This video was taken during our coach training with Terry Laughlin, head coach and founder of Total Immersion swimming. We almost got this in sync!

Sync Swim – Side

We enjoyed three days of quality swim coach training with the head coach and founder of Total Immersion Swimming, Terry Laughlin, this weekend.

We were joined by Joe Novak, Jeff Utsch, and Patrick Brundage who swam at West Point, Univ of Arizona, and Univ of Texas respectively–read, ridiculously fast. These guys are grace in motion and their attention to disciplined technique work is evident.

You all know I love a good stroke count and these three were routinely holding 8 strokes per length (and yes, that’s counting each arm). Anyhow, lots of great learning and a great opportunity for all of us to fine tune our strokes under Terry’s expert tutelage.

When you open a door, you grab the knob and “pull.”  Your hand moves toward you and your elbow and shoulder slide backward in the process.  Swimmers who don’t anchor effectively, do the same thing in the water, slipping as a result.

When you think of the words “catch” or “anchor,” the connotation is different.  To catch or anchor, is to hold something in place.  You are giving your body something to torque around to move itself through the water.  When you execute a proper catch, the shoulder rotates internally, the elbow “pops” out, and the forearm hinges downward from your “fixed” elbow.  This hinging movement, also known as early vertical forearm, is the key to the catch.

If you try to “pull” immediately after your arm extension, there is a good chance you will slip right through the stroke movement.  However, if you take the time to set up a good catch as described above, you will set up a movement that connects with your hip to drive your body forward.

Sculling drills are a great way to address proper catch mechanics.

The word “scull” has various meanings, but think of the oars you would find on a boat in order to row.  The verb, to scull, means to propel by means of oars.  So, when applied to swimming, think of your forearms and hands as oars that are going to move the water in order to propel you through it.

There are many varieties of sculling drills and all are designed to help you with the catch or anchor portion of your stroke.  Throughout the year, but particularly in the off-season, it is nice to add sculling drills to your practice.  I will describe one approach (there are many) and what to think about as you do them.

Begin by pushing off the wall, arms extended, head looking down at the bottom of the pool and use a light kick – just enough to keep your hips on the surface.  This drill is not a very fast-moving one, so take your time.  You will then scull in three different positions:

Position #1 – Extended Position.  Begin with arms extended straight in front of you (just under the surface – think Superman), roll your shoulders in, pop your elbows out, keep your wrists stiff (that is, neutral – not bending in either direction), turn your palms out and push the water away to a point just outside of your shoulders, then, turn the palms to face each other and bring the hands toward each other (like a seal), but not to the point where the hands touch.  You will be “pushing” and “pulling” the water, or sculling, in movements that are probably less than ten inches in width for each hand.  In this first position, you are practicing the set-up to your catch – setting your shoulders and elbows in the proper position for the subsequent anchoring movement.  You are also practicing the neutral wrist position mentioned above in addition to the more subjective “feel of the water” against your forearms and palms.

Position #2 – 45-Degree Position.  Begin as above in the Extended Position.  Roll shoulders in, pop elbows out, wrists stiff.  Now, without changing your shoulder and elbow positions, hinge your forearms downward to about 45-degrees below the surface.  Begin the sculling motions described above.  This is where the meat of your catch begins in the actual stroke.  The critical part is maintaining your shoulder and elbow position.  At this point, your elbow should still be well in front of your shoulder.

Position #3 – 90-Degree Position.  Begin in the Extended Position, but this time hinge your forearms to a 90-degree angle from the surface.  Your fingertips will now be pointing directly down.  Begin sculling.  You can roll your head underwater side to side at this point to actually watch yourself scull.  Pay particular attention to your elbow position relative to your shoulder.  The elbow should still be in front of the shoulder.  When you are midway through your pull in a whole stroke (when your torso is facing the bottom of the pool), this is where your elbow and shoulder and forearm should be (this 90-degree position).

Position #4 – Combination Position.   Move smoothly from the Extended Position to the 90-Degree position, making sculling movements the whole way.  Try to imagine the track that your pull will take as you do this drill.  Begin by rolling the shoulders in, pop the elbows out, keep the wrists stiff and let your forearms hinge down from your “fixed” elbow – sculling all the while.  You are trying to imprint what your shoulders and elbow and forearm should do during your catch in a slow and manageable way.

For all of the sculling positions above, you can breathe either by rolling your head to the side or by doing a quick pitch up of the head.

Proper catch mechanics are paramount for optimal propulsion. Using the sculling drills above, in addition to changing your mindset about “catch” versus “pull” will go a long way toward your goal of becoming a more efficient swimmer.

When a pool swim is offered as the first leg of a triathlon, it is often billed as “perfect for beginners.” Other than the fact that you have the ability to hold on to the wall after each length, a serpentine-style swim can sometimes feel a little rough because the pool suddenly becomes a very crowded place. But a little know-how can go a long way to make a serpentine-style pool swim an enjoyable one.

A serpentine swim begins in the far end lane of the pool. Swimmers are normally queued in a long line on the pool deck according to their start time (often seeded based on a time you give when filling out your race application). Swimmers then enter the water one at a time and begin swimming. There is normally a standard interval between swimmers (every 15 seconds, for example).

You will find one of two scenarios after the start depending on the number of lanes at the pool and the distance of the swim. The best course set-up involves one-way swimming, meaning all swimmers travel in one direction down a lane, duck under the lane lines and swim back in the opposite direction in a different lane. You continue this way (swimming one length, ducking under the lane lines, and swimming in the next lane), until you reach the other side of the pool.

The nice part about this arrangement is that in the event you need to pass someone, you can do so easily by moving to the other side of the swimmer and making the pass.  Everyone is swimming in the same direction, so this is usually relatively easy.

The second scenario is trickier. This involves swimming one length of the pool on one side of the lane and then returning down the pool in the same lane – just on the other side. Now you have swimmers in the same lane moving in opposite directions. This would work nicely if everyone swam at the same pace.  However, passing is inevitable. If two swimmers decide to pass at the same time and are moving in opposite directions, suddenly, you are four abreast in one lane! Also, even in non-passing situations, swimmers can get off course and head-on collisions are possible.

It’s a good idea to incorporate open-water sighting techniques in this case. Lift your head as if sighting for a buoy in the open water to see what the traffic looks like in front of you. If you want to pass someone, it’s good to check first if someone is doing the same thing in the opposite direction.

In both serpentine swim scenarios, the water gets pretty churned up, even with the lane lines present to dissipate some of the wave action. Also, there is plenty of contact as you meet people at the walls or in passing situations. Treat this as you would in a mass start by relaxing your recovery arms and flowing with the contact.

When it’s time to cross the lane line in either scenario, the fastest way to do so is to push off from your present lane and proceed diagonally into the adjacent lane. If it’s your first time doing this or you’re nervous about a diagonal push-off, then there is nothing wrong with ducking under the lane line first before pushing off in the opposite direction.

If you’re thinking of entering a triathlon that incorporates a pool swim, and it is your very first triathlon, look at the course description first. Perhaps a course that allows one-way traffic only in each lane would be a gentler introduction to the swim discipline of the sport.

One of the most common technique errors I see in swimmers with the freestyle stroke is the use of a wide scissor kick instead of a compact flutter kick. Usually, the scissor kick is happening unknowingly, most often in conjunction with two technique errors—both involving breathing: a lifting of the head to breathe and/or over rotating to breathe.

When you lift your head for the breath, the hips begin to drop. The body senses this and the legs splay in an effort to stop the sinking and allow the breath to happen. The sinking usually happens anyway, however, and this is detrimental because once the hips drop, the body assumes an “uphill” position in the water, and drag is increased. Basic streamlining in the water is also affected when the legs move outside the shadow of the body.

When you over rotate for the breath (shoulder pulls too far back and you’re looking at the sky oftentimes as you inhale), the legs will split to stop you from flipping over, basically.

Have one of your friends or family members watch you or break out their phone and videotape you the next time you swim. Have them watch for the scissor kick (easiest to see if filmed while you are swimming away from them) and also have them try to identify if you are lifting or over rotating for the breath.

The solution to eliminating the scissor kick in most cases is to do what is counter intuitive when breathing. First, regarding lifting for the breath, we as humans are programmed to find the air, so if it’s above us—like when we’re swimming—we tend to lift to get it. The counter intuitive part is to roll for the breath instead, taking it when the mouth is resting at or near the waterline. Imagine a skewer running through the top of your head—one that points to the opposite end of the pool—and rotate your head on this axis. If you do so, your hips will remain at the surface (no sinking) and thus, you won’t need a scissor kick to keep you afloat.

If you’re a head lifter, a drill for learning the proper head rotation for breathing is a basic kick-on-the-side drill (also called streamline drill or skating drill). Your body will be angled at a comfortable position on its side, head down, hips at the surface, bottom arm extended in front of you (palm down) and top hand at your side. From this position, rotate your head on the long axis to get your breath. Think about bringing your chin to your shoulder. For many swimmers, rolling the shoulder back slightly to initiate the head movement helps here. If your hips are on the surface and you’ve rolled your head in a level manner, you’ll clear for the breath.

Because you are moving so slowly during this drill, to ensure a level roll of the head, you might have to take your breath looking straight up (a drill breath). Yes, you would be over rotating in this case, but it’s for the specific reason of teaching a level head roll. The important thing here is that you are practicing the proper rolling motion of the head. I watch all the time as swimmers “cheat” on this drill and lift their heads to grab a quick breath, imprinting the same movement they do when they swim. So, keep the head roll level and roll farther than normal to get the breath, if necessary, to ensure an even movement. When you add the momentum that comes from a full swim stroke, you will not have to rotate your head so far to get the breath. But, you will have ingrained the proper movement pattern (no lifting) to initiate the breath correctly.

If you over rotate to breathe, you have the rolling part correct, but you are probably not comfortable taking a breath with your mouth near the waterline. You can practice this while standing in shallow water. Lay your ear in the water, waterline running across your lower lip and bottom goggle, and spend some time breathing here (in through the mouth, out through the nose). Sounds a little weird, I know, but you want to get used to that feeling of having the water next to your mouth and sometimes rolling into your mouth while you’re inhaling. You can also take the time to view the water through the lower goggle to reference the surface in a proper breathing position relative to your goggle. If you increase your awareness of your positioning in this way, you will be better able to identify the tendency to over rotate while you’re swimming.

“Uggh! Do I really have to slow down to learn proper swim technique?”

I get this reaction all the time. No one wants to slow down in their quest to go faster. Two steps back to move three steps forward—for a hard-charging, type ‘A’ triathlete? No way.

Ok. Here’s an analogy that I often use to get my point across about the value of drill work and the value of slowing down in general in order to learn how to go faster in the swim.

Say you can type fifty words per minute using your computer keyboard, but you would like to type eighty words per minute. I tell you, “Yes, I can teach you to type at eighty words per minute, but you’ll need to rearrange six keys on the keyboard in order to do it.” You say, “Yes! I’m all over it!”

You place your hands on the keyboard and start to fire away, fingers flying at their normal speed, absolutely sure that you will find the new key locations just as quickly as you found the old ones. But wait . . . Because you have the immediate visual feedback of several incorrectly spelled words on the page—because you’ve hit the wrong keys—you slow down. You have to. You have to slow down so that your fingers can find the new key locations. It would be something on the order of a miracle if you could type at the same speed or faster after having switched six keys around on the keyboard the first time you tried it.

In swimming, it’s the same. Substitute the rearrangement of six letters on the keyboard with six stroke technique improvement areas. Crossing over with your left arm on entry. Lifting your head to breathe. Executing a hand-led recovery. Over rotating for the breath. Dropping your elbow during the pull. Swimming without core body rotation. Here are six things you need to correct in order to go faster in the swim.

“Yes! I’m all over it!” You push off the wall, arms moving at their normal turnover rate, absolutely sure that you will correct every one of these technique errors on the fly. But unlike typing, you can’t see the mistakes you’re making when you’re swimming. In your mind, you’ve got it wired and you’re sure that you’re swimming differently, incorporating every technique change necessary at one time.

I’m here to tell you that it probably won’t work. Your body is going to default to old muscle memory to get the job done because it can’t possibly process so many changes at once and do so at speed. So . . . you have to slow down to give your body the opportunity to learn the new muscle movements, just like you would with a new keyboard arrangement.

Please keep this in mind when your swim coach gives you drills to improve your stroke technique. If you want to give yourself a chance to improve, allow yourself to slow down. In the end, you’ll be faster for it.