- Swimming is a highly technical sport
and getting the hang of that technique
is no easy task, but then swimming
with the wrong technique could mean
that you're swimming inefficiently,
on other words, making it a lot harder
then it should be.
- Yeah, the best way to improve your technique
is to work on drills.
Now these drills mostly overemphasize
or focus on a specific area, so that you can then
hone in the perfect technique.
- Yeah, and it doesn't matter how good you are,
whether you're one of the best swimmers
or best triathletes you'll be doing drills in every session
so we've picked out and we'll be explaining
our three favorite drills.
(upbeat dance music)
So the first drill we're gonna look at
is the scull, it's a popular one amongst swimmers
and triathletes no matter their level.
Now it really helps to improve that feel for the water
at different stages through the stroke,
and that purchase of the water.
Now what I mean by that is the feeling
that you can apply force with confidence
whilst you're swimming.
So the scull that we're gonna be focusing on today
is the front scull, so it's when your hand
first enters the water and you're applying force
that a lot of swimmers and triathletes trip up on.
So when our hand enters the water
it's important that we're applying pressure the right way.
If not well we begin to sink, and because we're not
applying any force then we begin to slow down.
So we're essentially swimming in this sort of
stop start motion, which is a pretty hard way of doing it.
So I want you to grab a pool buoy,
we're going to isolate the use of our arms.
So the pool buoy will just help to keep the legs afloat
without panicking that they're sinking.
We're going to lie face down in the water
and to begin with we're going to start
with our eyes out of the water
and arms outstretched so your hands are inline
with your shoulders.
Try to keep your arms relatively straight
but not fully locked out, you want to be prepared
to apply a force through them.
Now sweep your hands outwards,
around 30 centimeters or so, it's important
you don't go too wide, and that you push
the water outwards too.
Then turn the hands so your palms are facing more inwards
and scull back towards the starting point.
Now I like to imagine this as if you've got
a pile of sand in front of you,
you want to split that pile of sand,
and then bring that pile of sand back together
in the middle.
Now it's important that you don't flex your elbows
too much at this point, this is the point
that a lot of people try to do a breaststroke stroke
to propel themselves forward.
Don't do that, and also make sure
that your elbows aren't dropping down too much.
If they are below your hands then you're not
really applying pressure on the water.
Repeat this over and over, keeping it controlled and steady.
If you do need to flutter the legs to maintain
a little leg flotation or for a slight propulsion
that is fine, but try to keep it to a minimum,
don't expect to move anywhere fast with this drill,
but if you do struggle to move anywhere,
try pitching the hands ever so slightly.
(fast whooshing)
- Okay now for one of the old favorites, the doggy paddle.
Now it's actually a progression from the front scull
that we've just covered and it might sound slightly daft
as a drill but it's actually really valuable.
In theory the doggy paddle is basically putting together
the catch and the pull in a very slow and controlled manner.
But if you want, you can put fins on
to make it a little bit easier,
just anything to make sure that you're nailing
the actual stroke part of the doggy paddle.
So you want to start on your front,
with your eyes just above the surface of the water.
We're basically going to perform the front crawl stroke
but without the recovery phase.
So pull through, all the way to the back of the hip
and now slide your hand back underneath the water
as close as possible to reduce the drag
and then start again.
The main focus point here is that fact
that you're pressing down at the front of the stroke
because that helps you get that lift,
and it's where the high elbow comes in,
you might have heard people talk about.
I like to imagine you're putting a hand
over the top of the barrel, and at no point
should your elbow drop below your wrist.
This drill is just a great way of slowing it down
and really making sure you perfect that part of the stroke.
So it's also important to keep your head still
when you're doing doggy paddle.
It doesn't matter if your heads up,
some people prefer to put their head in the water,
just whatever you do make sure it stays still
so it keeps your stroke really straight.
Then you can track your arm going directly
underneath your body.
When we're talking about the arm
you want to have your elbow at about
90 to 120 degrees of an angle,
because that's where it's strongest
and it will keep nice and straight as it goes through.
And then make sure you finish off the full pull.
Some people are taught doggy paddle
that's just in front of you like this,
but this stroke is about replicating
the full swim stroke, so once you get to here
you need to make sure you finish your pull
with that push bit and go right down to your hip.
Once you've finished the final extension
from there to recover you're just gonna bring your hand
close to your body, back up through to the top
to take your next stroke.
When you're ready you can progress this further
by adding in rotation which rotation of the hips
and the shoulders, so for example,
if you're going in with your right hand
you'll be rotating away on the left side,
and then as you pull underneath you start to rotate
back towards the center line and then
the final phase of the stroke you'll already be rotating
to the right hand side as you get ready to pull
with the left, this just adds that extra bit of power
that you can really put through the stroke.
And as with the scull drill you can progress this
to longer distances and then go straight into a swim off
and when you're feeling ready, take your fins away
so you're replicating more of that normal stroke.
(fast whooshing)
- And on the subject of rotation,
this next drill is great for perfecting that,
it is three swim, six kick.
So when we don't rotate and we're swimming
quite flat in the water we're pretty much
just hammering a couple of muscle groups,
our pecs and our biceps.
Now that works to a degree, but we're essentially
just muscling our way through the water.
So the idea behind rotation is that we're utilizing
far more muscle groups, particularly into our backs.
This just helps to make us more stable in the water,
it makes our stroke more fluid
and by rotating we're also reducing our surface area
in the water.
Three swim, six kick is as it says on the tin really,
it's three full strokes followed by six kicks.
But the main focus is on the rotation involved,
and by breaking the stroke down like this
it allows us time to think about it
and reset between each cycle.
So start by swimming normally for three strokes
and then on the third stroke, rather than pulling through
you should stop with your arm extended in front of you.
Focus on pushing the shoulder of that arm forward
almost to touch your chin, at the same time
as rotating your hips to help that motion.
At the same time it's the really important
take away from this, hips and shoulders
should always move in sync, neither should lead the other.
Now that you're on your side you should start kicking
roughly for six kicks, granted that's quite hard
to calculate, so two to three seconds will do.
Whilst you do this you may keep your head in the water
and looking ahead, or to begin with,
you can rest your head on it's side
with your mouth out of the water.
Whilst you're kicking on your side this is the time
to start resetting yourself and really thinking
about your next three strokes and nailing that rotation.
You can think about resetting that core,
activating it, so that everything moves together.
Then as you end the six kicks, begin the pull
and begin to rotate the shoulders back around,
all whilst rotating your hips.
When your hand pushes and finishes the stroke
past your hips I often use the cue to rotate the hips
and shoulders, almost as if the hand is pushing
the hips out of the way.
And this is another drill that can be performed
with fins, just to make it easier for yourself,
and start off with something short
like 15 to 25 meters of the drill
and then swim off for 10 to 15 meters
just to really reinforce that good technique.
Right well that is just three drills there
and a lot of information so it's really important
to break a drill down and if you are still struggling
do feel free to send us a question
in the comment section below.
- Yeah I think the key point is, it's all about patience
and it's not about speed when it comes to the drills.
- Absolutely. - Well if you've enjoyed
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- Yeah, and if you'd like to see
our top five skills to master for swimming
just click down here.
- And if you want to see a video we made
looking specifically at the catch part of the stroke
that's just here.