Workout Directory

Swimming is so complicated that we can easily get too focused on a hand or a foot or some other bit player in the whole-body stroke. Sensory images can help to organize the whole thing without worrying too much about the parts.

All expert distance swimmers have one thing in common: great body position. They organize their body into a sleek displacement hull, and then balance that hull right at the surface.

Whole body stroking coordinating the kick with the arm stroke (with the balance shift).

Balance shifting: coordinating the recovery arm with the stroking arm. (Because it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing.)

Drill progression to work on the EVF (early vertical forearm) catch and pull - the favored catch and pull for distance swimming.

If you don't get the arm stroke setup right, it's hard to get an effective stroke.

Focus on the arms using half-bad drills (where you exaggerate a flaw for half a length, and then correct for the second half of the length).

Get good, even rotation, especially on the non-breathing strokes.

Once you've got your catch, think of your hand, wrist and forearm as an anchor, and learn to pull your body past that anchor using your core, not your arm.

Many coaches say that the arm recovery is the least important part of the freestyle stroke. That may be true for sprinters, but nearly all successful open water swimmers and triathletes use a high-elbow recovery. You should, too.

Triathletes and endurance swimmers often have sloppy kicking (or no kicking at all), which gets your body out of alignment and slows you down - so you need to work on keeping your kick compact, and keeping it out of the way.

When you've got your long-axis balance working, the next thing is rotation.

The one thing all styles of freestyle have in common is good long-axis balance. This week's focus is on the balance drills that should be part of your regular workouts for as long as you are swimming the long-axis strokes (freestyle and backstroke).

When you breathe, you can disrupt your posture, balance, aquatic line and timing. The trick is to minimize the disruption - especially when the breathing cycle is also your sighting cycle. Focus is on breathing and sighting.

Review swimming posture and streamline on the deck. During main sets focus on wall starts and then optionally either open turns or flip turns. If you don't have a good, clean and consistent turn, it is very difficult to determine your CSS (critical swimming speed).

When you practice sculling regularly, you teach your hands and forearms to react to water pressure automatically. The goal is to learn to maintain even pressure, pressing back towards your feet, for as long as possible during the stroke.

Natalie Coughlin - one of the world's great swimmers - tries to increase her distance per stroke by making the water feel thick. This week's focus is on how to make the water you are holding feel as thick as possible.

Everyone is taking too many strokes per length. What's the right number of strokes per length for you? One less than your are taking now. To begin work on reducing stroke counts, this week we will focus on rotation.

Last week we used the Tempo Trainer to swim smoothly, focusing on getting rid of dead spots around breathing and sighting. Now we will use the tempo trainer to increase stroke rate while maintaining stroke length.

As the Duke said, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing." He was talking about swimming, of course. No, not Duke Ellington, the real Duke, Duke Kahanamoku - Olympic gold medal winner in swimming!

Focus on posture, alignment and breathing.

Focus on sighting, head position and breathing.

More speed work and open water skills practice: drafting, passing and sighting.

One popular race strategy is to go fast for a while, then draft for a bit while getting some active recovery. This only works if you actually know how to go fast, and you know how to draft. This workout includes speed work and drafting practice.

For endurance swimming, the kick doesn't provide much propulsion. But that doesn't mean it's not important. Sloppy kicking (or no kicking at all) will you down - so you need to work on keeping your kick compact, and keeping it out of the way.

Practice surging (accelerating), as you would when passing one or more swimmers in open water. And practice finding your recovery pace - a temporary slower pace that allows you to lower your HR and quickly return to your critical swimming speed.

With fewer lanes and longer distances between the walls, it's a good time to practice swimming in a crowd and drafting.

When you breathe, you can disrupt your posture, balance, aquatic line and timing. The trick is to minimize the disruption - especially when the breathing cycle is also your sighting cycle.

Say what you want about Sarah Palin. But when it comes to endurance swimming technique, she knows what she's talking about: Drill baby, drill!

Mix posture, line and balance focus with race-intensity 300s. Push yourself above EN2 to a pace you can just hold for 300.

During a typical video session, everyone is taped following the warm-up. (So get there on time!) You may be filmed at two or more angles, swimming at endurance pace. While the group continues the workout, each swimmer will be called out of the pool individually to review their clip(s) with the coaches.