Topics related to how swimming can improve fitness and wellness
Many adult swimmers head to the pool with good intentions: swim a few laps, get a workout in, and maybe try to go a little farther than last time. While this routine builds general fitness, it doesn’t always lead to measurable improvement. Without structured swim workouts, it’s easy to plateau…
Many adults can swim but find it tiring, awkward, or frustrating. The secret isn’t more laps — it’s refining your stroke technique. Stroke improvement training breaks the stroke into manageable steps, helping adults move through the water with less effort and more enjoyment. Chicago Blue Dolphins provides the adult stroke…
Drills aren’t just for kids. In fact, adults often see the biggest breakthroughs when complex strokes are broken down into smaller pieces — balance, breathing, recovery — and then rebuilt into smooth, confident swimming. Why Drills Matter Swimming has too many moving parts to fix all at once. Trying to…
We’ve been teaching adults how to swim from scratch for over 20 years, and the most common thing that we hear is that new swimmers are timid about going to the pool to practice. It makes a lot of sense. You are scared of the water, all of the skills…
The Balance-Streamline-Propel (BSP) Pyramid is about as a close to a unifying icon that the Total Immersion school of swim coaching has in its repertoire. Terry Laughlin, the founder of Total Immersion Swimming, referred to the elements of the pyramid for over 30 years. When he created the icon several…
“Coach Fitz, how long will it take me to learn to swim?” I get that question from prospective adult clients at Chicago Blue Dolphins over and over again. Most adults get their minds set on a far off end goal of swimming a mile of freestyle with rhythmic breathing over…
I was doing one of the long distance swim training practices that I’ve been writing for my triathletes yesterday, and the main set called for a 1,500 yard aerobic swim. It was a recovery week, so I thought a longer swim would help work out the kinks and help to…
I was checking out my company’s Facebook page this morning and saw that my office manager had posted an article entitled “3 Reasons You Should Be Doing More Kick.” To preempt any comments such as “I’m a triathlete. I thought that I wasn’t supposed to kick.”, I thought I would put…
I’ve had some conversations with some of my swimmers recently about swimming “effortlessly.” When we use the term “effortless” we are using it in the sense of the Taoist term, wu wei. Wu wei is an complicated philosophical concept debated for around 2,500 years, so I will apologize up…
A few months ago, I was asked at a talk how to use a Tempo Trainer effectively in a swim practice. For those not familiar with Tempo Trainers, they are little plastic discs that can clip to your goggles or go under your cap when you swim. You can set…
