How to Be an Excellent Swimmer
Choose high quality practice over high quantity., Glide between each stroke., Control your breathing., Focus on your stroke count.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Choose high quality practice over high quantity.
Some skills require repetition to get just right, but in swimming, it does no good to swim dozens of laps if you are not using proper technique.
Your practice should focus on perfecting your stroke technique rather than on swimming the most and fastest laps possible.Swimming slow makes it easier to notice what part of your stroke needs work.
Swimming fast may make it seem like your stroke is fine even if it isn’t.
It is also easier to perfect your technique without worrying about making the fastest times.
Faster speeds will come with improved technique, but you can’t improve technique by swimming faster. -
Step 2: Glide between each stroke.
You may think that the best swimmers are constantly transitioning from stroking with one arm to stroking with the next, but it is actually better to glide for about a second in between strokes.
Gliding helps you transition by giving you time to ready your other arm.
The best way to glide is to let your stroke arm remain extended briefly, for about 1 second, before you pull it through the water to your side.
While you glide, you should continue to kick from the hips as you do during a stroke.
During the glide, you should exhale under the water slowly. , Because swimming is continuous, having exceptional breathing is important.
A good technique is to exhale, under the water, on every third stroke.
This allows you rotate which side of your body you exhale toward.
Constantly gasping for breath will distract you and slow you down.When you exhale underwater, your eyes should be focused on a point at the bottom of the pool.
Keeping your eyes straight down helps keep your head in one place.
Plus, exhaling underwater makes it so you only need to inhale when your mouth is above the water.
Learn to inhale in the trough, or pocket, made by each stroke.
This pocket is made by the top of your head as it moves through the water.
It’s near your face, and it allows you to breathe without having to turn your head so much.
If a stroke takes 1 second, then you glide for 1 second, and you inhale on the third stroke, then you’ll inhale about every 4 seconds, and exhale during those 4 seconds in between. , Being in control of the speed of your stroke ensures efficiency.
When you begin to fatigue or you lose concentration, your stroke count can lose it’s measured rhythm.
If you speed up, you want it to be a conscious choice you made.A good place to start is determining what your natural stroke rate is.
Have a friend or teammate time you for two minutes and count how many strokes you take.
See what your average rate is for 1 minute.
This number will tell you if your strokes are longer or shorter than they should be.
If you notice your stroke count is high, but your speed isn’t what you want, your strokes may not be as efficient as they could be.
If your count is low, you may be going through the stroke too slowly.
Practicing at different speeds will help you find the perfect stroke rate that is efficient and easy to maintain throughout a race. -
Step 3: Control your breathing.
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Step 4: Focus on your stroke count.
Detailed Guide
Some skills require repetition to get just right, but in swimming, it does no good to swim dozens of laps if you are not using proper technique.
Your practice should focus on perfecting your stroke technique rather than on swimming the most and fastest laps possible.Swimming slow makes it easier to notice what part of your stroke needs work.
Swimming fast may make it seem like your stroke is fine even if it isn’t.
It is also easier to perfect your technique without worrying about making the fastest times.
Faster speeds will come with improved technique, but you can’t improve technique by swimming faster.
You may think that the best swimmers are constantly transitioning from stroking with one arm to stroking with the next, but it is actually better to glide for about a second in between strokes.
Gliding helps you transition by giving you time to ready your other arm.
The best way to glide is to let your stroke arm remain extended briefly, for about 1 second, before you pull it through the water to your side.
While you glide, you should continue to kick from the hips as you do during a stroke.
During the glide, you should exhale under the water slowly. , Because swimming is continuous, having exceptional breathing is important.
A good technique is to exhale, under the water, on every third stroke.
This allows you rotate which side of your body you exhale toward.
Constantly gasping for breath will distract you and slow you down.When you exhale underwater, your eyes should be focused on a point at the bottom of the pool.
Keeping your eyes straight down helps keep your head in one place.
Plus, exhaling underwater makes it so you only need to inhale when your mouth is above the water.
Learn to inhale in the trough, or pocket, made by each stroke.
This pocket is made by the top of your head as it moves through the water.
It’s near your face, and it allows you to breathe without having to turn your head so much.
If a stroke takes 1 second, then you glide for 1 second, and you inhale on the third stroke, then you’ll inhale about every 4 seconds, and exhale during those 4 seconds in between. , Being in control of the speed of your stroke ensures efficiency.
When you begin to fatigue or you lose concentration, your stroke count can lose it’s measured rhythm.
If you speed up, you want it to be a conscious choice you made.A good place to start is determining what your natural stroke rate is.
Have a friend or teammate time you for two minutes and count how many strokes you take.
See what your average rate is for 1 minute.
This number will tell you if your strokes are longer or shorter than they should be.
If you notice your stroke count is high, but your speed isn’t what you want, your strokes may not be as efficient as they could be.
If your count is low, you may be going through the stroke too slowly.
Practicing at different speeds will help you find the perfect stroke rate that is efficient and easy to maintain throughout a race.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lopez
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow DIY projects tutorials.
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