10 Swim skills – not drills

Mindset is everything if we can remove those perceived barriers to improvement the floodgates can potentially open and breakthroughs made. So how can we re-frame our swimming away from drills and into skills?

The Tri Training Harder Tagline is : “Believe. Strive. Achieve.” How do we work on the first bit: the belief? All triathletes have some form of athletic identity and type. How many types of swimmer have you come across in conversation?

The ones that say;

I’m rubbish at swimming
I don’t like/hate swimming
I don’t swim well in open water
I’m considering duathlon
My technique isn’t very good
I’ve got short arms/small hands
I haven’t got enough time for swimming
I can’t make my club swims
Swimming is really hard
Swimming is too complicated
I don’t understand how to swim
I don’t get it
I can’t improve no matter what I do…

The list goes on and on and more often than not the solution is simple: STOP saying all of the above!!! Self-Talk is incredibly influential on your mindset and attitude towards things. It is absolutely possible to talk yourself out of (or into) something: so stop. Instead describe yourself as:

A developing swimmer
An improving swimmer
I’m learning to love the water
I know if I keep applying myself I will improve with patience and time
Or just dodge the question and log the motivation in your memory bank… I’ll show them.

They may sound a little silly in places but ‘wow’ – what a difference. An athlete saying these things might laugh a little, they might smile and have a chuckle with friends. The previous swimmer is downcast and pessimistic…This ends up being a fairly helpless spiral and difficult to change without any intrinsic motivation. Positive self-talk is a good starting point.

Another great way to improve is by learning a new skill to help you identify as a capable swimmer. After all who doesn’t want to be able to dive, tumble turn, swim butterfly, backstroke and breast stroke like those great swimmers over there? (You can learn a little more about diving here.)

Below I have written a list of other skills that aren’t frequently practiced by many in a progression from most basic to most complex.

Streamlined Push and Glide - If this can’t be achieved with arms touching ears complete log rolls with arms at side.
Streamlined Log Roll Front to Back (Counter clockwise and clockwise)
Sink Down
Backstroke - with horizontal body position (when viewed from the side) with clear shoulder to hip rotation.
Backstroke to Freestyle mid length and vice-versa
Touch Turn
Forward Roll
Tumble Turn
Diving from deck level or small ledge
Butterfly Kick with streamlined arms

Log Rolls from front back also useful for tight buoy turns.

Ten skills to work on: can you do all of them?

Imagine if you could, your identity as a swimmer would change for the better. The impact on your front crawl swimming would be positive as your skill in the water would increase because all of the skills require a degree of coordination and physical understanding of the water environment. Note that all of these have been picked as they have a direct impact on your ability to train and possess a strong front crawl stroke. See below:

Streamlined Push and Glide - a strong and taut torso from fingertip to tippy toe
Streamlined Log Roll Front to Back (CCW + ACW) - the basic building blocks of torso led rotation
Sink Down - buoyancy awareness control and comfort in water
Backstroke - increased importance of rotation, beneficial for mobility warm up/cool down
Backstroke to Freestyle - rotation
Touch Turn with glide - continuous nature of training, tautness from turn carried into stroke
Forward Roll - building block for Tumble Turn, coordination improvement. Potentially useful for comfort in Open Water.
Tumble Turn - continuous nature of training, tautness carried into stroke, coordination and agility in water.
Diving from deck level or small ledge - water entries for racing, free acceleration, really cool photos!
Butterfly Kick with streamlined arms - acceleration underwater, useful in open water to enter or exit water (under waves), trunk stability and control.

Happy swimming!

We’re here to help

Tri Training Harder are one of the leading Triathlon coaching providers in the UK, using our wealth of experience to unite scientific and technological research with already well-established and successful best practices, to create a formula for triathlon and endurance coaching that works.

The result is an honest, dynamic, yet simple new way of constructing an athlete’s training to allow them to reach their potential.

If you’re planning your next season, just starting out in the sport or are looking for extra guidance at the very top end of the field, we are here to help, and our coaches would be delighted to hear from you. You can contact us via the website, and one of the team will be in touch.

Alan WardJanuary 20, 2020Triathlon, Coaching, SwimmingComment

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10 Swim skills – not drills

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Believe. Strive. Achieve.