Let’s clear the air here.  Everyone has uttered this phrase at some point in life. Whether it is working hard in school around exam season, starting a new job, or running the four corner spread with multiple kids, sports, and commitments. Time is the biggest issue that pops up in training. It doesn’t matter if […]

So combining a great kick and rotation, a swimmer will now be able to keep the elbow as the highest point during the recovery. In the stroke technique world, there is a lot of emphasis on a high elbow pull — but not necessarily, a high elbow recovery. Every fan, swimmer or coach has taken […]

Open communication between your children and their coach is fundamental in building a better relationship. How important is the relationship between your children and their swim coach? Coaches have such an impact on our kids’ lives. Our kids may look back on their coaches as some of the most influential people shaping their goals and […]

The bigger we are (more mass) and the faster we can rotate, the more energy we create to couple with the pull, and the faster we swim. All of the elite swimmers of the world rotate their bodies along the long axis, the axis that their body is moving down the pool, while swimming freestyle […]

One cannot sustain the pace well nor finish fast without providing enough oxygen to the body. Knowing how to pace a race appropriately is one of the most difficult aspects of competitive swimming. It goes against our very nature, particularly when we are excited and fresh at the start of each race, to hold back. […]

Every time you learn something new, accomplish a small task, or reach a new milestone, let that growth and improvement make you feel better about yourself and believe in what you’re capable of doing even more. There’s very much a connection between the mind, the body, and our physical actions where everything is interconnected and […]

Swimmers may see success and get best times in events they rarely swim. Also, they worked on specific things in practice like underwaters or breakouts. When swimmers focus on improving technique, their times will eventually get faster. The ever-dreaded plateau. It’s almost as bad as the “shank” in golf. I shanked every iron shot for […]

What are the three to four things that will impact your swimming the most? Is it your mental game? Your nutrition habits? Breathing patterns? Your turns? No matter our best intentions and motivations, inevitably we will face droughts in our swimming. Whether it is a long bout of training becoming inexorably draining, out-of-the-pool stuff becoming […]

Rarely do I ever find a drill that can teach a swimmer more than one fundamental at a time, but this drill does just that. Two of the most important ways of getting a faster backstroke is by reducing frontal drag and by increasing propulsive power. The one arm backstroke drill accomplishes both tasks. Rarely […]

A strong kick is a key to swim fast breaststroke. As much as 80% of a swimmer’s propulsion in breaststroke comes from the kick. Flexibility is a huge part of a swimmer’s ability. In freestyle, backstroke and fly there are two joints that require extraordinary flexibility in order to excel, the shoulders (particularly extension) and plantar […]