In order to be effective, swim training must be targeted. However, the overwhelming number of articles preaching "must do" drills and "must have" toys clouds the waters. While supposedly working to help with targeted training, this proliferation of mediocre recommendations (ones that all too often come without a complete explanation of their foundations) only blurs an athlete's aim.
Forget all the gadgets, drills, and carefully crafted sets for a minute. In order to understand the path to improvements, it is important to first understand the forces at play in the water. To swim faster an athlete must decrease drag and/or increase propulsion. While all swimmers would benefit by making improvements to both of these areas, the order in which those improvements are made is important. Most athletes who do not come from a competitive swimming background must address the issue of drag before moving on to propulsive forces. Doing the opposite will almost surely lead to frustration and a lack of progress.
Why?
Body and head position is a major limiter for most triathletes and adult onset swimmers. The result of poor positioning magnifies the impact of drag on the athlete. Attempting to increase propulsion while in this suboptimal position will lead to improper stroke mechanics, injury, and will not produce the intended results. Moreover, attempting to address multiple areas simultaneously prior to adjusting body position will cause these same problems. Proper alignment in the water is the foundation to an efficient stroke and fast(er) swimming. A balanced position sets the swimmer up in a place to implement other good habits that will continue to reduce drag and increase propulsion.
Next steps
If possible, work with a swim/stroke coach. Ideally, the coach will capture video footage of your stroke in order to identify individual areas of weakness and provide remedies. A quality coach will get footage from multiple angles and be able to highlight specific phases of the stroke that need to be tweaked. When providing this feedback, the coach should also be able to tell you exactly why they are asking you to complete certain drills or use swim aids. If a coach does not provide this information up front, ask anyway.
A second step to your progress is to ignore what your friends and lane mates are doing. Do not simply do drills or use tools because you see (or read about in an article/saw on YouTube) someone else doing them. Drills are a wonderful thing, but only if they are done properly and used to address issues actually existing in the individual's stroke. Rather than copy what others are doing because you are not sure what to do on your own, ask for help from someone in the know. A poorly executed drill, or the wrong drill for a stroke flaw, can make matters worse instead of propelling a swimmer toward success.
Finally, slow down. Yes, go slow in order to eventually go fast. This applies to both the speed with which an athlete actually completes the drill and to the length of time spent on each drill (measured in training sessions, not minutes) before moving to the next. Rushing the process or the drill itself will not allow for the right adjustments to be implemented. Good habits take time to build just as poor habits take time to undo.
Though there are many great drills out there to address body position and other drag-related issues, I will not highlight them here. In line with the theme of this article, I will not recommend any individual drill to athletes without knowing more about their stroke and the issues they are facing. Doing so would contradict everything written above. That said, we at K2 Performance are available for questions should you have them and would be happy to discuss your swim training and possible solutions to any problems you're experiencing with your stroke.
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