Posts about swimming technique and mechanics
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…
Every year, our adult learn to swim classes in Chicago help adults take their first confident strokes—some in their 20s, others in their 60s and beyond. Whether your goal is fitness, safety, or pure enjoyment, you can learn to swim at any age. Start With Comfort, Not Speed Before laps,…
Do you want your child to not only feel safe in the water, but also thrive as a confident swimmer?Swimming isn’t something kids master in a single lesson—it’s a journey. At Chicago Blue Dolphins, we guide that journey step by step, giving your child the skills, confidence, and love of…
As a swim coach it pains me to say: No triathlon was ever won in the swim leg. But a triathlon can be ruined by a bad swim. If you feel like your swim mechanics are a performance limiter, start working on your swimming mechanics now rather than in the spring. …
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…
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…
Many of you ask questions about integrating the kick into the timing of the stroke. Click the image to the left to read an article written by a Total Immersion colleague of mine, Stuart McDougall. It’s a great introduction to the issues related to timing the kicks with the strokes…
I was going through my stack of swimming rags yesterday, and I came across an interesting analysis of the straight-arm recovery in freestyle in Swimming World’s December, 2014 issue (“Freestyle Straight-Arm Recovery” by Rod Havriluk). The article’s main intent is to put to the test the conventional wisdom that a…
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…
