The only other swimmer I think has rivaled Phelps in technique is former world champion Alex Popov.

Popov held the 50m freestyle world record before the Fastskin suits were introduced. If your a sprinter or a long distance swimmer, Popov is the ideal person to model in your swimming. The video above gives a great explaination of the freestyle stroke.

If you want improve your freestyle technique then I highly recommend securing a copy of Mastering Freestyle Technique here. It’s a fast and easy way to become a good swimmer. I use the exact program with the swimmer’s I coach.

If there was one thing which if you could get right, you know your swimming would improve dramatically, what would it be? Leave a comment below and let me know!

I know when I was  first starting out I always had trouble finding a rhythm in freestyle. My stroke would constantly feel messy and I could never swim long distance events because I had no momentum. After much experimenting, I discovered the way to find a rhythm in freestyle is to choose a breathing pattern and stick to it. That doesn’t mean you MUST breath every 3rd stroke or every 4th stroke, it means whatever pattern you choose for one lap, you stick to it. For example in a 25 meter pool my breathing pattern is now 2/3/3/2 for one lap. I have found this to be the best rhythm for me.

So if there was one thing which if you could learn, you believe your swimming would improve dramatically, what would it be?

Leave your answer by leaving a comment below and I’ll do my best to get back to you

Happy swimming, Brent

I wanted to share something with you that I learnt on the weekend from Australian swimmer Sam Ashby. He came along to our Saturday training session and assisted with the coaching on the day. He ran through a number of drills which focused on one hugely important part of freestyle. I worked on this one thing during my own training session tonight and was swimming 2-3 seconds quicker per 100m than usual without increasing my energy output. I’m not kidding, so I had to write this for you ASAP!

Want to get the right body position in freestyle swimming? Body position is vitally important to a smooth and effortless swim stroke. It’s a key ingredient for swimmer who wants to take their speed and times to the next level. A greater improvement in overall swimming will come from correcting body position more than increasing fitness. Each training session work on swimming with the correct body position rather than exerting more effort in the pool. You will not only feel better in the water, but your technique will come more naturally and your times will improve with less effort. The are 3 steps to achieving a killer body position in swimming which will blow your competitors away:

1. Lengthen your body – The reason many swimmers hit a plateau is because they get too ‘caught up’ with where they should be pulling with their arms, how hard they should be kicking and many other ‘minor’ issues compared to their body position. The swimmers which focus too much on the other things usually aren’t lengthening out there body. The longer your body is in the water, the quicker it moves and the less resistance it creates. Think of your body as a long yacht which glides effortlessly through the water, and avoid being a big wide barge which is slow and cumbersome.

2. Rotate your shoulders – To move more easily through the water in freestyle, you must rotate your shoulders. No doubt you’ve been told to rotate in the water, but too often swimmers are told to rotate the entire body as they take each stroke. This is incorrect. Elite swimmers work on keeping their hips relatively still with only minor rotation. This allows the hips to generate a powerful kick and provides a strong core for the upper cody to leverage from. The shoulder should rotate to the point where the shoulder is out of the water as it is taking a stroke. This reduces frontal resistance and allows for a high elbow recovery which is a key part of freestyle.

3. Stay flat to the water – Resistance increases exponentially as you get faster. This is why it’s important to reduce your total resistance created by your body. Keep your body flat to the surface or slightly raised at the front, but don’t allow your hips and legs to sink. This creates resistance on your lower body and makes it difficult to swim faster. Remember, the easy way to swim faster is to reduce your resistance.

In your next session, why not focus on improving your body position by lengthening your body, rotating your shoulders and keeping your body flat to the surface. This will help you swim faster, smoother freestyle. Discover how to master freestyle technique and turn even the ugliest of strokes into smooth and efficient swimming. Sign-up right now Brenton Ford’s FREE online newsletter to find out exactly how to do that – Go here: http://www.effortless-swimming.com

In every stroke you reach long, feel the water, catch and then accelerate through the pull to the recovery. The hand and the arm move slower during the ‘reach and catch’ phase of the stroke, and is faster during the pull through.

A powerful stroke starts with an effective feel on the entry and then a strong catch. The catch is the phase of the stroke just before beginning the pull through. It is named the ‘catch’ phase because the aim is to ‘catch’ the most water with your hand and forearm as possible to achieve maximum hold of the water. Once you have got that strong catch, it’s the acceleration through the stroke which makes all the difference.

A mistake which beginner swimmers can often make is pulling through the water before reaching forward and ‘catching’ the water. Missing this step causes bubbles on the hand as the swimmer pulls through. This makes the stroke ineffective as the swimmer is pulling through air and not able to accelerate by holding the water with their hand and forearm. An important thing to note is the swimmer should not tense up during the pull through, but should instead keep the muscles relaxed and loose to gain maximum hold of the water.

The objective of the ‘catch’ phase of the stroke (between the hand entering and the pull through) is to reach forward which reduces drag, and to allow any air bubbles to leave the hand and forearm. For maximum effectiveness the the swimmer should begin the pull through once the bubbles have left the arm and forearm. Pulling through the water without bubbles on the hand can save a swimmer many seconds compared to a person who begins the pull through with bubbles on their hand. A swimmer will be more efficient in the water by pulling through after the bubbles have left their hand. This not only saves energy but it allows the swimmer to move a greater distance through the water with less strokes.

If you can master the slow to fast movement with the arms and combine this with a ‘no bubbles’ approach to pulling through, you can drastically improve your swimming. It’s important to practice these two disciplines until you get them right. It sure beats training harder and may allow you to improve your times with much less less effort.

1. Kick harder, pull harder and increase your stroke rate (the frequency of your strokes)

2. Improve your technique

The first option is what 99% of swimmers will do in order to speed up and move faster through the water. There is nothing wrong with this, in fact it’s required if you want to swim at your fastest. Though there is another side to the equation.

Kicking and pulling harder means you’ll tire quicker and lactic acid will kick in sooner than if you weren’t swimmer hard. There is a limit to how long you can swim at a faster pace if you’re working harder in order to swim quicker. There is an easier way to increase swim speed. You can improve your technique.

Improving your technique is not only easier than trying harder, it’s also a lot smarter! Learning to swim with great technique is important because:

• It reduces your frontal resistance – Resistance is what stops most swimmers from improving. Your body creates enormous resistance against the water, and the faster you travel in water the resistance increases exponentially.
• You can swim faster for longer – Let’s face it, excellent swimming technique might be hard to achieve if you’re not taught correctly, but I can tell you swimming with bad technique is MUCH harder. Once you learn how to swim correctly, you’ll be able to maintain a faster speed for double or triple the amount of time otherwise.
• You’ll feel 100x better – If you can master swimming technique swimming becomes incredibly fun because you’re confidence in the water will skyrocket, you’ll be lapping people over and over again and best of all you’ll have loads more energy in the water.
• You’ll look 100x better – It’s no secret that great swimming technique is awesome to watch. Watching an experienced swimmer glide effortlessly up and down the pool is like watching an eagle in flight. They are graceful, eloquent yet powerful in action.

There are two ways to swim faster. You can try harder by exerting more energy, or you can improve your swimming technique. One is the easy way, one is the hard way. By putting the two together gives magical results which can only be achieved by first learning correct swimming technique.

Discover how to master freestyle technique and turn even the ugliest of strokes into smooth and efficient swimming. Sign-up right now Brenton Ford’s FREE online newsletter to find out exactly how to do that — Go here: http://www.effortless-swimming.com

Here are 3 important tips to remember when it comes to achieving excellent swimming technique which will help you break those bad habits once and for all:

1. Keep your body long – Swimming technique must always be kept long, with the swimmer extending their arms, head and shoulders forward while keeping their legs, feet and hips streamlined behind them. The longer your body is kept throughout the stroke, the faster your body will travel through the water. Picture your body as a thin, long yacht gliding through the water and not a big, wide barge which uses enormous amounts of energy to move forward.

2. Treat the water as your friend, don’t fight it – Often swimmers will thrash about in the water in an attempt to pull themselves through it at all costs. They will be splashing, kicking and fighting against the water in an effort to go faster. Good swimmers will use the water as their friend by allowing the natural buoyancy of their body in the water to sit high and streamlined in the water. Rather than pulling hard against the water, power in swimming comes from smooth and efficient movements.

3. Relax your muscles, relax your breathing – A tense swimmer is like a broomstick trying to bend. The key to great swimming technique to be able to relax both your muscles and your breathing. Our body’s natural instinct is to tense up our muscles to pull and kick faster, but in reality this slows us down. Unfortunately this is what slows a swimmer down in the water. Relax and let your body glide through the water for efficient and effective swimming. And it’s a whole lot easier once you get it right!

Swimming with great technique shouldn’t be a struggle. Reduce your frontal resistance by keeping the body long and streamlined like a torpedo throughout the stroke. Work with the water by using it’s buoyancy to your advantage and most importantly relax to go faster, don’t tense up. Follow these simple tips and you will be well on your way to swimming with excellent technique

Here is a list of five tips to help you swim like an Olympian:

1. Don’t train to get fit, train to achieve perfect technique: Everyone must start out by first getting technique right, and then progressing on to improving fitness. If you’re focus isn’t on swimming with correct technique from the beginning, any training you do will not help you for the long-term.
2. Find a coach or mentor: An unwritten law of swimming is ‘whatever it feels like you’re doing in the water, you’re probably doing the exact opposite’. The quickest way to get better at swimming is to have a qualified person give you feedback on your technique. Coaches can be found locally or found online. Many online coaches can give you feedback on your technique if you email a video of yourself to them.

3. Educate yourself: Just like a doctor studies medicine to become a good doctor, to become good at swimming you must study it also. It is much cheaper than a college education though! To achieve correct technique you need to watch the DVD’s, read the books and buy the programs which teach it.

4. Find a training partner: Training with a partner or a group of people makes swimming a lot more enjoyable. It also increase how hard you train and how far you swim because time will go by much quicker. It has been proven that running with another person increases your pace by 18% compared to when you run alone. I’m sure it is no different when in the pool. Find someone who is faster and fitter than you, as this will help you rise to their level rather than take the easy road.

5. Never quit: Becoming a good swimmer doesn’t happen overnight. It can take a few weeks to really change your technique, and many months to see a noticeable improvement in your fitness. The key is to be consistent and train regularly. If you train for 3 days in a row and then take a week off, you can’t expect to see results. You must be consistent with it and always focus on practicing the right technique.

When I was a little kid, sculling was one of the the first things I was taught after I’d learnt the basics of floating, kicking and breathing. At the time, it felt like sculling wasn’t a beneficial exercise and I was never told why we did it. After 12 years, I finally discovered why it’s such an important drill to do, especially in the week leading up to a race.

Before an important race or competition, swimmers will taper for 5-10 days. Tapering means to reduce the volume of training so the body can rest and recover in order to perform at it’s peak. When swimmers taper they become prone to losing the ‘feel’ of the water because they have gotten so used to swimmer regularly. As they taper they swim less and their body can find it difficult to ‘remember’ the correct technique. Sculling is the solution to this.

‘Front scull’ is the most common sculling technique. It is performed on the front with the swimmer facing the bottom of the pool. The swimmer should put their arms in front of their head and scull in and out with their hand and forearm in a sweeping motion. The hands should be bent downwards slightly at the wrist in order for the swimmer to move forward. The upper arm should remain still while the forearm is moving side to side. During the out sweep the thumbs should be facing down and during the in sweep the thumbs should be facing up. Depending on a swimmers ability, they may want to do this drill with fins if they are a beginner. Amateurs should do the drill without fins and more advanced swimmers should use a pull buoy to isolate the arms.

Sculling is important because allows the swimmer to become familiar with the initial catch position of the stroke they are practising for. In ‘front scull’, the sculling is performed at the initial ‘catch’ position of the freestyle, butterfly and breaststroke strokes. By getting the initial catch correct in these strokes, it sets up the swimmer for a powerful pull through and helps overall with their stroke.

Practising sculling in training and leading up to a competition can help a swimmer maintain the all important ‘feel’ for the water. ‘Front scull’ helps a swimmer practice the correct position for the initial catch in freestyle, butterfly and breaststroke. This is vitally important so the swimmer can develop power in their stroke. Sculling is a simple drill to perform which if practiced for a few minutes each training session, can greatly improve a swimmers ‘feel’ for the water.

The prospect of swallowing water can stop people from learning swimming as it can all seem too difficult after they’ve given it a shot three or four times. If you are having breathing problems in your swimming, don’t despair. There is an easy solution which can be implemented right away. Here I will outline the three keys to overcoming breathing problems in swimming.

1. Breathing out

The most important aspect of breathing technique is the breath out. The reason most swimmers choke on water is because they blow out all of their air too early or too late. The swimmer should breath to the side of the recovery arm (the arm which is out of the water) and take a big breath of air. As the head enters the water, begin blowing a small amount of air out of both the nose and the mouth. Continue doing this until just before you take your next breath. As you go to breath again let all your air out quickly through your nose and mouth just before you take that next breath. Remember that last sentence and your breathing problems should be fixed.

2. Rotation

To breath effectively it’s necessary to breath to the side. The easiest way to do this is to rotate the shoulders throughout the freestyle stroke. This makes it easier to get the mouth out of the water so not as much head rotation is required. Use your body roll and momentum to help rotate your head when breathing.

3. Stay relaxed

A secret to effortless swimming, not just effortless breathing, is to stay relaxed. Too often swimmers will tense up, hyperventilate and force themselves through the water. This isn’t how to swim fast. You must stay relaxed, keep calm and allow yourself to glide through the water. During your breathing, keep calm and allow yourself to breath normally without forcing air in and out.

There you have it, three important tips which will help you breath easier in freestyle. Remember to let all of your air out quickly through your nose and mouth just before you take a breath. Use your body roll and momentum to help rotate your head when breathing, and stay relaxed and breath normally though out the stroke.

There are two keys to correct kicking technique in swimming. Swimmers must point their feet down (pointing in the opposite direction to where they want to go) and they must turn their feet and big toe inwards. Most swimmers will get the first point correct without being shown because it happens naturally during the kick, however the second point is something which needs to be learned.

By pointing the feet and big toes inwards (towards the centre line of the body) it increases the area of the feet which is used to generate propulsion and it increases the ankle flex of swimmer during the kicking motion (without needing to increase your ankle flexibility!). The feet and legs should remain ‘relaxed’ throughout the kick as this helps with leg flexibility.

Swimmers who are able to understand and apply the principle of turning the feet inwards will experience a much more powerful kick in each of the four competitive strokes. It may appear too simple an answer to the kicking problems which so many swimmers experience, but it is the first step to correcting kicking in swimming.