Swimming Basics

Swimming is the most technical of the 3 sports. It is also very individualized, or at least should be. Your perfect stroke is going to be very different than that of your friends'. Several factors like experience and background, flexibility/mobility, body shape/size, and fitness level become major components that drive your "perfect" stroke. I use perfect lightly because I think we have this ideal that we should be beautifully gliding through the water like the swimmers we see on tv. While there should be rhythm to our stroke, being pretty isn't really what we are striving for. Open water swimming is a full contact sport. You won't be gracefully gliding through the water out there. With that in mind, these basics should give you a very good idea of what we are looking for. Having video analysis or a coach's eyes on you become very important in order to troubleshoot what aspects need to be fixed for your specific stroke.

Head Position. This is where it all starts. Look down at the bottom of the pool. Keep a small part of the back of your head at the surface. Don’t be tempted to look up in front of you. If you do this, your hips will sink, and you will have to kick really hard to stay on top of the water- and you'll waste a lot of energy.