A Swim 1-1 Story
Some numbers from a 1-1 session recently.
9.10pm: 26 strokes per 25m
9:30pm: 18 strokes per 25m
10pm: Happy swimmer, happy coach!
What did we work on to achieve this?
Lifting The Legs
Firstly, reduce drag. Lift the legs.
Head position was nice and low, with some of his cap still showing. His hips were high in the water, with the top of the trunks breaking the surface of the water.
However, his legs were low, nowhere near the surface, dragging through the water.
I asked the swimmer to straighten and extend the legs, ‘locking them out’ a little, and pointing toes as best he could.
✅ Instant impact.
Keep Kick Narrow
Although his legs were now high in the water, he still had a tendency to kick wide, kicking out the side, again causing drag.
I asked him to focus on reducing the big knee bend kick that he had developed on his left side, and think about making the kick narrow, keeping legs close together.
He also thought a little about kick timing.
✅ Instant impact.
Longer, Stronger Strokes
We then thought about getting more from each stroke. A normal length saw this swimmer take 26 or 27 strokes. With his stroke rate, I reckoned he should be doing 21 or 22.
I asked him to focus on each pull, trying to get a bit more from it, and the very next length he takes 19 strokes with no loss of speed.
✅ Instant impact.
He then maintained this stroke length and stroke count (between 18 and 20 strokes for each length) until the end of the session.
Three Small Changes
Three little changes and this swimmer is sitting higher in the water, longer and narrower and therefore more streamlined, taking less strokes and feeling fresher.
Personally, I’m really pleased how quickly this swimmer took on board instructions and implemented them. This is one of the reasons why I love 1-1 sessions.
The trick now is to practice the skills we developed in this session and to try and make them second nature.
Great work!
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