We chat with Terry Laughlin from Total Immersion. Terry  has developed a method of improving your swimming that has helped hundreds of thousands of swimmers and triathletes worldwide to swim smoother. He’s an expert at helping people fix the weaknesses in their stroke so they can move naturally through the water with grace and ease. In our chat with Terry he talks about:

• How he improved the speed of swimmers in the ‘slow lane’ to being much closer to that of the ‘fast lane’ swimmers
• Using the feel of the water to increase your speed rather than thinking technically about the stroke
• The one thing you should focus on with your head position for more relaxed swimming

You can find out more about Terry’s Total Immersion workshops, DVD’s and books at www.TotalImmersion.net and they’re also available on Amazon.

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.

We rotate for a few reasons. It is important because it reduces the amount of drag our body creates in the water. Does it waste energy going side to side? It does and it doesn’t. Rotation does use energy (only a small amount) however we are using the momentum of our stroke to get from one side to the other. Also, by rotating it allows you to anchor your hand in the water and to move past that anchor much faster and easier than you would by swimming flat. Thus faster swimming!

How far should I rotate? Depending on your ability, most elite swimmers will rotate to about 45 degrees. This doesn’t mean you can’t! It may take some practice before you get this angle comfortably, but it is worth the effort once you do. Long distance swimmers generally rotate more than a sprinter would. If you are racing a triathlon or more than 400 meters in the water, work hard to rotate as much as possible for a longer stroke. During sprinting, it is best to limit your rotation slightly in exchange for a higher stroke rate.

What is the best way to work on my rotation outside of the pool? The best way is to increase your core strength (abdominal strength). This is good news! For guys it means you get to work on that six pack abs, and girls get will see a flatter stomach doing these exercises. The best methods for increasing core strength are prone hold and pilates. Prone hold is simple and can be done before bed each night, and pilates is an excellent way to improve your swimming muscles.

An important point in body rotation: Make sure your hips and shoulders stay connected. This requires a strong core as we mentioned earlier. Your shoulders should rotate with your hips and should move at the same time. It can work best by concentrating on moving your hips first and your shoulders second.

In swimming, effective propulsive movements are SLOW to FAST.

In every stroke you reach long, feel the water, catch and then accelerate through the pull to the recovery.

A powerful stroke starts with an effective feel on the entry and then a strong catch. Once you have got that strong catch, it’s the acceleration through the stroke which makes all the difference.

A big mistake which amateur swimmers too often make is they pull through the water before they have reached long and ‘caught’ 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 catch.

During the ‘catch’ phase of the stroke (between the hand entering and the pull through) the main objective is to reach long to reduce drag, and to allow the air bubbles to leave the hand and forearm. Once they have left, the swimmer can begin the pull through with maximum effectiveness. The difference between pulling through without bubbles on the hand compared to pulling through with bubbles is many seconds difference.

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 worth practicing the two disciplines until you get them right. It sure beats training harder and may allow you to improve your times with less effort.

As most people know, freestyle is the fastest stroke, most efficient stroke, as the body maintains a streamlined position with the arms and legs are able to apply constant propulsive forces. The arms perform an alternating action while the legs perform a continuous flutter movement.

Body Position

The body position needs to be streamlined and kept ‘long’ with the arms extending above the head to lengthen the body even further. The back and the legs are remain straight except during the flutter kick.

Head Position

The water line should meet at the top of the head and the head should be kept down at all times. The eyes should look down to the bottom of the pool and not ahead. Doing so will keep the body streamlined and reduce the frontal resistance. If the head is looking forward, the legs, hips and torso will sink, increasing frontal resistance.

Body Roll

Body roll in begins with the arm action. The whole body rotates along its long axis when the hand enters the water in front of the head. This rolling action increases the power of the stroke by introducing the core (stomach) muscles into the stroke. The hips and the shoulders should remain in line as the body rotates. Freestyle should be thought of as swimming by alternating from side to side, not swimming on your front.

Hand Entry

The hand should enter the water forward of the head and between the midline of the body and a parallel line from the shoulders. The first part of the arm to enter should be the fingertips, and the elbow should be kept higher than the forearm and hand. The forearm should be at around 30 degrees with the water. The arm should be about 2/3 extended when hand enters the water. The rest of the extension occurs underwater after the entry.

Some common errors on entry

1. Hand at rotated to 90 degrees on entry – reduces ability to pull and increases injury risk

2. Extending fully before entering – creates bubbles on hand during pull through

3. Entering too early – drag is increased and momentum is lost

Pull Through

The ‘catch’ phase begins with the front hand while the opposite hand releases the water. The wrist should be flexed outward, downward and backward in order to expose the palm and forearm to the water. As the elbow starts to flex, the hand should sweep downward and slightly outward. Two keys to a successful pull are to get a strong catch with the water and maintain a high elbow position when the hand pulls past the head and shoulders.

The hand should continue to sweep down towards the midline of the body and then upward and in close to the lower chest. The hand should accelerate throughout the entire pull phase in order to gain maximum speed.

The last propulsive phase is sweeping the hand backward, upward and outward.

Kick

Kick begins from the hip and the upper leg muscles. The legs remain primarily in line with the body with the ankles flexed but relaxed so that the big toe on each foot should turn towards each other. Flexibility and loose feet and ankles is the best way for an easy and efficient kicking technique.

There are two speeds of kicking known as six-beat and two-beat kick. Six-beat kick is when the swimmer performs three downward beats per arm stroke. Two-beat kick is when the swimmer performs one downward beat per arm stroke. Both kicks are advantageous in their own right. Six-beat kick provides more speed while two-beat kick is more energy saving and better for longer distance.

Breathing

Breathing should be a part of the body roll. The face should turn with the body and breathe when the opposite hand enters the water. Breath in when this hand pushes back and your opposite arm is recovering. The face should turn back into the water while the recovery arm moves past the face.