Topics related to how swimming can improve fitness and wellness
I took off in the middle of the day to do my swim today. I wanted to play around with some Tempo Trainer sets in this practice and see how I would do. If you are interested, you can see the detail on the practice on our website. For those…
My office manager forwarded on an article from “Chicago Parent” on the use of swim noodles in swim classes. I was about to write a blog post that swim tools don’t teach, teachers do. I was going to take a triathlete angle and pick on my favorite enemies, the hand paddle…
So what do you think about when you are doing your swim training or lap swimming? If it’s not about how you are actually moving through the water and the quality of your movement, you are missing out on a tremendous opportunity to improve and to enjoy your swimming. Total…
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…
