you know, over the years, you know, you meet so many different people. And then and some people, you know, just take it. They go, right, OK, we’re going back to the basics. And some people need a little bit of encouragement to to go that way because they think that they’re very specific about the issues that they have. And that’s just what they want to work on. But yeah, actually going back to those basics, it’s yeah, it’s the key, I think. Welcome to the Effortless Swimming Podcast to show that help swimmers and triathletes love the water, become a better swimmer and live a better life. Here’s your host, Brenton Ford.

Welcome to the Effortless Swimming Podcast. My guest today is Irene Katz from Swim Fit for Life. She’s based up in Fire North Queensland there in Port Douglas primarily. So Irene, welcome to the podcast. Yes, thank you so much for having me, Brenton. We met a couple of years ago. I can’t even think about how long it was now because everything’s a blur. But you you’re similar to myself in you coach adults and a lot of adults that maybe haven’t got any swimming background or adults who have learned to learn to swim as you know, in their older age. So I think that’s a lot of similarities. And on this podcast today, I want to talk about from your experience, what are those things that have helped those swimmers who have learnt later on in life to become more efficient, enjoy the water more and become better swimmers. And you recently came up with the four foundations of freestyle, which you use as like your, I guess, your structure of helping people improve.

And I think to have that that base or that that philosophy that that you’ve come up with that you use to work with swimmers is and I’ve done something similar over the past few years with my philosophy on helping people do that with the five core principles of fast freestyle. So I want to talk about what or what made you sort of think of these things and come up with them over the last couple of months. Yes. So, well, I mean, you must have it as well. Like a lot of adults who are just getting into swimming or want to get better, they have these these issues of I’m struggling with breathing or I just can’t, you know, can’t get certain things right, can’t get that catch.

And it just it just always comes down to having those in my view, those four foundations, right? And, you know, it just slowly, the more you coach and the more you help people, I started realizing that I was the same pattern with everyone and it really seemed to work. It really made them understand how swimming really worked and and how freestyle works. Like the thing is, like we all move on land since, you know, since we were born and moving through air is just so much different than moving through water. And if you’re new to that, it’s it’s really important to actually understand how it all works and and yeah, just just getting the basics right to then be able to to really work on those little things that will get you a few seconds faster instead of the big things that first that will really just help you to to just you know, get that first 100 meters or that first 400 meters, right? So, yes, that’s really how I slowly just realized

that the story was pretty similar to how I was helping people. And and yeah, just by putting it down on paper and and writing it out, I started to realize that it was that that was it. Like that would really help people if they would understand that. Yeah, that’s great. I found when I first started coaching that I was just using everything that I’d picked up from other coaches or I’d read in books or seen in videos and DVDs and then with enough time and enough of actual people and working through there, the problems that they encounter and the challenges that you get given a coach to try and help that person. You eventually come up with your your own way of doing things, which is generally based on what you either your experience or what what you have been told and that kind of thing. But then you come up with your own thing and it sounds like that’s that’s that’s where you’re at at the moment. And so with with people who are pretty new,

they might not be able to do that their first 100 where maybe you generally start what are you looking for and watching them swim? Well, I think the first the first thing and which is the first foundation as well is just that body position.

Like the basic formula of swimming, which I come back to so many times as well is the first thing is reducing your drag, reducing your resistance, because water is so much denser than air that that is a really important part. And yeah, just realizing how you can balance yourself in the water and having a horizontal body position and having your legs up, you know, head down, bum up, kind of being just getting getting that basic ride

straight away puts people in a position where they start to realize that they can actually glide through the water instead of having to fight their way through the water, which is usually the first big light bulb moment. Yeah. And what do you what are some of the things that you do with them to help them find that body position and improve it? So yeah, it’s that’s pretty simple. Like, you know, just pushing off the wall and you know, have you have your arms in front of you or have them next to you and just by looking straight down instead of because I guess when you’re new to swimming, you kind of the thing you want to do is have your head up and like be close to the air to get breath, but starting to realize that when you push your head down and look straight down that it helps to keep your legs up. So just yeah, pushing off the wall, arms in front of you, arms next to you. Easy kick and just yeah, just having a play with that balance.

Like the first foundation I like to call hold your balance because it’s all about that. Just realizing if you push down in the front, the back comes up or, you know, it’s it all works together. Yeah, that’s it’s so true, isn’t it? Like you as a someone coming brand new to anything like you just, you don’t know anything, right? Like you just and it’s no surprise that people first get in and they might have their head. So a guy sent me a video recently actually and he just he couldn’t swim about 50 or 100 meters and he’s swimming. He swam about 10 or 15 meters before he had to stop, but he’s swimming with his head just in the water, but the rest of it’s just being held way up because he wants to be near the surface just to be able to lift the head up. So it’s just it’s just what instinctually happens there. And and you don’t know if you to get into a streamline position, you know, people just push off and if their arms are there,

we can say it’s like, God, that is slowing you down so much. All you got to do is just bring in a little bit closer, 10 times better. So it’s just that it really is basics, but people don’t know those basics if they’re if they’re brand new. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like the first few sessions I have with people that are new to swimming, there’s just so many likeable moments. It’s just like one after the other, like, oh, if you do this, that happens. And they’re like, oh, wow, I had no idea. So yeah, it’s so it’s so good to be able to help people that way. But yes, that first just body position. I think it’s the most important part. Like most you would have it as well. Most people show up for the first time and their legs are just hanging down. And that’s just creating so much resistance. And you’re just not in a good position in the water to to have a strong stroke. So that’s that’s really the first one. And with that balance as well comes that rotation too.

So, you know, in swimming, you never lay flat in the water. You’re either just to the left or just to the right. I move my head at the moment, but you don’t want to do that.

But yeah, just that balance there as well. Like if you’ve never really moved in the water, it’s it’s it’s really quite hard to just lay like slightly rotate it to one side in the water and just stay there for a little bit. Which in like a few steps down the road, you’ll you’ll need that to actually be able to glide. Because if you can’t balance, you can’t glide.

So yeah, just these basics, just that first balance of how the water works and how you can hold your body in the water is just this first massive, massive step and realization for a lot of people. So you’re doing some sounds like discovery sort of drills or exercises to get them just to experiment a little bit with with some some changes there. And what are you doing with them to get comfortable being on their being on their side and and getting them to be able to figure out. Yeah, that that not going too far, you know, not not being too flat. How are you going about that? Yeah, I think it’s just a lot of feedback to what they’re doing. Because the other thing that’s swimming is you can’t see yourself. Like if you if you do any other exercise, you can just put a mirror up and you see what you’re doing. But in swimming, you just you don’t know it. So if you can’t see yourself, it’s really hard to realize what you’re doing.

So just by giving that constant feedback, you know, after every little bit. So the balance is just a matter of, you know, one I’m out, one I’m next to you kicking slightly on your side. You know, it’s easier to go all the way on your side. So usually that happens first and then we have to bring it back a little bit.

But you’re just that constant feedback and just letting them try different things and realize what feels good and what does not feel good and what will help you in the future seems to work really well. Are you using bins with everyone or some people?

Yes, the good old kick. It’s an interesting one. Some people rock up and they’re great and they’re great kickers. And I have to sorry guys, but usually it’s the girls that seem to be feather with their kicking.

But yeah, if the kicking is good and are comfortable doing it, I tend to not get the fins in just trying to keep it as simple as possible. But yeah, if kicking is an issue, fins is a great idea just to get that momentum going and and you know, not move backwards. When you’re trying to kick actually go forward and the fins help. Of course, you’re kicking as well in the end of the day. It helps to give you a bit more flexibility and your ankles and a bit more strength. So it’s yeah, if you’re kicking is not great to start with. Yes, chuck the fins on. Yeah, it’s hard to it’s hard to find your balance on your side when you’re going backwards with your kick, right? So you need some sort of propulsion forward. Yes, and it happens. I’ve seen it. The other thing that really helps through the first three steps of this plan really is the spin snorkel as well. I didn’t get on board with it straight away. I was kind of like another toy.

Like do we really need this? But just having that snorkel and not having to worry about stopping for breath or or anything, it just makes everything so much calmer.

You can just really focus on what you’re doing. So the swim snorkel is definitely something I would advise as well to new swimmers. Do you have some people who struggle with the snorkel just breathing, being comfortable with the breathing? Will they take water up their nose or anything like that initially? Yeah, there’s a few people that use the snorkel with the nose clip.

Or yeah, just just kind of guiding them through it, realizing that you know you can breathe out through your nose or more of a bit of pressure just on your nose seem to work quite well. But yeah, sometimes a nose clip is just the easiest way to go. I think in the beginning when you learn how to swim, there’s so much going on already. Like everything else that you can do to just make it easier and more comfortable, go for it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And and even just wearing a snorkel can take a little bit of practice sometimes. Like when we run our clinics, we recommend that people with snorkels, not everyone, we don’t make it a requirement. But I’ve just got some some nose clips in my my bag for those swimmers that are pushing off, coming up after five meters and going like they’ve taken water into their lungs, it feels like because they’re just not used to that. So I carry some extra nose clips for that.

Because it’s so different. Yeah, so different from you guys.

So that’s that’s the first body position balance. And then what do you move on to next? Next one is just understanding water and how to find your grip.

Water is a funny thing. Like if you try to grab it, it runs through your fingers. If you swap it or if you’ve ever done a belly flop in a pool, you know it can be very hard as well. So just understanding how you can find your strength because with swimming, it really doesn’t matter how strong you are, how many muscles you have. It’s about finding that grip on the water. So yeah, just just realizing how to move through the water. And I guess it’s an the natural thing for people is to go for the easiest way to pull your arm through the water because, you know, it feels easy and that’s what we’re looking for, right? But I guess with just that actual stroke in the water, it’s about finding the hardest way to get your arm back because that means you’re getting most out of it. So yeah, just just understanding that moving water doesn’t give you anything. So the water that you’re just just underneath your body that’s moving

because you just pushed your body through it. So if you see people like kind of trying to catch the water underneath their body, it’s not really going to help you. But if you go a little bit wider, what a water is still, you can actually grip it and you can push push yourself forward from that water. And it really goes from kind of, you know, the feeling of moving your arms through air. It goes to the feeling of moving your arms through mud or even pushing of a concrete wall in the end of the day, which is, you know, what we’re all aiming for.

But yeah, just just practicing that. So, you know, the good old sculling always comes back to that one.

It’s a bit of a funny one because when you try to teach people how to swim freestyle and you start sculling, they straight away go, how is this going to help you feel it?

But it’s just so good to just get that feel of the water, just, you know, sculling where you move your hand in and out from side to side, just trying to keep that constant pressure on the palm of your hand. In the end of the day, that constant pressure, that’s what we’re looking for in the stroke as well. So yes, just understanding how to find your strength and find your power in the water is the next one. Yeah, thinking about the swimmers that I’ve worked with who are newer to it, the adults, there definitely is a tendency to either have quite a drop of the elbow so they’re just sort of bringing their hand through the water and just they’re thinking that the aim is to just go from up here in front of the shoulder back to the hip. And it doesn’t really matter. You just, that’s where you’ve got to go. And so often they follow the easiest path. Or often there’s that tendency to be very like really close to the body

as you were, and when you go that little bit deeper and you get the fingertips pointing down, there’s, it’s harder and you’re like, oh, okay, that’s working. Maybe my lats or my shoulders a little bit more. And initially, coming to it with no experience is like, you’re right, because that feels like it’s a bit of hard work. So you move away from it. Yes, exactly. You’re scared to kind of hurt your shoulders or do the wrong thing. But that’s really what we’re going for. Like, yeah, just getting most out of every stroke, getting your efficiency.

Yeah, sort of sculling. But then when you actually get to swimming, just counting your strokes every lap. Just gives you such a good idea, especially when you’re trained by yourself. You don’t have a coach to look at you. Just counting your strokes and trying to get that number down. Like my magic numbers don’t know about yours, but my magic numbers. I always say when you get to like 20 strokes for 25 metres or 40 strokes for 50 metres, you’re heading in the right direction.

Yeah, exactly right. And I think you’re right. It’s a good way to know whether or not the changes you’re making, particularly with your catch,

improving you or not. And I was working with two swimmers last week, just locally here. And we were basically working on different things each, but we just had them. I had them do two fifties, go just not thinking about your stroke to swim for the first 50. Take 20 seconds and then swim back and then practice this change that we’re working on. And they made those changes really well. And for both of them, it was four or five strokes less for that 50 when they got right. And actually one of the swimmers, she was on both arms. Actually she was really wide through that first part of the catch, like wide and sharp. She’s going to come in, follow that better path. And for her, it’s just so much more direct.

Deeper, she’s getting a bit more water. And you can see the immediate results. It’s such a good way for people to self coach their technique. Now, you’re probably not going to look to hold that same really low stroke count when you’re starting to pick. And I think that’s what some people don’t tend to understand initially. And I think, all right, as long as I hit 40 strokes for this 50, then I’m good. But obviously stroke rates are a factor there. If you’re looking for speed, but if you’re just looking to, if you’re learning how to swim, then it’s certainly a good indicator. Yeah, yeah, true. Yeah, it always gets a bit confusing if you start sprinting and they still try to have that many strokes. I’m like, no, no, no, no, no. You can go higher now. It’s okay. But yeah, but even if you swim, you know, if you’re trained by yourself and you swim an 800 or a kilometer,

like it’s a good idea to just count your strokes every so many laps. And, you know, it’s a good gauge is, you know, if you’re still holding your form, if you’re still holding your technique, if you go from 20 to a few hundred meters later, all of a sudden have 26 strokes, you know that you’re kind of falling apart to say it nicely. So it’s, yeah, I do it as well. I train by myself usually. And yeah, it just gives you a good idea. Like time combined with your stroke count gives you quite a good idea of how you’re going. And are there any other exercises or things you’ll get people to think about to help them with that part of the stroke? Yeah. So it’s, well, one of those light fall moments as well. You mentioned it before as well is just that bending your elbow and understanding why that’s so important. And so just, you know, usually when you call someone, they’re in a pool anyway. So just making that comment of

if I would ask you to push yourself up out of the pool right now, how, you know, you wouldn’t try to do that with straight arms. You wouldn’t be able to get out of the pool. You would automatically bend your elbows and have about a 90 degree angle because that’s when you’re strongest and that’s when you start using your lats and some stronger muscles. And just realizing that that’s how you’re going to get you to find your strength. It’s just one of those other little light fall moments where people go, oh, okay, yes. Because it’s not a hard thing to do, but you just got to realize it and understand why it’s so important. Yeah. And I’ve found with some swimmers who are quite new and they have that straight and deep with the arms. There’s no bend at all. With a couple of them, I’ve found that when they go from being completely deep and straight to then getting that bend in the elbow off, one of them will sometimes not keep that reach

and extension. So they’re so focused on being bent with the elbows that they’re just, it’s all bent the whole way through. And so sometimes it’s like, all right, we’ll add this into the stroke. We’ve got a bit of bend in the elbows to help with your catch and all right, that’s good. But now we’re not reaching and extending and maybe we’re coming out short. Yeah, coming out short, it’s a big one too. Like as soon as you start talking about a bend elbow, they come out like a belly button. I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, no, we do want to go further. But yeah, it’s just, I think so much of it. It’s just realizing and learning how it all works. Like when people never really learn how to swim freestyle.

A lot of people seem to think it’s just kind of this like round, you know, circle kind of movement. And it’s so not like it’s more of like an oval kind of shape. Like when you start to pull through and then you come over, like there’s no full circle whatsoever. So just visualizing things like that as well really helps to get it right. Even just with the timing, looking in the mirror. So someone, you know, how people will be very windmilly in the beginning. So there’s no, they’re not sorry for taking their time. And just getting them to look in the mirror, even go side on and just getting them to keep their hand out in front. And I had one of my swimmers who I coached online. She sent me a video of her just practicing the recovery and the catch just out of the water because she didn’t have access to a pool for a week or so. And it was actually interesting to see because yeah, I would rarely sort of analyze someone

out of the water, right? But one of the things that we saw there was she was just, she was windmilling. She wasn’t keeping the arm in front. And some of those areas that we, or faults in the stroke that we were trying to work on in the pool, they were coming out of the water. And so it was actually really useful. And so the next video she sent, her timing was a lot better and she was front quadrant. And I’d like to think some of that was from actually just seeing what happened out of the water and then getting her to make those adjustments. So yeah, it’s interesting with that, isn’t it? Like there’s a few different approaches and because it’s so much harder to change things in the water, if you can’t get it right out of the water, it’s unlikely it’s going to happen in there too. So it can be another tool that our disposal is. Yeah, you’re a great idea practicing that in the mirror. Yes, because yeah, like I said before,

you can’t see yourself when you’re swimming. So just sometimes seeing what you’re doing in the mirror, even though it’s out of the water, that’s a good idea. What do you, I just, I look at myself in the mirror too much. There’s just a minute you came to me.

Not true, I didn’t really get true. You did touch on the third foundation there, which is all about the timing. So yeah, the whole wind milling and going against that and realizing why, just realizing that we always want to stay long in the water. You never want to find yourself at a point where one arm has already dropped and the other arm is still in the air because you’re just not long. You’re going to fall down, well, not fall down, but you’re going to sink a little bit and just always having that one leading arm out, waiting for that one to come forward. And then just taking over, just take over just before, just keeping yourself long.

That cue usually seems to help quite well.

Take over, but taking over. Yes. Yeah, I was about to say, I haven’t heard that one before. I like it. I’m going to probably steal it from you.

That’s a great one because the way I’ve sometimes described that position in front when the lead arm is out there and you’re on your side, I described it as like the base position, the position you always want to return to. You’re basically going from your right side to your left side. And it’s essentially one arm taking over the other arm out in front of you. So yeah, it’s a really, really good one. Yeah. So the way I like to practice it first is with the good old underwater switches. And so, you know, in the recovery, bring your arm forward underwater because usually when you start lifting something out of the water in the back, something drops in the front. So it’s a lot harder to keep that leading arm out. So just by bringing, just doing your normal stroke underwater, but then bringing your hand forward underwater. And then you can even almost look at your hands. Like we always say look down, but you know,

every now and then have a look at your hands and just before you get to the front, just take over or even do it with a full catch up first. Just go full opposite to start with and then just take it back a little bit with that just taking over before it. That seems to work really well. That’s good. And are you getting them to do that

on their side a little bit when they’re reaching forwards and then coming through and then swapping on the other side or just getting them to do it? Yeah. Well, firstly, you know, step by step. But yeah, in the end of the day, it’s a great opportunity to practice that rotation as well and then get that going. Because it’s quite natural that rotation. Like as soon as you kind of start pulling your arm back and reaching that side, your body up automatically wants to turn. And a lot of people in the beginning think that that’s wrong and they find it. But it’s actually, you know, you just want to go with it. You just kind of want to swing from side to side, get into the rhythm and just glide through the water. So yeah, definitely get the rotation involved there as well. That’s excellent. And what about the fourth thing, the final one after that? Final one is the one that people have most issues with. But you first have to get all three rides

before you can get to your breathing.

It always makes that in a good way. It makes me laugh when people come up to me and say, oh, I’ve got issues with my breathing and swimming. And I’m like, well, we can all breathe, but you’re doing it now.

The other issues with your breathing is obviously some bigger things in really in the foundation and the basics of your stroke that are making it hard for you to get a good breath in. So usually by going back to the basics, and it depends, of course, on the swimmer, like, you know, have a look at what they do. If their body position is good, you know, it might be another foundation, but usually it comes down to just that basic body position. If you’re swimming with your legs down and they’re hanging down and you try to breathe, of course, you’re going to lift your head up to take that breath. That’s just what’s going to happen. So if you correct your body position and really get into that flat horizontal body position, it’s going to be a lot easier to just go from looking straight down to just looking to the side and having that one eye in, one eye out in the water, body position to take just a relaxed breath.

Because the thing as well is if you start lifting your head to breathe, you just stretch your neck and it just makes it so much harder to breathe as well. So yeah, the fourth foundation is really just that final step where we can finally take that snorkel off and start working on the breathing. I find that a lot easier to really just get everything right first and get them comfortable with that, feeling relaxed, because if you’re not relaxed, your breathing is always just going to be at the top of your lungs and it’s going to be a short, shallow breath. So if you can get everything right first and just feel comfortable in the water, the breathing doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore. It’s just something extra we do and it just happens and no issues. Yeah, yeah, there’s certainly… I mean, it’s one of the main things, isn’t it, that can cause people to start feeling that breathing. But as you said, there’s so many other parts

of their stroke that can be making it hard for them to breathe, like not having the timing. If there’s nothing in front, you’re not going to be balanced, you’re going to take over because they’re heavier and then same with obviously your body position and all that sort of stuff. So yeah, we’ve got to get those just basic balance and timing and all that sort of stuff right. And in terms of going through all of that, do you talk about more when you’re doing private lessons and that kind of thing, or are you sort of throwing a few of these things in for your squad sessions that you’re doing? How do you like to sort of approach it? Yeah, well, obviously with private sessions, you get the luxury to just guide people through whatever level they are and just help them move on. So sometimes it’s so much better to get someone who is totally new to swimming and you can just really just take it from the basics and get it right straight away.

A lot of times it’s a lot harder when someone has been swimming for 10 years already, self-thought, and now they have issues with their breathing or they can’t get their 100 freestyle in two minutes. It’s like, okay, we have to go back to the basics and they’re like, oh no, no, I have the basics, I can swim. And I’m like, I get that. But obviously sometimes by just going back to the basics and making sure you have that all right, it doesn’t have to be all the foundations that we just talked about. You might already have a great body position, but there’s just some other things that we can work on. But yeah, just in those private sessions, you can just cater it to how they’re going. And some people pick up really quickly on some of the exercises, like if they’ve been doing other sports in their lives and they’re pretty active, they seem to really understand how their body works so it all goes a little bit quicker.

But yes, of course in the squat sessions that we do or the group sessions that we like to call them, because some people tend to get a bit scared of squats.

Yeah, always, we always do a little warm-up and there’s always drills.

It’s just a great way to set yourself up for a good swim. I do them as well every time I swim, just a nice easy warm-up to just get the muscles going and then depending on what the set is. So if it’s kind of like a long-distance set, I prefer working on my body position and just getting in a nice streamlined position before I start. If it’s a sprint set, I like to walk on really that grip of the water so potentially some sculling or just kind of adjust the drills to what you’re trying to do in the set.

But yeah, the main thing I’m just trying to bite and educate people on is if you want to get better at swimming, you have to follow some kind of program or do some different things. Like just jumping in the pool and swimming a kilometer. It’s just, you know, if that’s what you like to do and you’re not training for any race or anything, go for it. But if you really want to get better at swimming and faster and tackle some races and stuff, you just get a coach, find someone who can help you either online or someone local and just get some help and really improve and develop your stroke and your fitness, your swim fitness. Because it’s a lot different than moving on land. Yeah, that’s exactly right. There’s a few that I want to touch on. And the first one is just like going back to basics. I had a podcast a couple of weeks ago with a guy I’ve worked with for maybe going on three years now from memory. And he just basically went back to basics

a couple of weeks ago because he found his open water times to just, they dropped off about 30 seconds per 100 from his pool times. And so he was just like, he was just like, I need to just do something. So he went back to basics and going through his eight week course I put together and we start with like just like how you’re breathing and then we go to some balance stuff. And after a couple of weeks, I think it was four or five weeks, he finally got his times and he was swimming well and he’s been swimming for quite a while and I’ve worked with him for ages but he just went back to basics and was able to improve. And it doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re at like just some of his basics. They always have to go back to him and I was listening to, I don’t know if you’ve listened to this podcast with Dean Box also around, Titmas’s coach and it was with Brett Hawke and Dean Boxle and he was just talking about like some of the things

that they would go through in a session and he’s like every session he’s watching is he was talking about Arnie and saying like, I’m watching Arnie and the head position is not right or I’ve got to get that down a little bit and this is like the fastest swimmer in the world for 400 free, 800 free and sorry, 200 and 400 free and even there you’re looking at head position, right? It’s a pretty basic thing but he’s not going to get it right every time he needs a coach to be able to Exactly, I’m so happy you said it as well because over the years, you meet so many different people and some people just take it they go, all right, okay, we’re going back to the basics and some people need a little bit of encouragement to go that way because they think that they’re very specific about the issues that they have and that’s just what they want to work on but yeah, actually going back to those basics it’s yeah, it’s the key I think

Yeah, and it’s, I mean, especially with adults particularly those that have swum for a long time and they just love the fitness or the social aspect of it

each to their own, nothing wrong with just just wanting to go and knock out a workout but those that do want to improve and get quicker you’re right, probably got it you might need to change something up you’re probably going to have to change at least something about your technique and be open to a bit of feedback there or change the type of training you’re doing so you’re just going to keep doing the same results And that makes the timing as well, doesn’t it? Like just getting something new to focus on like, you know, that makes swimming interesting there’s always something that you can work on and you know, just getting those little things right and then seeing, you know, seeing your time’s getting better as well like that’s the excitement really Yeah, it’s so true and I had a guy, Chris, who I’ve been working with on the episode before this and he was saying that he was going through this catch challenge course that I’ve put together

and like, there’s like a drill a day that we go through and he just tried it and it worked for him and he was like, okay, so drills, yeah, all right drills, you know, and I think a lot of people are like that they go, oh, here’s a drill and you just go through it but when you know the purpose of it and the reason you’re doing it and you know how that’s actually going to make you faster as a swimmer, it’s so much more motivating so he’s saying now with his running drill because he was a runner, he’s gone back to those and started doing them again that he used to do like 10, 20 years ago as a runner but now he’s like, okay, I can’t work but I’ve just got to be specific about them and actually have some intention with them Yeah, I think that’s an important part like you’ve got to know why you’re doing these drills if you’re just sculling for the sake of sculling Yeah, pretty boring but if you’re sculling really that, you know

that intention of finding more grip on the water and getting your feel like, yeah it just makes it a lot better like understanding why you’re doing these things Yeah, absolutely and you’ve got, have you got a camp coming up?

Yeah, so on this four foundations way of teaching I thought I would just throw a retreat in there because Port Douglas is such a beautiful place to swim and every time I post photos of our pools people are like, oh, I wish I could swim there so I thought I would just make it happen so the first one is the first weekend of December so I understand that not everyone can travel here at the moment but yes, if you can, if you’re in Queensland or I believe South Australia at the moment can travel here yeah, it’d be great to see you up here it will be a pool-based training weekend because it will be the summer months which means that we can’t swim in the ocean here, unfortunately but the pools will be nice and warm and the sun will be out so it’ll be a great opportunity to exactly go back to those basics and really work on those foundations and yeah, you’ll walk away knowing which foundations you can really work on a bit more, how to do that

and hopefully that will help you to get your times down and reach your swimming goals Awesome, and we’ll put the links in the show next that’ll be on swimfitforlife.com Yes, yes, and I obviously am working on an actual online program with these four foundations as well hopefully that will be launched soon too because yeah, I just want to spread this knowledge and I’m sure you’re the same and that’s why you’re doing these podcasts like you just realise that you have this knowledge that can help people and I just want to make sure people enjoy swimming and don’t see it as that hard thing that, you know, if you do a triathlon let’s get through that swim and then start enjoying the rest of the race like let’s just make swimming that enjoyable way of exercise and way of movement that it is Yeah, absolutely and yeah, that can be great and I’m looking at you, you look like you’re warm up there and here I am, I’m sitting with her

I should go and get a rug from the living room because I’m cold Yeah and I’m pretty quite envious of you at the moment having had warm weather for a very long time Yeah, well, I’m never just saying on the news that it was raining all over Queensland but we’ve got blue skies and 32 degrees at the moment so yeah, it’s definitely come up and the retreat will be at the Sheraton as well so I mean, what better place Yeah, beautiful spot up there Yeah Well, Irene, thanks so much for being on the podcast and great to catch up again it’s been a few years but yeah, great to have you on and is there anywhere else you’d like to direct people to perhaps your Instagram or Yes, yes, of course there’s the SwimFit Instagram which is SwimFit with Coach Irene and then there’s the Facebook page as well SwimFit for a live and yeah, whenever I have those live fault moments I like to write a little blog or you know, post something on Instagram

whatever I can do to help people to make the whole swimming journey more enjoyable, more fun so yeah, keep track and yeah, hopefully I’ll be able to help some more people out Love it, thanks very much Thanks so much, Brinton