from side to side. In the Effortless Backstroke program we go through drills that get you to practice keeping your head still while your body rotates around it and gets propulsion that way.

My Favourite Breaststroke Drill

One of my favourite breaststroke drills that you might have done before is one pull, two kicks; where you do one pull you go into the water and you do two kicks. The reason I think it is such a good drill is because it practices good body position when you are gliding forward. It also improves your kick because you are doing two kicks with each stroke and it makes you really finish off the back end of your kick. In the Effortless Breaststroke program we build on these drills and go through some more challenging ones and they are very good for practicing an ideal pull, getting a stronger kick and practicing the right body positions so you are gliding more with each stroke and creating less drag.

Effortless Form Improves Fly, Back and Breast

The Effortless Form video program is the butterfly, back stroke and breaststroke drill program that a lot of swimmers have been through recently. They have really helped them with each of those three form strokes. If you feel that your freestyle is developed well and you want to improve your other strokes, whether it is for cross training or because you want to compete in the other strokes then the effortless form program is a good one to go through because it is the same as the mastering freestyle program but for the other strokes.

They are the same drills I give my swimmers when we are working on form strokes. If you want to copy what we are doing in training that we are getting very good results with for my masters group then the Effortless Form program is the way to go.

That’s it for news this week. See you next week.

Transcript

Read the full transcript

Brenton Ford here, welcome to Swimming News this week. This week we talk about the importance of consistency, why you should get flexibility tested, and I’ve got a backstroke and a breaststroke tip for you. If a swimmer comes to me and they tell me they’re not improving, I’ll ask them how often they’re training a week and are they training consistently. You see, one of the biggest things that improves swimmers is consistency with their training. If you’re not doing two to three sessions a week at a minimum, then you’ll probably find that your times won’t come down and you won’t be improving. But if you want to become a better swimmer, then keep your training consistent and don’t miss too many sessions here and there. My general rule of thumb is if you miss one week of training, it takes you two weeks to get back to where you were before. Now, that can be frustrating if you go on holidays or you want to take a bit of

a break, but that’s just how it works. Swimming, you need to be in the water at least two to three times a week if you want to get better and more if you want to improve quicker. So general rule of thumb, just make sure that you stay in the water. You keep training, even if you’re sick, get down to the pool and at least roll the arms over because that way you’ll maintain your feel for the water and you’ll continue to keep that swimming fitness and swimming feel for the water. Last week with my swimmers, I did flexibility testing. So I got a myotherapist. It can be a physio or a chiropractor can come in and do this too. But I got a myotherapist in and we ran through a couple of flexibility tests that determine if swimmers are inhibited in any of their movements that are important to their training. So the biggest one, which I found stop swimmers from being able to get into the right position with their technique was the shoulder flexibility

test, which is this one up here. And we’re looking for the angle from here to here. And that was one of the worst areas for a lot of swimmers, because if you can’t get your arms above here, then you’ll probably find that you can’t get in the right position with your freestyle. So if you’re tight in this kind of movement and also your hamstrings, that was one of the most common ones, then take a look at getting that treated, whether it’s through physio, myotherapy, chiropractors, get that treated, get your flexibility up, and you’ll find that you’ll be able to get into the right position to swim faster. Earlier this year, I recorded a presentation called World’s Best Swimmer. In this presentation, I cover everything that the world’s best swimmers are doing from their diet, training, strength, training, flexibility, all of the things that I found common among talking to the world’s best Olympians, triathletes, open water swimmers.

So it’s everything I learned from talking to a lot of elite athletes in swimming. You can now watch that presentation for free. If you click the link at the bottom of this video in the transcript, you’ll find it there. So if you want to get a couple of tips and give yourself a few ideas of things that you could implement into your training, then that’s a good place to start. One of my favorite ways to get motivated in sport is to race. The bars in the adrenaline rush that you get at the end of a race and the end of competition is what motivates you and spurs you on to want to do better. It allows you to see where you can improve in your races. And it just reminds you of the reason that you’re doing all this hard training. So if you find that your motivation is waning, then go on race, go and get out there and compete. And you might find that you’re more motivated in training and you’ve got to clear a picture of what you’ve got to improve to become quicker in the water.

In backstroke, the ideal head position is to keep your head straight and on center while your shoulders and the rest of your body is rotating. So if your head is dead aligned and it’s your shoulders, which are rotating, then you’ll find that you drive through the water a lot better and you’re not wasting energy and you’re not creating more drag than you need to. Is if your head’s moving from side to side in the effortless backstroke program, we go through drills that get you to practice keeping your head still while your body rotates around it and gets propulsion that way. One of my favorite breaststroke drills, which you might have done before, is one pool, two kicks. It’s where you do one pool, you go into the water and you do two kicks. The reason I think it’s such a good drill is because it practices good body position when you’re gliding forward. It also improves your kick because you’re doing two kicks with each stroke

and it makes you really finish off the back end of your kick. And in the effortless breaststroke program, we build on these drills and we go through some more challenging ones. And they’re very good for practicing an ideal pool, getting a stronger kick and practicing the right body position so you’re gliding more with each stroke and you’re creating less drag. The effortless form video program is the butterfly backstroke and breaststroke drill program that a lot of swimmers have been through recently that really helps them with each of those three form strokes. So if you feel that your freestyle is developed well and you want to improve your other strokes, whether it’s for cross training or because you want to compete in the other strokes, then the effortless form programs are a good one to go through because it’s the same as the mastering freestyle program, but for the other strokes, they’re the same drills that I give

my students when we’re working on form strokes. So if you want to copy what we’re doing in training, that we’re getting very good results with for my master’s group, then the effortless form program is the way to go. That’s it for news this week. See you next week.