The Distance Trap

Don’t get caught in the distance trap where you’re more focused on how far you do in a training session than what you do in a training session. Unless you are training for the English Channel, an ironman or a long distance event, then you are better off focusing on what you do in a training session than how far you do.

 

00:07:  Don’t Get Caught In The ‘Distance Trap’
00:24:  When Is The Best Time to Improve Your Technique?
00:49:  Get Feedback From Your Coach
01:22:  Drive Forward In Your Recovery
01:30:  Vary What You Do In Training
02:00:  Swimming News Updates Now Available As Podcasts

The best place to improve your technique is outside your normal training sessions. Because most squad sessions are focused on improving fitness than technique. So if you can set aside 30-60 minutes once a week where it’s just you, the pool and you are working on drills, kick, body position, all those things that make up a good swimming technique then you’ll improve a whole lot quicker than if you try to improve your technique just in your normal training sessions.

Ask For Technique Feedback from Your Coach

If you want feedback from your coach, the best way to do it is to just ask. Most coaches are busy managing swimmers and managing lanes because they have a lot of swimmers to work with. But if you can just put your hand up and ask your coach to look at you for a couple of laps then they will be able to give you feedback. It’s a lot better than to just wait for your coach to say something. Get your coach to look at your stroke and suggest a few things that you can do with your technique.

The Faster Way To Recover in Freestyle

Now if you ever watch two freestylers next to each other – one that brings their arms forward in their recovery and one that enters across their head or comes across the body, then you’ll know the faster one is obviously the one that drives forward in their recovery. So if you can make that switch, driving more forward as opposed to across your head and across your body, then you’ll be a whole lot better off in your freestyle.

Vary what you do in training

If you found that your fitness and your training has stagnated and it has hit a plateau, the reason might be because you are doing the same thing constantly again and again in your training sessions. You should vary what you do in your training sessions because the body adapts to things that it is used to doing. If you can change that by doing different doing speeds, distances and different drills and
things like that in your session then you’ll find your body has to adjust in different kinds of trainings.

Swimming news updates now available as podcasts

This week is the first week that these news updates are available as podcasts so you can see above is a play button so you can just listen to it instead of watching me. And you can also go to The Effortless Swimming iTunes page where you can subscribe to the weekly podcasts and so it will go straight to your iTunes every single week.

Subscribe to the weekly news emails

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