TRIATHLON TIPS: Improving swimming Technique with the FINIS Swimmers Snorkel

One of my masters swimmers once described learning how to swim as “learning to break dance on the back of a moving horse!” I love this description because it drives home the point that swimming involves learning to do many difficult tasks at the same time. You have to learn proper body stability. You have to learn to keep your core aligned and rotating properly. You have to learn how to have a nice high elbow catch. You have to learn a proper kick that is in rhythm with your upper body…….the list goes on as long as you can imagine, and oh yea, don’t forget that while doing all of these complicated actions simultaneously there is one very important thing you have to do. You have to breathe! Breathing is the moving horse in the description above. It’s the one task that can mess up all the complex actions of the break dancing.

This all brings up a simple question. Wouldn’t it be easier to learn how to break dance if you could do it on solid ground instead of the back of a moving horse? Wouldn’t it be easier to learn all the complex actions of a good swimming stroke without having to worry about breathing? Imagine how much more relaxed you could be in the water if you weren’t constantly fighting for that next breath.

Now you may be thinking, “great, what do we do, swim with scuba gear on?” Well…..kind of. Allow me to introduce you to the training tool that has benefited my swimming and coaching more than any other. The Finis swimming snorkel.

This amazing snorkel takes the breathing out of the picture so we can focus on the many aspects of a good stroke. Then when we swim without the snorkel it is much easier to continue the good habits we have learned by using the snorkel. The following is an explanation of how I use the snorkel personally and with my athletes.

I base all of my swimming technique on 5 key principals, and I use the Finis snorkel to focus on each of them. Here is an explanation of my “BIG 5” and how I practice each with the snorkel.

1. Proper Body Stability (Get “Flat”)
2. Core alignment and rotation driving the stroke
3. 90 degree high elbow catch
4. Front quadrant swimming
5. Consistent kick

1. Proper Body Stability
Correct body position is by far the single most important principal of swimming. What we are looking for here is putting our bodies in a position that will create the least amount of drag possible as we cut through the water. To envision this position, imagine standing straight up and down with your back, heels and the back of your head against the wall. You should be looking straight forward. Now tip that picture 90 degrees and make the wall the surface of the water. This is where we begin with the most basic drill using the snorkel I call the stomach kick. Click the following link to see video of the stomach kick.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel Stomach Kick focus point:

1. You should feel the air on the back of your head all the way down your back and down the backs of your legs and your heels should be breaking the surface of the water as you kick.
2. Try to imagine swimming downhill in order to get your legs to the surface.
3. Notice that the head is not tilted forward or back and the swimmer is looking straight at the bottom of the pool.

The next step is to be able to maintain this “flat to the surface” position while being on your side. This is where the side kick with the snorkel comes in.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel Side Kick focus point:

1. You should feel the air on the back of your head all the way down your side and down the side of your leg. The entire arm from shoulder to finger tips should be out of the water.
2. Try to imagine swimming downhill in order to get your legs to the surface.
3. Notice that the head is still looking straight down at the bottom of the pool and is not tilted forward or back.
   

2. Core alignment and rotation driving the stroke.
Once you have achieved proper “Flat” body position. The next step is to be able to maintain this position while rotating from side to side, but there is another catch in the works now. Just as we don’t want our legs and hips dragging towards the bottom of the pool, we also don’t want them to be swinging from side to side. To envision this try to imagine a surf board that has been cut in half and then connected back together with a piece of rope or chain.

While both halves will stay flat to the surface like we want there will be plenty of side to side swinging that will cause drag. Now if our bodies are the surf board, our waist is where we are cut in half and can swing from side to side across the top of the water. The key to holding our surf board together is core alignment A.K.A aligning the spine. Here is how you can feel it on land first.

Lay on your back on the floor with your knees slightly bent. Notice that the small of your lower back is probably off the ground. Flatten this part of your back to the floor. Finally, hold this position and slowly straighten your legs.

Remember this feeling! This is the feeling you should have when your core/spine is aligned as you swim. At this point it is best to go back and do the snorkel stomach kick drill and the snorkel side kick drill while trying to get into the aligned core/spine position. Once you have this down it is time to rotate with the snorkel roll drill.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel Roll focus point:

1. Take your time and try to make the motion as smooth as possible with no ratcheting movement.
2. Try to imagine swimming downhill in order to keep your legs on the surface.
3. Try to keep a tight aligned core to avoid side to side swinging from the waist.

Now it is time to let this rotation drive the stroke. The following drill called the Snorkel under water swim drill allows us to feel this without having to actually swim yet. Basically you swim normally but instead of bring your hand out over the top of the ater for each stroke, you return it to the front under water.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel Under Water Swim focus points:

1. Try to imagine holding on to the water with the outstretched arm and letting your rotation drive the stroke back.
2. Try to imagine swimming downhill in order to keep your legs on the surface.
3. Try to keep a tight aligned core to avoid side to side swinging from the waist.

3. 90 degree high elbow catch
In the last drill we focused on holding on to the water while the rotation does the work for us. Now we want to go more in depth here and focus on how we hold on to the water with a 90 degree catch. Here is a picture of my favorite swimmer displaying the 90 degree catch.

To practice this we use what I call the Snorkel one arm catch drill.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel One Arm Catch focus points:

1. Be sure to roll far enough that the stroking hand goes past the outstretched hand
2. Focus on getting the catch before rotating.
3. Hold the 90 degrees as long as possible.

4. Front Quadrant Swimming
The best swimmers always have one hand out in front of them at all times. This allows them to be shaped more like a torpedo and cut through the water better. To understand this better imagine that you just finished a stroke with your right arm and your right hand is coming out of the water by your hip. At this point, many swimmers will already be starting the stroke with the left arm before the right arm is even swinging forward. This causes the swimmer to roll to a stomach down position and the chest is already plowing through the water like a fat tug boat. Also half of the rotation that should drive the left arm’s stroke is already gone! Now imagine if that left arm stays out in front longer. The body is shaped more like a missile. The right arm is swinging forward creating momentum. Finally, just a moment before the right hand enters the water, the left arm catches and a full rotation from left side down to right side down drives the stroke. This is front quadrant swimming. My favorite drills to practice this are the Snorkel Catch Up drill and the Snorkel Throw drill.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel Catch Up Drill focus points:

1. Don’t take the next stroke until the thumbs touch each other.
2. Stay on your side as long as possible before taking the next stroke and let the roll drive the stroke.
3. Remember to get a nice high elbow catch.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel Throw Drill focus points:

1. Pause for just a moment before putting the hand in the water.
2. Throw the hand into the water to create momentum for the roll.
3. Remember to get a high elbow catch.

5. Consistent kick
The icing on the cake to all of this stroke and body work is a nice consistent kick. One of the most common problems I see in the many swimmers I work with is a “stutter” in the kick. Usually it happens right around the time they take a breath. The kick stops just long enough for them to lift their head and take a breath and then it starts back up again. There are several things wrong with this. First of all the kick provides propulsion, and stopping and starting over and over isn’t very efficient. Secondly the kick helps your body roll from side to side. This is one of the reasons the stutter kicker is forced to lift their head out of the water to breath because it is harder for them to roll. Finally the kick provides the swimmer with a rudder which helps keep the legs from swinging from side to side. My favorite drill to practice keeping a consistent kick is called the Snorkel stroke kick and glide.

[ View Video ]

Snorkel stroke kick and glide focus points:

1. After each stroke keep your arm at your side and kick on your side for as long as comfortable.
2. While taking each stroke focus on keeping your kick nice and constant.
3. During each stroke remember to let your body roll do the work for you.

Swimming can be a very enjoyable and wonderful sport, but without the right technique it can quickly become an exercise in survival. Thanks to the Finis snorkel it is now much easier to learn proper swimming technique in a relaxing and non threatening way. I hope that these drills and the snorkel will boost your confidence and performance for the 2006 season. If you are interested in ordering a snorkel, my friends at Finis have been generous enough to allow me to offer a discounted rate to all of my subscribers.

To order using the discount simply visit http://store.finisinc.com/login.aspx and when prompted enter the following:

User Name: howie
Password: endurance

Happy Swimming!