Welcome back to Part III of our series on Freestyle Breathing. In this part of our series, Coach Abbie decided to analyze one of the world’s FASTEST swimmers, Nathan Adrian, and help teach you the BIG difference between Nathan’s breath and the rest of the world’s! In case you missed Part II of this series, click here. Otherwise, let’s get started… Traditionally, coaches have always taught swimmers to breathe in
Welcome back to Part II of our series on Freestyle Breathing! This week we will be discussing the 2 DIFFERENT technique styles of Freestyle breathing and more specifically, the timing of the breath. In case you missed last week’s post, which discussed HOW-TO breathe while swimming (not just in Freestyle), click here to read that. Otherwise, let’s get started! As most of you all were taught, the breath in Freestyle
Have you ever wondered what the proper Freestyle breathing technique is? Did you know there’s actually more than 1-way to BREATHE in Freestyle? In Swim Like A. Fish’s latest series, we are dissect all aspects of breathing in Freestyle and more! Freestyle breathing is a FUNDAMENTAL component to having an efficient stroke. Just like we discussed in our breathing series, having a swimmer get a consistent source of oxygen is
Whether your a new swimmer, triathlete, or a competitive swimmer, everyone struggles with Freestyle Kick. Most athletes are not born with an innate ability to plantar flex their feet. In fact, everything we do outside the water contradicts what we do inside the water. Below are 3 quick tips to help improve your kicking speed and ankle flexibility–fast! 1.) Improve Your Plantar Flexibility Performing an ankle stretch to increase plantar
Welcome to Part III, our final segment about how amazingly awesome the pinky finger is! This week, we are going to dive even deeper into how your pinky finger affects your lower extremities (not just your Freestyle Pull). Last week we introduced the POS system. (Yes–it’s definitely a better idea to read Part’s I & II if you haven’t before continuing on ) Once again, the POS system is composed of the gluteus maximus, latissimus dori, and
Last week, we touched on why it’s important to engage your Pinky Finger during the Freestyle Pull. I would recommend reading Part I before Part II, as you will have a better understanding of this application. This week, I’d like to dive deeper into this subject and specifically focus on why properly engaging your pinky and ring fingers during the Freestyle Pull–actually makes your Freestyle Pull stronger. Let’s do a test. Stand
A lot of times swimmers have issues with their hand entry at the beginning of their Freestyle pull. As coaches, we see may swimmers crossing-over their body, entering with their thumb, slapping the water up top–a complete spectrum of different entry types. All of these entries, besides the ideal one (we will get to that one in a second) affect how much water a swimmer can pull during Freestyle. Why?
Why yes, in fact, they can. Fun fact: Flamingos can fly up to 40mph, but need a significant amount of momentum before their feet can leave the ground. Have you ever seen a Flamingo start running before they take flight? Enough of that, back to swimming Last week, we covered the Flamingo drill and what muscle strength is needed for a successful Breaststroke kick. If case you missed Part I of this series, click
The Breaststroke kick has an extensive history of being the hardest kick to teach age-groupers. Some kids are born with the ability to point their toes away from their body and some we teach over and over again. The movement required in a Breaststroke kick is not natural and requires repetition after repetition until the swimmer gets it right. I’m sure many of you have heard a Breaststroke kick explained
Excuse my language (it is very inappropriate)–but it got your attention didn’t it? How many times have you heard or said, “I can run for miles, but I can’t kick for one!” On my end, this situation has happened more times than I can count. I’ve worked with many top level triathletes and marathon runners who struggle with Freestyle kicking, even though they spend hours on their legs outside the