Swimming Made Easy will completely transform how you move through the water. Beautiful strokes are within the reach of every swimmer, no matter your age, strength, fitness, or experience. SME explains that fast, fluent, effortless swimming depends far more on how cleverly you avoid drag and work with the water than on how long or hard you train.
AfterwordThis book has been intended to have one enduring focus: a process for learning to swim all four strokes better. Its sole goal is to make you a more efficient and economical swimmer. As you follow the process sketched out here, it’s my hope that you’ll also discover how to:
- Experience enjoyment with every stroke you take
- Use the ongoing process of refining the art of swimming to also improve your ability to use your mind and body in complete harmony
- Gain a sense of confidence and clarity in how you use your pool time to produce constant improvement and learning.
Most of the process I have described has involved the use of stroke drills to refine skills and heighten awareness. At some point it is necessary to include whole-stroke swimming as your practice mode, to develop and polish the whole skill. Whole-skill practice is integral to developing the seamless integration needed to perform the strokes with any sort of intensity—i.e. to race successfully.
I have intentionally not mentioned the training process in this book because I want to draw a clear distinction between the two parts of preparation to swim better. The first and most critical step is to learn to move with coordination, control and fluency and to allow those movements to progress toward becoming habits. The second part—and the one which will ultimately have much less impact on how well you swim—is to build the fitness, endurance and strength to be able to move like that for longer periods at higher speeds.
So I would like to suggest a new definition of swimming endurance. Because you can waste far more energy through inefficient movement than you could ever provide through workouts, think of swimming endurance as: the ability to repeat efficient swimming movements for a duration of your choosing, at a range of speeds, stroke rates and heart rates.
The best way to make that happen is to focus mainly only two things when you begin practicing whole-stroke swimming:
- How good the movements feel.
- How efficiently you are moving.
For the first, refer to the guidelines for each stroke provided below, but also consider this: Your body has a highly-developed sense for distinguishing between desirable and undesirable movements; efficient movement always feels better. If someone tells you, for instance, that you can’t possibly swim freestyle well while looking at the bottom, that you have to hold your head high to ride high, put it to the test. Swim a short distance with your head in line with your spine. Then swim a similar distance with your head held higher and compare how each feels. Your body knows; learn to trust it. And don’t be afraid to do things wrong now and again, perhaps even purposefully. It can only help to develop your internal compass to a more discriminating instrument.
For the second, get in the habit of counting strokes, whenever you are not focusing on one of the kinesthetic sensations described below. For stroke-counting, remember, your goal is not to maximize your Stroke Length (i.e. reduce your strokes-per-length inexorably towards zero), but to optimize it. In other words, to find the style of swimming that allows you to swim with a controlled and consistent stroke count with the least effort. As your practice increases control and consistency and reduces effort, you’ll be able to increase your SL -- or to increase your SR a bit without giving up too much SL -- (i.e. go a bit faster without a serious increase in stroke count.) Developing this ability to freely move your stroke count up and down a bit while maintaining control and fluency is a key skill in improving your readiness to begin more serious and ambitious training.
HOW THE STROKE SHOULD FEEL
When you move from practicing drills to swimming the whole stroke, what kind of stroke will that be?
FISHLIKE FREESTYLE
Start with a long, sleek, balanced bodyline. Slice through the water with a shape that is as close to needle-like as possible at all moments, even while stroking. Use your hands to make your needle-shape longer and to hold onto your place in the water. Move faster by rolling that long, slippery vessel back and forth faster.
How to Know if You’ve Got It Right
Body/Head Position
- Feel as if a thin film of water could wash over the back of your head at any time.
- Lead with the top of your head, not your nose. Always see the bottom directly under you and not very much that’s in front of you.
- Swim "downhill" by leaning on your chest; shifting that pressure from side to side with your body roll.
- Slip a long, clean bodyline through the smallest possible "hole" in the water.
- Use rhythmic weight shifts to provide rhythm, tempo, and power.
Arms
- Lengthen your body with weightless arms
- Slide your arm into the water as if into a sleeve; continue extending until your shoulder touches your jaw, just below your ear.
- "Switch" your hands in front of your head with the same feeling of the "switch" drills.
- Anchor your hand and hold on to the water as if you were pulling your body past a rung on a ladder. (Use Fistgloves frequently to heighten your ability to feel this sensation without the gloves on.)
- Avoid arm churning; let body rhythms drive your stroke. Try to make the speed of your hands match the speed of your body.
Legs
- Kick with a long, supple line; keep legs inside your wake or "shadow."
- Your kick should not be hard or overt unless you are sprinting.
FISHLIKE BACKSTROKE
Just as in freestyle, a fishlike backstroke is swum mainly on the side. Because power and leverage are limited when you’re "upside down and going backwards," it's even more important to be "slippery." To swim faster, roll your long, slippery vessel back and forth faster ("Move your belly button faster") rather than churning your arms faster. Keep your body position very stable by keeping your head completely still. You can reinforce this by occasionally drilling or swimming with a half-filled water bottle on your forehead.
How to Know if You’ve Got It Right
Body/Head Position
- Stay slippery and balanced. Lean on your upper back as you rotate from side to side.
- Roll both shoulders clear of the water on every stroke cycle to maximize body roll.
- If you are balanced, each rotation will also bring a "dry patch of thigh" clear of the water.
- Hide your head, keeping it slightly tucked and fixed.
Legs
- Kick with a long, supple leg, with no knee bend and feet toed-in slightly.
- Your kick rotates as your body rolls; the beat is generally more steady than in freestyle.
- Keep your legs inside your body's "shadow."
Arms
- Keep the recovering arm straight but relaxed. ("Reach for the ceiling.")
- Emphasize a long bodyline as your hand slices cleanly and deeply into the water.
- Hold the water with your hand, then throw water toward your feet. (Fistgloves can be more valuable in backstroke than any other stroke.)
- Keep arms exactly opposite each other and linked to body-roll rhythms.
FISHLIKE BUTTERFLY
Stay long, low, and relaxed. The secret of efficient, effortless butterfly is to stay close to the surface at all times; don’t fight gravity! Keep your head, hands, and shoulders as close to the surface as possible on the stroke and recovery. Imagine you are swimming under a very low ceiling. Breathe forward, not up, keeping your head in a neutral position. Sweep the arms (on recovery), and land forward (after recovery). The deeper you dive on the re-entry, the shorter will be your body-line and the steeper you will have to climb back out
Next in importance is to keep your head aligned with your spine and to look down slightly throughout the stroke. Breathe without raising or jutting your chin; breathe inside the line of the stroke. Drill and swim with little or no overt kick. Your legs should be driven by body movement -- chest pulses -- not by thigh muscles. Bottom line: Swim butterfly with your body, not with your arms and legs.
How to Know if You’ve Got It Right
Body/Head Position
- Maintain a long, balanced, supple bodyline.
- Swim as close to the surface – both above and below – as possible; channel your energy forward, not up and down.
- Keep your head as close as possible to a neutral position at all times; use a "sneaky breath."
Legs
- Minimize overt kicking and leg bend; let the legs follow core-body undulation.
Arms
- Land forward on entry; don’t hammer down or dive down after recovery.
- Anchor hands at corners then move your body over your hands.
- Sweep the hands in high on your chin, then immediately flare them out for a "karate-chop" exit.
- Recover the arms in a relaxed, sweeping motion.
Breathing
- Breathe early in the pull, without raising or jutting the chin.
- Look down slightly ("sneaky" breath).
FISHLIKE BREASTSTROKE
Stay long and streamlined. The single most important thing you can do to maximize stroke efficiency is streamline your entire body as you finish each stroke. Use your arms to lengthen your body, whether for just a split second in a sprint or slightly longer when swimming a longer distance. The second critical aspect of breaststroke efficiency is a neutral head position. Keep your head aligned with your spine during and after each breath; if you raise or jut your chin during the breath or thrust it down after the breath, you'll compromise your bodyline, stroke length, and power.
Always think forward as you swim breaststroke. Pull forward, breathe forward, land forward, and kick forward. Lead the forward thrust with your fingertips. Where they go, your body will follow. Except during the underwater pull, your hands never push water toward your feet. The breast pull is exclusively out-and-in sweeps leading to a strong forward-attacking drive.
How to Know if You’ve Got It Right
Body/Head Position
- Maintain a long, streamlined, balanced bodyline.
- Look down slightly as you breathe, and keep your head in line with your spine.
- Breathe with body lift (on the insweep), not by lifting your chin. (Imagine you’re wearing a neck brace.)
- Keep a constant Short Axis "body-rocking" rhythm. A slower rhythm when swimming slowly. To swim faster, undulate your chest and hips faster.
Legs
- "Sneak" the legs up, inside the "hole" made by your core-body, on recovery.
- Turn your heels in, toes out and "grab" as much water as possible at beginning of kick, then push the water back with a somewhat ovoid motion.
- At the finish, point your toes, "clap" your feet, and squeeze all the water out from between your legs.
Arms
- Keep your pull compact and quick; it’s better to have it be too small than too big.
- Always keep hands where you can see them. Keep them as far forward as possible during every phase of the pull.
- Sweep your hands to the corners, then spin them directly back to meet in front.
Timing
- Reach full extension in every stroke.
- Help your recovery timing by kicking your hands forward.
- Your hands should reach full extension at the same moment your face is back in the water.
- Adjust your rhythm in the core, not in your arms and legs.