How To Get Fast At Swimming?

As others have said watch the youtube videos for form. I have a Flip video camera with a waterproof case I sink in the pool with weights to get poor man's form analysis. You can stick in on a block with a swim brick to get the overhead.

If you upload the videos you can bore the everloving crap out of friends and relatives, so that's another plus.

Count your strokes when swimming and concentrate on a smooth line and power throughout the stroke. Practice trying to get each length with fewer strokes. Look at the stroke count of some of the elites for comparison.

One place I find paddles helpful (and I use some the size of salad plates) is improving your "feel" for the water. Good swimmers have a good reach and the strength to grap the water right away and push it straight back down the center line. That means getting your elbow up and out, and keeping your hand positioned so it's pushing, not slicing, through the water. If you're not keeping your hand perpendicular you'll find the paddles will cause your hand to "flutter" and you'll feel it right away.

And you'll find a lot of that will be hard to do if you're not flexable. Runner's generally aren't, so that part will take some stretching and practice.

As others have said watch the youtube videos for form. I have a Flip video camera with a waterproof case I sink in the pool with weights to get poor man's form analysis. You can stick in on a block with a swim brick to get the overhead.

If you upload the videos you can bore the everloving crap out of friends and relatives, so that's another plus.

Count your strokes when swimming and concentrate on a smooth line and power throughout the stroke. Practice trying to get each length with fewer strokes. Look at the stroke count of some of the elites for comparison.

One place I find paddles helpful (and I use some the size of salad plates) is improving your "feel" for the water. Good swimmers have a good reach and the strength to grap the water right away and push it straight back down the center line. That means getting your elbow up and out, and keeping your hand positioned so it's pushing, not slicing, through the water. If you're not keeping your hand perpendicular you'll find the paddles will cause your hand to "flutter" and you'll feel it right away.

And you'll find a lot of that will be hard to do if you're not flexable. Runner's generally aren't, so that part will take some stretching and practice.

"As others have said watch the youtube videos for form."

The Ian Thorpe form is the best freestyle form to emulate.

whyhaveibeenbanned wrote:

o.O wrote:

Unfortunately, yes

The difference between 50 seconds in the 100m Freestyle(long course) and 48 is largely attributed to the pool, googles, minor technique tweeks by a coach and highend swim wear.

The difference between 50 seconds in the 400m dash is largely attributed to the track, the spikes, and minor technique tweaks by a coach and a highend speedsuit. See how ridiculous that sounds?

on a track, that is a ridiculous claim. 50 seconds is the easiest barrier to break for a 400m guy. The differnce between 46 and 45-44 would be a track/spike/technique.

Otherwise most of the 400m guys at the Olympics were breaking 49 their first races in highschool.

50 seconds in swimming going down to 47 seconds, that is the difference made in pool tech.

Nobody in the world is able to swim a 47 second spilt in the 100m free in any water. Mark Spitz time in the 100m free was 51:22, given the pool tech, the new swimwear tech they have today he could have easily set the WR at 48.

Just like the claims that the MONDO track produces fast sprint times.

o.O wrote:

on a track, that is a ridiculous claim. 50 seconds is the easiest barrier to break for a 400m guy. The differnce between 46 and 45-44 would be a track/spike/technique.

Otherwise most of the 400m guys at the Olympics were breaking 49 their first races in highschool.

50 seconds in swimming going down to 47 seconds, that is the difference made in pool tech.

Nobody in the world is able to swim a 47 second spilt in the 100m free in any water. Mark Spitz time in the 100m free was 51:22, given the pool tech, the new swimwear tech they have today he could have easily set the WR at 48.

Just like the claims that the MONDO track produces fast sprint times.

Many inaccuracies here. World record is under 47 now for 100M. Has been since 2009. Next "pool tech" has very little to do with it. Speed suits were banned two years ago. The fact that competition pools are uniformly 8 feet deep means a few hundredths. Even the most ardent tech suit fan only claim they gave them a few 10ths. Sure, some of us older guys that aren't as streamlined as we used to be got quite a bit from them but not the top people.

Back in Spitz's day there was significantly different technique. Freestyle swimmers didn't dolphin off the wall. All the emphasis was on turnover not distance per stroke. On all strokes you wanted to be up and stroking as quickly as possible. Your hand touched the wall on the backstroke turns, the top of your head had to stay above water in breast-stroke.

Very little of what you're talking about has to do with pool tech. The difference between 50 and 47 has pretty much has nothing to do with pool tech and everything to do with improved technique.

Ok,I swam 10.4 miles this week. (And only ran 99 miles)

But I have a question for anyone with a swimming background. Should I do a base building period with swimming? Or can I start doing intervals whenever I want? A guy that used to swim in HS told me I should do 200 repeats with short rest. Should I?

Also I need to work on my flip turns.

first of all, you shouldn't be looking on lets run for advice on swimming, or anything for that matter.

get a coach.

umustunlearnwhatuhavelearned wrote:

first of all, you shouldn't be looking on lets run for advice on swimming, or anything for that matter.

get a coach.

Why not? Some letsrunners may be/have been swimmers.

And I can't just get a coach. lol