Heather: We know that you guys love our swimming videos and it's great that you leave so many
comments below but it has made us realize that there are still quite a few questions.
I have collated a selection of some of our recent videos, but also from our recent social
media post. I'm going to be answering questions on pull buoys, swimming training at home,
intervals, arm cadence, basically, anything and everything to do with a swim training.
There's a lot to get through so here it goes. [music]
We're going to start off with some pool-related questions. We've got a selection here. Brayan
Amador says, "What does pull swim mean?" "I'm worried I rely on using the pull buoy too
much. Any advice?" That comes from V_Staelens. Then from Lixi821991 says, "Is it normal to
be faster with a pull buoy than without or is my kick that bad?" Well, when we talk about
pull, which we do quite a lot here on GTN, we're basically meaning swimming with your
arms only. That's taking your legs out of the equation whether just not using them or
actually putting a pull buoy or some sort of float between them. It's focusing solely
on the arms. Now, using a pull buoy will actually make
your hips float so it'll help with your body position overall which then in turn, will
usually make you swim faster. If you're swimming slower without a pull buoy it doesn't necessarily
mean your kick is bad, it maybe just means that your hip position or your body position
is sub-optimal. Using a pull buoy in training is a great aid, but it needs to remember that
it's just an aid, it's not there so it's not something you can obviously take with you
into a race. Use it for parts of your session when you
want to focus solely on your arms or you want to reinforce that correct body position. You
still need to make sure you balance it out with doing plenty of sessions on main sets
without it so that you can focus on your leg kick and focus on how you need to get your
body in that position without an aid. That said, if you're doing an open water swim
with a wetsuit and you've got a wetsuit that's appropriate to your swim ability, you can
have quite a few that will aid the buoyancy around your hip area so it can almost have
a similar effect to a pull buoy. So, don't worry if you've got an open water swim coming
up, you might feel better than you expect. This next bunch of questions is focusing on
what you can do away from the pool to benefit your swimming. We've got a question from Marcosawthis
who says what swim training can he do at home? We've got Kdhancock2, ways to maintain swim
fitness if your pool was maybe closed. Then what are the best out of water strength to
build strength and speed in the water? That comes from C_Kranich88. Well, not going to
the pool can maybe seem a little frustrating, but there is still plenty you can actually
do away from the water that can help benefit your swimming both in the immediate term but
also in the long term. If you watch any professional swimmers, you'll
realize that they do a lot of strength and conditioning exercises away from the pool.
We have actually made a video on dry land exercises specifically for swimming. I suggest
checking that one out for a few more ideas but then when it comes to your cardiovascular
fitness, you are going to have to think outside the box a little bit. Maybe using bike and
run to help complement that as much as you can. If you've got access to a rowing machine,
there's quite a lot of crossover there with the muscle recruitment but obviously, you're
going to get great fitness for something like that. If you're lucky enough to, say, have
a swim bench then that's another good alternative. [music]
Now moving our focus towards distance when it comes to swimming. This first question
from Triatloscar, how to train for long-distance? Is anaerobic workouts any good for long-distance
training? That comes from Christos005. Georgepenna28 says, "Is the best way to train by just doing
1500 meters daily?" Well, if you have got a long-distance swim, then I hate to break
it to you, you are going to have to spend a fair amount of time either in the pool or
doing some open water swimming. On the plus side, doing high mileage in the
pool is going to put less stress for your body than, say, doing a high-mileage in running.
Although you do still need to build it up gradually and make sure you incorporate plenty
of strength and conditioning especially focusing on making sure you can keep your shoulders
pain free. An answer to Christos005, your swim training doesn't need to be slow and
boring. You'll see Olympic marathon swimmers they'll be training for 5 and 10K swims still
doing some really tough anaerobic workouts in the pool. Alongside that, they're still
going to be completing a lot of aerobic mileage. Georgepenna28, I hate to be blunt here but
the answer is no. You really don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over again
because A, it's going to get really boring, but also your body isn't going to be able
to adapt and get stronger if you're just repeatedly doing the same session. You want to make sure
you mix things up, you do some short, faster stuff with some interval work, you do some
longer steady swims, and that'll just help keep you more interested and want to go to
the pool more often. If you want some specific training ideas, we've actually got a video
on three weekly essential swim workouts on GTN so go and check those out.
Our next question comes in from Hugosanchez616 who says, "Is arm cadence a thing? Is it important
to improve power to also improve cadence?" Well, arm cadence is a thing but it just comes
under a different label. It's either talked about as stroke rate or maybe strokes per
minute and sometimes even strokes per length depending on your coach but we tend to talk
about it as stroke rate here. The old school thought was, the longer the stroke rate the
better so the slower but that isn't necessarily so, especially if you watch open water professional
swimmers. You want to try and improve that stroke rate to get your arms moving around
quicker. It's finding that optimum of being able to
move around quickly but without slipping any of the water. It's a matter of balance when
it comes with the strength and stroke rate. You obviously want to improve your strength
at the same time but if your stroke rate gets too high, then you're going to be slipping
the water. You could be losing some of the catch at the front of the water or maybe you're
coming out too soon at the back and then you're basically wasting energy. I suggest practicing
it in training maybe short sections at a time. Popping some fins on is a good way to just
naturally make you go faster through the water and then you can help get your stroke rate
going quicker at the same time. Bear in mind increasing your stroke rate can
be quite fatiguing, so just take it in small chunks at a time. Next, we're going to look
at drills. We've got a question from Hashtagmattroberts says, "What are the must-do drills that even
the pros do?" Prasad_Wathare, "Best drill to correct breathing technique?" Well, there
are so many different drills out there for your stroke so I would suggest checking out
some of our drills-specific videos because I can't cover them all right now. You need
to identify the issues that you've got with your stroke, things you want to correct, and
then find a drill that's going to work for that. As for what the pros do, well, Lucy
Charles has actually done a video with us on her five pro-tips to swim faster and I
suggest checking that one out too. A lot of you don't have access to open water
much before a race. There's quite a few questions around this topic. Our first one from Mayan9979,
"How to practice open water in the swimming pool?" Then Trisportnicole says, "What's the
best way to practice sighting when you're limited to the pool?" Well, open water training
is actually a great way to spice up your normal training. It's a good idea if you can, find
some friends and you could maybe try swimming alongside each other in a closed environment
so you're replicating that mass start. Then maybe even do a drill when you're following
behind each other so you're drafting, which obviously makes it a bit easier when you're
actually behind someone. You can do it almost like a chain gang so
the person at the front peels off after each length and goes to the back so you could do
that with a fairly big group. Say you've got a swimming pool with a deep end or is just
deep enough that you can't touch the bottom, practice some open water starts. Just use
your imagination. There's quite a lot you can do but if you want some specific tips,
we've actually got a video on eight tips for training for open water in a swimming pool.
Check that out on our channel. If you want to focus on sighting, you can
simply pop something at the end of the lane that you need to lift your head up over through
your strokes and take a look at, or maybe it's even the clock and you can then use it
to help with your pacing. If you can, I'd suggest doing this with someone next to you
or a few of you. Again, it's replicating that open water scenario. Water polo is another
good drill that's going to help get you strong but also just get you practicing just getting
your eyes out of the water so you can do water polo but keeping your mouth in as to replicate
sighting. [music]
This next question is maybe a little bit more unique. It's from Hannahloisemil she says,
"I'm a strong swimmer. How much time should I spend on this discipline?" Well, Hannah,
it does depend on what you're training for. Say, you're doing a sprint or Olympic distance
race that's actually draft legal, the swim plays a far bigger part than it does in a
non-drafting, say, Ironman distance race where you don't need to worry about making the pack.
Say it is a race like that, then I would suggest just doing two or three swims a week and using
your energy and your time to focus on what might be your weaker disciplines, the bike,
and the run, because after all, the percentage of the swim in an Ironman is very much smaller
than the cycling and the running phase. Looking at session specifics, we've got a couple of
questions on this topic. This one from Ristri.2004, "Best training session for short and mid-distance
swimming in triathlon? DgluCente says, "Which is better, short intervals or long intervals
for the same distance workout?" Well, try to narrow it down to one swimming
session and it's pretty tough and obviously depends what distance your meaning, but let's
say you can take 400 meters if that was your race. I'm going to choose one of my favorites
and it's based around 50. Eight lots of 50 meters at race pace with 30 seconds rest after
each 50 and then follow that up with 100 meters super, super easy, and repeat that whole set
either once more through or twice depending on where you're at. It's a meaty one but if
you give it a go, do let me know how you get on, you do that in the comment section below.
An answer to DgluCente I would say mix it up. You don't really need to be sticking to
one or the other as it gives a variety to your training and it'd be working different
systems physically but also changing things mentally. After all of that, I'm actually
feeling quite inspired to go for a swim myself. That's quite a big thing that tells me. Thank
you guys for all of those questions. Hopefully, I've managed to answer some of yours today.
If there's been any point as you're going out to try, let us know how you get on with
those. Remember to check out the videos that I mentioned
for some specific tips and also on all our social media channels because we've often
got really short snippets of swim tips on there. Check those out, give them a follow
and a like. [00:10:01] [END OF AUDIO]