Topics related to how swimming can improve fitness and wellness
Thank you to our Facebook fan, Sue Stewart, for sending us this link to an article describing the dangers of letting your children swim around boats docked within a marina. The article tells us that current leaking into the water from appliances on the boats can electrocute swimmers, or cause…
One of the best ways to improve your freestyle is to incorporate “fist” swimming into your practices. Of course, you would never know this because all of my swimmers groan or mutter profanities under their breath whenever I assign it at swim practice. If you read most triathlon books or…
Want to become a faster swimmer and enjoy swimming more? Start by figuring out how to swim effectively in the water rather than immediately trying to build up your training volume. The reason that it’s more important to focus on how you swim rather than how far or how hard you swim…
Our students and parents always ask us where they can swim and practice outside of classes. While joining a health club is always an option, Chicago is a super cool city because the Chicago Park District has indoor and outdoor pools in nearly every neighborhood that have family, open, and…
I was working with a client this morning and we were talking about swimming on the back. New swimmers have some discomfort with swimming on the back because (a) they can’t see where they are going and don’t want to hit the wall, and (b) they can’t swim straight and…
One of my clients sent me a link to an article in Triathlon Competitor magazine called Do you know your Ape Index? The article talks about how arm length can affect your cadence — short arms yields a higher cadence and long arms yields a lower cadence. He asked me if…
I was reading through the Total Immersion Coaches Manual and came across a helpful chart. It provides a general stroke count range based on the height of the swimmer. A couple of caveats: 1) If your count is above the range, don’t think that you have to start swimming in…
To help you track your swimming yardage during the Holiday Fitness Challenge, we suggest using the US Masters Swimming Fitness Log, or FLOG. This program can track for multiple types of workouts and fitness memberships. And it’s FREE with your USMS membership. Here are the steps you can follow to…
I got this email from a client this week: “Hey John, thanks for quick tip. I purchased the Tempo Trainer from the CBD site. Should have it soon. I have been reading some of the documentation on the TT…but still not sure about what my ideal stroke rate is.” Here’s…
Finis Swimmer Snorkel We want to encourage all of our swimmers to purchase a Swimmer Snorkel this fall and bring it to practice on a regular basis. We’ve found in our teaching that the snorkel is an incredible tool for working on swimming mechanics without being encumbered by the…
