Welcome to Effortless Swimming, the podcast for swimmers, triathletes and coaches. Join Australian swim coach Brenton Ford as he reveals the latest techniques and information to improve your swimming. Let’s dive right in. Welcome to the Effortless Swimming podcast. My name is Brenton Ford and this is part three of the truths about swimming. So this is a three-part series that we’ve recorded over the last couple of days about some of the things I’ve learnt over the last few years when it comes to being a successful swimmer. And it doesn’t mean becoming a world championship swimmer or breaking world record. It’s whatever success in swimming means to you. And over the last couple of years I’ve seen some swimmers do really, really well and other swimmers who have maybe not reached their potential or have not quite gotten to where they want to get to. So these are some of the things that I’ve noticed and taken account of

and some of the things that really make the difference when it comes to becoming a successful swimmer. So kicking off this part three episode of the truths about swimming is when you invest in your knowledge and experiences rather than things, that’s when you get a much better return on investment or you get much more value for your money or your time. So having the latest gear can be good. You want to have a wetsuit that’s flexible around the shoulders and sit you’re in the right position and you want to have the right training toys to use like the right paddles and pool boy. But what you really get a return on is when you invest in improving your knowledge of swimming and that can be with technique or it might be certain race strategies or it could be different kinds of workouts that work for you. Or it can be experiences like going on training camps or going to do different sessions with different people and learning things that way.

That’s really where the value is, is in increasing your knowledge and getting a wide range of experiences. So when it comes to race day and you have different things happen to you, then you know how to deal with it. But having the latest gear is not really going to help you. It’s going to help you somewhat with speed, but spend your time, spend your energy working towards investing in your knowledge and your experiences. The next one is find what works for you. So there’s no one type of swimming style that works for everyone. There’s different people have different styles and we’ve got the world championships swimming on at the moment. And you see a lot of different types of strokes, especially in the distance freestyle. So as soon as the coach says this is the way to swim, that’s when you should run. Because everyone has a different type of stroke and different things work for different people. So find a coach, find a style of swimming that works for you.

And then work towards being good at that particular type of freestyle. Because you’re not going to find Sun Yang or Ian Thorpe’s swimming open water because their techniques are not necessarily suited to open water. And they may only be good for 800 or 1500 metres. Whereas the guys who are doing 10 kilometres, they’re doing that sort of thing in training and they’ve got different styles because they’re used to swimming in open water. So some people are suited to different styles of swimming. So don’t try and fit into this one idea of what you think swimming looks like. The next one is it doesn’t matter how you feel because it doesn’t affect your swimming. So I can’t count the number of times that I’ve gotten in the water and I’ve jumped in and felt like absolute crap in warm-up before a race. And I feel like I’m not going to have a good swim because I’m heavy, I’m tired, I’m fatigued. But when I do my warm-up I might still feel crap.

But by the time the race comes around it could be a PB. It might be one of the best races I’ve had. So it doesn’t matter how you feel, it doesn’t affect your swimming. And same thing goes in training. If you feel like crap when you jump in, chances are that after you do 500 or 600 metres of warm-up then you probably feel okay. It might just be that you feel heavy when you first get in. So don’t get caught up in how you’re feeling because most times it’s not going to affect how you perform. And last of all is mindset is the master. So whatever you’re thinking will normally play out. So if you are going into a swim and you know that you’re going to be anxious and you know you’re going to be nervous and you know that someone’s going to swim over the top of you then chances are because you’re thinking about that sort of thing that it’s going to happen, that you’re going to somehow ventuate that into your race.

So if you can get a control over what you’re thinking then that is what is going to make the biggest difference to your swimming. I know when I’ve gone into races and I’ve thought I haven’t trained that much I’m just going to sit at the back here. Some guys will go past me but I’ll let that happen because I won’t have the fitness to keep up. Then every time I’ve thought that it’s always played out. Whereas if I’ve turned my mindset around, turned around what I’m thinking and said I know I may not have done a lot of training but I’ve got the skills to be able to sit on this person’s feet for 9% of the race and then come over the top at the end then that’s usually what will happen. Or if I’ve said I want to take this race out from the start I want to lead it from start to finish then that’s what has happened because I’ve told myself that that’s what I’m doing. Whereas if you let what you’re thinking or you let your mindset take control of you in a negative way

then good chances are that’s what’s going to happen. So if you invest in your knowledge and experiences rather than things then that’s where the real value is. Find out what works for you. So not everyone has the same swimming stroke. Not everyone has the same style. So find a type of swimming that works for you and don’t try and fit the mould of what you think your swimming should look like. And it doesn’t matter how you feel. It doesn’t affect your swimming once you get into the race. So even if you feel like crap that’s okay. You can still swim fast even if you’re not feeling good. And last of all your mindset is what will really determine how you perform. So if you can control what you’re thinking then that’s when you’ll really start to perform well even if you’re not necessarily fit or prepared for a race. So it’s all about what you’re thinking. This has been the three part series on the truths about swimming.

If you’d like to improve your swimming and get another perspective on your technique get some workouts to follow get some guidance when it comes to working towards a swimming or triathlon race then check out the Effortless Swimming Membership where myself and some other coaches are in there on a daily basis doing video analysis, answering questions and helping you achieve your swimming or triathlon goals. So go to EffortlessSwimming.com and check out the Effortless Swimming Membership. My name is Brenton Ford. Thank you for listening to this three part series. I’ll see you soon in another podcast. Thanks for joining us on the Effortless Swimming Podcast. To get transcriptions, bonus videos and to be the first to hear about new episodes go to swimmingpodcast.com