Secret Technique Pro Swimmers and Triathletes Use to Go Faster… and how you can do it too!
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- Опубликовано: 8 мар 2023
- Check out all my Swim Kit: kit.co/joshlewis
It's been a while since I've found a swim tip and trick that has massively improved my swimming technique, so thought I'd share!
The two video's from @EffortlessSwimming
• Use Your Hip Rotation ...
• Rotate Your Hips Befor...
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I started swimming at the grand old age of 64 last August, mainly breaststroke. In Feb this year I began front crawl and found it exceedingly difficult for the first 6 weeks then began to get the hang of it and by the beginning of April I could swim 2 1/2 Km in 65 mins. Sounds impressive, but I got stuck at that time, and no matter what I did, faster strokes, more power (or so I thought) or concentrate on technique - nothing changed. After watching your video, and practicing for a couple of weeks, today’s 2 1/2 Km was 56 minutes. So, 9 minutes faster using your tip definitely works, and I’m not exhausted at the end of it either. I am now hoping that this will improve even further - the aim is 50 mins by 8th August - that will be 12 months since I started.
Many thanks for posting this - superb!
60-year old, former amateur triathlete now just hanging on to basic fitness while managing various aches and pains. This small, nuanced change made a noticeable difference in my perceived effort to speed ratio. For the first time in years I exited the pool after my usual workout having gone a bit faster than usual AND not feeling worn out. I had hit a wall so to speak for years and this technique is definitely a breakthrough.
Bro rocking from side to side relived my triceps and unleashed my lats resulting in increased speed and efficiency , happy to watch your video to see i was already employing this kick catch timing .
Great to have a video explain it, i have been applying this as well. I am a teacher in scything and there a lot of the energy in the stroke comes from a distinct hiprotation using the core - just before cathing the grass. I use to teach that the hiprotation is so essential as a start of many things we are doing, throwing a ball or hitting a ball with a basebolltree is the most easy to understand while doing it. And all the power in a karatestroke comes from an ignite in the core and a hiprotation. But also paddle canoe, how you strengthen the core and start rotate a bit just before cathing the water. Kicking a football is also the same. In all the mentioned things we are grounded and have someting firm under us to start this rotation with. But not in frontcrawl. Thats why we need to start the hiprotation with that kick. Its istead of use the ground we stand on (or sit on) in all other cases.
This theory have helped me to understand what swimming is and made it more fun to improve!
Great vid Josh - really helpful!
Kick downbeat just before the same side catch. Good new advice. I will do it next practice. Thank you!
I am a swim newbie, self learned front crawl and breaststroke via youtube coaching last year. I am no way proficient but at a fun phase of constantly scanning my form when I practice. I do find better streamline when extending lats and hip rotation. Since I practice front crawl breathing every 2, 3, and 4, I am still tuning leg kick because the demand seems to be different. I do notice the instep flexibility can impact kicking quite a bit from teaching my 85-yr old mother how to float and stand up in shallow end. Her instep is frozen, causing inability to extend, contract, and flex her legs (like a fish that has no tail). It is an eye opener to realize how a small part not working can impact a whole lot. My instep and ankle are quite flexible therefore I took up breaststroke much faster than front crawl.
I like to think of it as kick, roll, pull. first the foot, then hip, pull the arm back. Excellent video.
Thank you!
Great observation. Thanks.
One other key benefit of this is that the kick is getting your hand through the weakest part of the stroke. Your muscles are just not as strong at pulling through that extended position. It will put less stress on your shoulders and lats at that point.
Good point! very true
Amazing video. Put this to test a few weeks back, massive AHA moment, shared with my wife, got her on it. This also makes me glide better, not rush the catch, the word 'timing' is spot on. I always focused on the front end, never putting much emphasis on the kick being a long distance triathlete. Game changer Josh. When you did this video I could tell from your genuine passion that you had hit on a great breakthrough.
Thank you! I'm glad it made as much of a difference to you as it did to me. I really am passionate about it and I'm hoping it's helping many others like yourself too :)
The timing of the stroke is so vital!
Another thing I would recommend as well to look at is the bend of your wrists. Especially on the right hand, I think. You want to use your entire "paddle." Your stroke is so beautiful.
Good luck this your season! 🏊♂️🚲🏃♂️
YES! THANK YOU!
No problem ☺️
As a beginner you nailed it. I was wondering why some days feel easy, but other days feel hard despite speed being similar. Then one day it clicked and was because my kick/catch/pull timing was not in sync
Big up man, your style looks very nice. Cheers for sharing, I will try it.
Thanks! best of luck!
Love your dog in the background looking out the window.
Such a beautiful stroke and kick combo! I’ve been trying for years to get that right.. I imagine pulling myself along a ladder for the high elbow catch, but haven’t come up with a good visualization for the kick timing. Sometimes it helps with my balance but it’s still totally random.
Thank you! You could try using all of the toys? put paddles a pull boy and fins on and practice the 3/4 catchup drill whilst thinking about the kick timing?
@@Josh_lewis thank you Josh, will try that!
The kick initiates the body roll which then gives your arm more power due to the more natural angle through the shoulder and elbow. It's similar to why golfers rotate as part of their swing.
Thanks for your sharing
Thanks for watching!
After 3 months of trying to figure the timing out, I finally got it. Used fins, pull buoys, snorkels, lol, but it has a lot to do with a proper Catch to get the kick timed right. Crazy how much it puts me on top of the water now.
Great news!! Just keep at it, persistence pays off 🙌🏻
Great video!
Thanks Ian!
Wow! I am new in triathlon and just finished my 113k in March. Recently, I've been improving my swimming skills. Your video is really helpful to me. Thanks, bro!
Keep it up!! And glad it helped, hopefully the next ones will too ☺️👍🏼
Thanks I will start working on this
Best of luck!
That's what I'll definitively include this way in my next training and comment results a few weeks later.
love the puppy looking out the window
Sneaky!
going to try this !
Hope it works for you too!
A great way to practice the timing and connection for the catch and kick is to do sets of 100s as a drill with a paddle on the right hand and a fin on the right foot, and then swop to left left. Exaggerate the kick and catch on each cycle to the side with the equipment.
I agree! My squad sometimes do opposite paddle/fin and I’ve never understood it. Your way is much better IMO.
Swimming is the throw of the arm, I believe its like hitting a volleyball, throwing a baseball, swinging a golf club, but like once I throw my arm, it wont cant stop, then it hits the water,,,now once you get going, the water is like a tredmiill, I only pull first couple strokes,,,and then let water carry your arm to the back,,,just my three sense:) most important, have fun, swim asap,
When I'm in the pool I have to give a 100% to keep up with good swimmers who seemingly swim without much effort, just a nice and relaxed glide that amounts to low 20sec per 25m. I once felt a change in my kick and noticed a better glide but didn't immediately try to be aware of what is it that I'm doing, just thought aha I'm making a natural progress. After a few laps this breakthrough left and I was unsuccessfully trying to replicate what was happening. Looking forward to testing this, thank for a video.
Yes I used the same technique it's efficient....at start use snorkel....it helps to focus on body position.....and then work on breathing pattern without it...one side breathing is more effective with this style
Thanks for the post. This is one of the secrets that the elite swimmers don't tell you about😀😀
Subscribed! 👌
Awesome, thank you!
thanks
great video.
Thanks!
Nice one. I also noticed the AMPLITUDE of your kick is about the thickness of your torso (chest to back). In your front shots, your feet are barely visible behind your body. Keeps you streamlined in the water like a torpedo
Good point!
@@Josh_lewis The other thing to bear in mind is that propulsion from kicking is something stupid like 2%. Single figures anyway. So legs are best used to keep yourself horizontal. So hang on to the side of the pool and figure out the SLOWEST kick rate you need, to keep your body horizontal, with your eyes above the water line (sight swimming for open water). Then start working on the timing with the arms and catch like you say from there. Like music. Start super slow, then speed up as you get better. Don't forget fatigue will reeeeaaally mess up your timing.
Super helpful and really nice explanation. I picked up the effortless swimming vid last year and made a big improvement but I was timing hand entry on opposite side with the kick (which theoretically should have same result). I'll try this way round as well and see if I can improve further. Agreed that the timing makes it all seem suddenly so much easier! I do think I lose it at higher stroke rates and in open water. Curious if you've worked on drills to get the same timing at >70-80 spm?
No I haven’t used drills to do it at a higher cadence. I think once I’ve got the rhythm and feel in my head I’m able to apply it to higher stroke rates… but I’ve swam all of my life so maybe It’s a bit more automated.
If I were to do a drill to speed it up it would be catch-up and just do it faster
Hello, did you come to any conclusion? I think I'm timing my hand pull with a kick in the opposite side as well. Is it the same?
@@filipeamador314 I kept going with the same side pull and kick combo and that's now feeling more connected than the previous (even though it should be the same in the end)
@@dave2402 Thank you very much Dave, I'll give it a try :) Have a nice one
Josh, in video it appears you are doing more than a 2-beat kick. It's a bit hard to tell as your video was close-up so could not see the timing of start of catch and kick so well. Do you encourage a 2-beat kick using this timing to the same-side catch?
My job as a young lad was to put hose on the incoming trailer and release back door.. then take out hose and lock back door when empty
Coincidentally saw the same ES video a few weeks back. Have taken 6 secs off my 100m in 3 weeks. I need to concentrate as not yet natural but likewise I see it in every good swimmer now!! Honestly I can’t believe I didn’t see the right timing before. 45 & still chasing pbs. 😂
Love it!
Am 52 and now have a Coach whom is teaching me this technique. What a complete game changer. Great video and the underwater footage is awesome. Thank you.
Can you post a video of a drill or 2 that will emphasize and allow us to internalize this timing/rhythm of leg kick-arm catch? I've been trying it out in the pool and it's not coming intuitively ... sort of like when I first started trying to learn how to play a drum kit...
Yes will do!
I found this last season, pb'd my race times 5min/3800m OW and almost 2min/1900m and significant boost to pool times too. Full was 8-9min faster than 2021 race time... Okay also swam most last year i have done ever but this made the swimming much more enjoyable as the things clicked majorly.. for adult onset swimmer thats always a win.. hope to push the swim fitness now to thresten the 60min/30mim barrier in the races 💪
And as an instant result inwas able to swim faster than with a bouy first time in my life last season 🤔😂
That’s some outrageous improvement! Mine is all measured over shorter distances and then when I go open water it’s slightly less tangible, but I’m glad I’m not alone in thinking it’s a good tip!
@@Josh_lewis thanks, hope to get half of that this year still and dream to transfer the banked hours on land too on the race day this year... triathlon is so fun, because its so easy... :D
I tried several times to embed this after watching the original Effortless Swimmers video. But I was a 100% unable to coordinate the timing. I can do something like a 2 beat kick but can't coordinate the catch/kick synchronization consistently, if at all. I just end up randomly kicking as I swim. I'm not even sure if it's 4, 2 or even 3 beat since one kick is much strong than the other. I used to be an elite level skier so I'd like to think I'm generally a reasonably coordinate person. It's a mystery why I can't get anywhere with this at all. I totally believe it could be a game changer too if I ever did master it 🙃
Swimming is a whole beast of it's own, it doesn't matter what level of any other sport you reacted. Practice is all that matters. Took me years to be able to finally swim well
As mentioned above it’s all practice! I’d definitely put all your kit on, fins, paddles, and pull buoy and slow things down to try and get the rhythm. The kit emphasises what each element is doing. Let me know if it helps!
mate, try different tactics with toys, sometimes i find the timing pretty well with same sided 1paddle1fin as u get more pressure on your propulsion bits in the extremities....i've now started playing to synchronizing the back/posterior kick on the otherside to it to really enhance the kick on 2bk and with fins, damn u get fast like with 40-50 strokes per min...
Great timing I’m at lesson 7 in the Effortless Swimming and trying to get the serape effect. I thought they want you to time the kick the same time your hand enters which I guess aligns with your statement of before you start the catch. Ive been doing the drill with opposite paddle and fin but found if I think about it too much I mess up. I mess up the same side far less. Kicking with the opposite leg when you start your catch I find hard to coordinate on my breathing side. The non breathing side seems to get it. I can’t say I’ve really got it yet but I’ve been trying this a lot the last few swims. Glad to see others using this method and having success. I’ll keep trying
You may be the dance equivalent of born with 2 left feet, neurologically unable to coordinate a sequential limb and muscle movement.
I noticed (06:40”) your hand is slightly turns inside to the belly area before it pushes back…Like a S. I followed the same technique and I saw a better catch n pull in every stroke.
I tried the one hand like this and the other with my old technique and I think it’s effective.
I’m swimming last 3 months and saw a dramatic change in energy while kicking and pulling with same side makes a difference.
There are those who say the hips drive the body rotation, and others like me that say that the shoulders drive the body rotation. The point you make here is my view. Ground sports that use rotation rely on feet, either planted shoulder width apart, or stepping into the rotation like a baseball pitcher. The energy travels from the feet, through the hips, and out the arms/hands/fingers. In the water, there is nothing to anchor your feet on. This is why, if you are pulling with your right arm, you do the down kick with the right foot. The 'power' part of your arm pull is from about 45 degrees to 135 degrees of that 180 degree arc of your arm pull. You need the pulling arm to get almost to the full/max power point before you have some thing to leverage against. This is why, when using the 6 beat kick, the #1 kick is the power kick, and the other 2 are weaker. I do a lot of catch up drill, and it is no problem to get the feel for anchoring your kick on the same side as your pull. It also helps you focus on max distance per stroke and getting that last little flick of the wrist to finish the stroke. Body rotation as well.
Love this , all true and catch-up to get a feel is spot on 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
This popped up on my feed again, and couldn't remember watching it before..... Age related memory stuff..... Anyway, watching your arm pull, the angle of your palm changes a lot during the pull. Ideal for me is that the palm stays at 90 degrees to the direction that you are wanting to travel. You angle to the outside and inside. Part of me wonders if this is due to the slight S pattern to your arm pull. I think most say to pull in a straight line since the S pull 'is not efficient'.
Same arm, same leg. I'll try that. I have big problems with my left leg kick. I hope this will help.
Great vid. With a Snorkel and Flippers lol and doing similar to the above with it so I can focus on technique without worry about the breathing for the moment.
Great idea as well! Anything to get a feel for it progressively is perfect
So Josh, should you feel the propulsion first from the kick and then from the upper extremity? i've tried to kick and pull at the same time but i might have then slight lag on the kick if i now re think of the sequence.... hmm... might have to make videos and buy analyzis services for it...
and i predominently use 2beat kick on LD swims and thus on pool mostly also, so i think its there for even more important to get it 100% right
Definitely important to get it right. I personally think if the kick as starting slightly before the catch, but they probably happen pretty simultaneously. It’s very close… they should both help you rotate the hips!
Would have been nice to see what you mean by the 3/4 catch up thing with keeping the arm in front of you and when you do the kick etc because slowing that down and showing what it should be would be helpful to understand how to do that.
Will do!
Josh, is this one kick one pull or is there a kick between the 2 kicks and 2 pulls too? thanks good info.. BTW good swim in Lanza! 👌👌
I don't think it matters how many kicks you do between the strokes, I vary how many I do depending on how fast I want to go. I think it's more focusing on the reason the kick is there, to encourage the rotation of the hips and therefore whip the arm through and propel forward :)
And thanks!
@@Josh_lewis sweet thanks for the reply 👍🏽
Just did my practice in the morning and I'm seeing this video after lunch. Now I'm not sure If I'm timing the kick right and I can't wait to go again and try
👏🙌🏻🙌🏻
Yes, the same arm/same leg coordination tip is the best ever. I actually got personal video instruction from Brenton Ford/Effortless Swimming. This tip was a revelation. I’d never heard it from anyone else. What I don’t understand is why isn’t it standard? It should be taught by every coach.
I’m not sure why it’s not standard… maybe it’s just explained different t and this is just something that we can understand?
@@Josh_lewis I’m not very good, but I’ve had a lot of coaching, different approaches, TI etc. The standard seems to be to emphasize opposite arm-leg coordination. Cross connection. That’s valid, and works for some people, but never clicked for me. Why same leg-same arm isn’t generally taught is a big mystery, in my opinion. It’s so amazingly clear when pointed out in video. Good you’re spreading the word!
@@elev140 cheers Ed, hopefully it’ll help a few people out
Hi sorry for the confusion. You kick with the same leg when your hand gets into the water or when your hand pulls back the water??? Thanks
just before you start the catch phase, you want to kick down with the same side leg as you're about to do the catch with
How often you switch sides while taking breath one side only? I find my neck hurt after couple pool lengths (bad rotation 😢) sonic tends to do breath on 3rd but I finds after long swim I lack air so have to do couple 2 breathers in the meantime
So I tend to breathe on 2, I'm not a bilateral breather in the traditional sense. I do however breathe towards the same side of the pool constantly... so essentially each length I'm breathing a different way. This makes sure my stroke is even both sides and i don't get neck ache ;)
I’ve just been working on exactly this and just started to get a 2 beat kick synchronised with my catch. When it works it feels great. Great video thanks
No problem!
@@Josh_lewis I’m 😮😅
Nice vid, thanks. I think I'm doing this, and the stroke feels nice, balanced and efficient but I'm still stuck on about 1.52mins/100m with this technique. As a 57yo age-grouper this isn't too bad but I'd like to be faster. Do you think I should just try faster strokes/cadence or keep doing this stroke at moderate speed to get more efficient/stronger, or any other tips to turn a decent-looking and feeling stroke into something faster?
Maybe just try and get a bit more strength by using paddles whilst keeping the rhythm, and then you can up the cadence without paddles, which will in turn allow you to go quicker with the same timing. Hope that makes sense.
Keep at it though! Sounds like you enjoy it :)
@@Josh_lewis Great. Thanks for your reply!
Im now 58 and been trying to improve my crawl for 10+ yrs now, first via TI then effortless swimming but just cant budge from 2.00 p/100 over a mile, would love to get down from 31/32 mins to 27/28, help.
😢
Same arm / same leg or right arm / right leg. But, is the right arm pull executed exactly at the same time as the right leg downward kick? Or, is the tight arm pull executed slightly ahead of the right leg downward kick?
I'd say think of it as same time, but in reality the arm begins to drop just before the leg kick of the same side, but the leg kick is a very similar time to the actual catch part of the stroke.
@@Josh_lewis great tip. Thanks
Very good and thank you, but - why not shoing the video with the mentioned two-beat kick?
pretty sure there are two kicks per stroke? i may be wrong?
@@Josh_lewis One kick per stroke are meant
same with 2 beat kicks?
Uh, there’s two synchronizing approaches. Swimmers makes their own choice based on their own headspace wiring.
Same arm, same leg = catch + same leg downstroke.
Opposite arm, opposite leg = entry + opposite leg downstroke.
Personally, I like the entry point because it’s is also the primary coordinating or target point for all other strokes and entry is a concrete end point for full arm extension which is more easily felt by the swimmer.
Using pull buoy is good idea, but with exaggerated kick from knee and with cavitation (pointed foot above surface which plops back down, making a big sound and splash). This is an extreme drill for coordination purposes only.
This creates a two beat kick which gets the legs up (very common problem for men), reduces “parachute” legs beyond body width, reduces “snake body” bec legs have something to resist which creates stability, assists rotation by elevating the hip, and gets entire body elongated and closer to the surface (=> less effort). Zero kick fails to address these problems.
I agree with this!!!!
I think opposite leg to arm is also good for cross body connections and engaging abs.
@@erinlawrance9728 cross body stuff is definitely great for abs/core, but here we’re just trying to develop coordination and muscle memory. So a swimmer trying to change his/her technique will have to go very slow at first, and define success as not getting confused during numerous repeats. Try it, check, recheck, stop and fix, repeat. Then, gradually increasing RPM and effort…which naturally occur as coordination gets dialled in…but “gradually” means many pool sessions, not just deciding to “go for it” during one set. Technique and drill stuff is extremely hard swimming!! Lots of mistakes, patience, frustration, coughing up water….if the drill does not feel uncomfortable, at minimum, it’s not being done well. But it definitely pays off on race day.
Completely agree, like you say, can approach from different ways. I'd never even considered the connection between the two before this, so I guess it didn't matter which way I thought of it, alternate arm/leg or same arm same leg.
Was obviously more natural for me to think same arm same leg as I was thinking of what I considered to be the important part of my stroke which was where the power was coming from... rotation and catch etc... I don't get much from thinking about hand entry to be honest as weirdly don't value it too highly in the overall propulsion of going forward... I understand it's more to do with streamline, but I think it's just what i was concentrating on in my head...
I'll do a video on what I mean by using the pullbuoy etc.
Watch your right arm. Elbow should be higher on the recovery so that on you come in fingertips ahead of your wrist, elbow following wrist. As you slide into the catch, your shoulder eases downward into an optimal streamline and catch set-up. This should all be slightly phased. When you swing your arm into the catch and your elbow and hand come in together, you ‘re missing a critical inflection point to get power in the stroke.
I’m watching it back and trying to work it out. Are you talking about hand /wrist / elbow entry?
I’m currently unsure as to how this effects the inflexion point to get power? Surely that’s more to do with having a better hand entry and therefore streamline? The catch and power phase are separate, no?
Can you explain please as this could be an easy win for me if it’s important 😀
@@Josh_lewis I re-watched the video frame by frame (using the period and comma key in RUclips), and yes this does have more to with a better hand entry leading to an optimal streamline. The central issue is where you place your right hand on entry. If you watch at 4:40 you see that your hand enters almost center to your axis line, then as you rotate into a streamline your arm straightens out and your hand swings about 4 inches to the left as you set up the catch. You can observe the same effect from the above camera at 4:45. I'd like to see on the recovery keeping the elbow at a little higher angle as you start to drop your hand into the catch, and -- critical -- think of reaching out at shoulder width. The shoulder rotation drives the streamline, rather than the hand leading the shoulder rotation. My phasing would be recovery, wider hand entry with a bit more of an angle, streamline as you push the opposite stroke, and catch and pull. All of this is to shave off a little bit less drag.
The top view also shows that you are over-rotating on your breathing side. I suggest working on bilateral breathing, at least in training sessions (warm-ups, easy recovery/DPS or at the start of a descend set). Also, for drills, breath to your right side and work with a snorkel to check the side-to-side balance in your stroke. Another good drill is single arm stroke, breathing to the opposite side--making sure your catch stays outside the shoulder. A higher head position (drills only) will help you watch your hand entry and forces a wider entry.
On the very commendable side, your early vertical forearm catch is exemplary--that's where the power is! And your overall rotation and timing (the point of your video) is also excellent. I confess this analysis is very, very picky. And inch here, an inch there. But every swimmer can improve technique by minding the details.
People of the comment section, long time swimmer and swim coach here. Freestyle flutter kick is similar to the penalty kick in European Football (see, guys, I refuse to call it that ridiculous americanized name). Penalty kicks start with a hip movement (this is where core strength is important too!) and the knee uses that momentum to swing straight and kick the football. Most of us Europeans know football so I hope this helps!
Another thing. When I tried to emphasize my leg kick, my legs starts to bend from the knee. How to improve my kick so, that it starts from the hip?
The leg should bend and flex at the knee when putting more speed/force through the kick. To keep your hips involved as the primary driver for the kick focus on the body rotation. It is easy to stop rotating when focusing on your kick or anything else specifically. From this point its learning to feel the rotation and the flex working together.
Thank You for your reply, it would be easier for me to fly to the moon, than to do these things in the water with my legs.
I don't think that the kick does truly start from the hip. I think when using a big leg kick it does to an extent... but primarily the glutes.
essentially, i wouldn't over complicate it. Start with a pullbuoy and allow yourself to still kick, but think of it more as flicking your ankles with a little bend in the knee to help you rotate. This should help you with your feel for the rhythm.
@@Josh_lewis Thanks for your reply but I am afraid that this swimming thing will never happen for me. I can swim 2 million km legs with board, but it won't reflect in my freestyle swimming. Upper body and lower body just don't work together, there is no co-ordination.
@@bravosierra1000 Thanks for your reply but this rotation is another thing which is mystery to me. My body is not built for swimming, I am just too stiff.
Hello. I have very bad legs. 2 beat kick? But your legs are moving all the time.
There’s a few terminology errors here. The catch refers to the front quadrant of the underwater pull (where you “catch” the water), you’re losing a significant amount of water in this position.
Improving your shoulder strength under internal rotation will help fix this deficiency.
The portion of the stroke you’re referring to in the video is the “pull” phase.
Additionally, you’re having trouble articulating the timing between the leg and the hands because you’re focused on the wrong hand.
The downkick should be drilled with the opposite hand entering the water, whilst the pull should be drilled against the entry. This will allow you better connection through all your timing skills.
Also learn butterfly, it’s just freestyle with good timing.
There is a note at 3:10 that explains what I mean by catch. Which is effectively the same as yours.
I don’t disagree with shoulder strength helping, but I wouldn’t say I’m losing a significant amount of water, just in comparison to who this video is aiming to help.
And tbh i think that it’s very similar whether you choose same arm same leg or opposites, but I prefer this way around as it emphasises rotation rather than forward momentum. If you focus on both arm and leg from same side, that’s what helps you rotate. The recovery arm isn’t helping when it’s out of the water.
Both are correct, but just focusing on different things 🤷♂️
@@Josh_lewissorry dude but you’re completely back to front. You should maintain maximum internal rotation of the humeral head when entering the power phase of the pull. You are in full external rotation (dropped elbow) at this moment.
You will struggle to progress to higher levels of performance with these errors in tact
👍🏼
What is a pool boy
Could be someone who cleans pools? Haha if that’s what I said or it auto transcribed to, I meant pull buoy, which is a float you put between your legs
I found the more I think about my form the slower, worse, and more tired I become.
I think you might still be kicking too much. I've seen people swim very fast with only kicking 1 kicking per stroke. So right stroke, right kick, then left stroke, left kick. That's it. Not two kicks per stroke. So you don't kick left and right on just a right stroke. It should just be same arm and same leg. This will reserve energy in the legs and make you more stream line so it will reduce resistance. I adapted this and my swimming has increased to so much. I could never even swim 100m properly. Now I swim a kilometer with ease. There is another channel called skills N' talents. That guy break down the swim technique amazingly. He swims 100m in like a minute and 5 seconds using using that technique . But you swim awesome. I'm not pro swimmer lol. So you don't have to take my advice. However kicking less helped me massively..I also for some reason swim so much faster and for much longer.
Agreed, this is actually a video from earlier in the season and I've been working on mitigating too much kick since and think I'm a lot better at it now than in this video. It's obviously beneficial to have both assets in the locker, but the timing of that same arm's same leg was the real eye-opener in my opinion.
Sounds like you've got on really well with this technique though!
@@Josh_lewis cool man. I'm glad you have improved. All the swimming videos including yours is a motivation for me. I study the techniques by watching the videos lol. So thanks for sharing yours too. I actually have so much room to improve. However yes the two beat technique has definitely allowed me to swim in open water for longer distance. So I'm working on it. But I'm still trying to improve my rotation from my hips. Rotating side to side at the right angle will also help with streamline. I'm using a snorkel now just to do drills for things like that. Oh and another thing that helped me was hand paddles. The hand paddles was a game changer for me. Because with those paddles I swim super fast through the water and when we have speed then our legs lift up and we don't actually need to use our legs that much. This helped me to better my catch and in turn helped me to feel what it's like to glide through the water. So when I remove the hand paddles then I try to get that same swim feel where the water rushes off the skin and you just glide like flying. Then my feet follows my body and the water passes over my feet. This way I don't kick much. When I kick more than just flicking my feet then I feel the drag and I feel I actually swim slower. Sprinting is different. But for freestyle swim, the less feet the better. But like you mentioned. You have it figured out now💪 keep it up. Enjoy the swimming. Looking strong bro. Definitely motivates me. 😀
I noticed the two kicks per stroke vs. one kick per stroke, too.
I've only started swimming Jan 2023 and I was so so bad 170bpm and gasping after 50meters. Now with a two beat kick (one kick per stroke) I can swim 2200m easy 130bpm at 2:00/100m and have done a few at 1:50/100m but heart rate 140-150bpm
@@leslie7922 that is so awesome. I share your sentiments exactly. I felt the same way. My whole life I thought I was a good swimmer but I compared myself to no good swimmer lol. I just compared myself to anyone swimming at the beach or local swimming pools. But once I started to learn to swim. I realized I have been splashing in the water my whole life. Now when I go do my swim sessions. The lifeguards are so fascinated with my swimming that they all get into the pool to swim and practice with me lol. It's a good feeling to actually glide gracefully in the water. I'm very far from perfect but that feeling of flying in the water makes me so motivated and addicted to swimming now. I can't stop. Every gap I get, I go down to the pool to do drills and swim. But good on you for the swimming improvement. No one will understand what an achievement it Is for someone who couldn't really swim like a proper swimmer and then they practice and learn and become a competent swimmer. Don't necessarily have to be a pro. But just knowing that you can enjoy the water so much more and it's really a way to destress. That time in the pool is just a time of bliss. No thoughts about life No thoughts about any stresses. Just you focusing on the feeling of the water moving over your body. It's like flying. Amazing. I absolutely love it. But all the best with your swimming journey. Take care👍
But if you use 2 kick technique, doesn’t it make you get tired faster?
you swim a bit slower but you are spending less energy on kicking. Why should that make you tired faster?
The legs have the largest muscles in our body and therefore the more you use it the more oxygen (and energy) is expanded to maintain it. It's probably better to focus on maintaining a better streamline from finger to toe and the 2 kick technique helps keep the body on a horizontal plane
@@koklead7904 so it means for each stroke you do two kicks ?
Yes pretty much, the down beat to switch the hips around (same arm same leg, and then the second kick is both a stabiliser and propulsion)
@@Josh_lewis I will try this in my next session. Thank you!
Interesting, thanks! ... background music far too loud and extremely annoying, though!
Sorry about that! Hope it was still useful ☺️👍🏼
IMO you are under-rotating on your right/non breathing side. Also ideally the kick needs to be timed with rotation that starts from the core/hips. Lots of us use more of our arm drive forward to initiate rotation and that's less efficient than rotating from the hips
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I'll play devil's advocate here...
In a 1900 meter swim, "syncing" all that crap doesn't matter for 99% of triathlon athletes.
Here's how I trained for my first Olympic this past summer: Swim 2/3 the distance, comfortably, once a week for 6 weeks. I did all open water swimming, and didn't do any additional swimming. I didn't swim at all in the off-season because I don't like swimming in
💯 if you want to keep it simple that’s perfect and would definitely recommend. At the end of the day it’s just about doing the work. I think some people struggle with this more than others and maybe it’s useful for them as sometimes it just takes one cue to help with something they were struggling with… or may even make them faster.
mate, you look fast with it.What's your 100m time?
Thanks! I’m not actually a ‘fast’ swimmer… I’m pretty short and am trying to go against short term speed. That being said I think my pb is a 54… so not slow, but not a sub 50 🤷♂️
@@Josh_lewis that's very fast to the rest of us, bro
I didnt understand
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#1000 👍
I blow my bowls to create thrust in the pool.
why don't you time yourself, to see the improvements?
In what way? I time myself all the time on different reps. And also take lactic readings and HR to see relative efforts
@@Josh_lewis before and after implementing this technique. if it helps you have to gain speed.
I do not understand it :( The problem is English, too many specific swimming words.
Not so secret😅😂 Look at the "arrow swim" and Adam "ocean" walker.....
I feel as though it’s one of those if you know you know scenarios. But if it helps at least one person find it then it was worth the title 😅
@@Josh_lewis this technic change my (swimming) life....I was totaly exhauted after 100m and need to make a break....Now I can swim 5 km and more on the sea
yOU BE FAR MORE EFFICIENT IF YOU WERE OVER THE WATER INSTEAD OF UNDER IT AND SUCH A BOW TO THE TRUNK. Hands go UNDER the body,NOT to the side.
Could you explain a bit please, sounds like interesting advice but I can’t quite work out what you mean 🤓
@@Josh_lewis You are swimming underwater, get on top, hands enter the water ahead of the elbow, you are dropping your whole arm onto the water and pull UNDER the body. The further from centre the weaker the arm. Straighten the body out, you back end is so low in the water ,you should be straight body at water surface,you are about a foot underwater, so much drag.
This should’ve been a 2 minute video instead it took you four minutes to get to the point…
Yeh good point, I made it into a 60second one on Instagram as well to be fair so I’ll maybe meet halfway 😇
your're 40 year too late... :(
Josh, took a look at your vids, if anything your kick is late. If you are actually swimming as you describe, you videos don’t show it. Further, to much talking. Ugh, you guys that think you know how to teach swimming, but don’t, get my ire.
Thanks for the feedback Dale. Always nice to know there are easy areas to improve…
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