Make Swim Training Effective and Fun

   There are generally two types of people who seek out swim help for their triathlon swim (and become Tri Swim Coach subscribers!):

A) Novice. This person hardly swims. They have not done a race yet or have done one but floundered. They may sink when trying to kick on their side. Or they may not be able to swim at all!

B) Advanced Beginner/Intermediate: This person has done a few races but feels like they don't "get" the swim portion. They feel like they don't have the endurance and feel wiped out after a long swim.

Both A & B types should spend some time on the basic drillshttps://www.giliidc.com/: kicking on your side and shark fin drill. These will help to improve your balance in the water, which ALL of us, as humans, need to work on.

However, A-types should spend more time on these basic drills. Keep practicing until you feel more balanced in the water. Use Zoomers fins at first. Take a whole month to master these drills if you have to before moving on to more advanced drills and swimming sets.

B-types should move on to more advanced drills after working on the basics for a week or two. The focus should shift to Fist drill and Fingertip Drag to further improve stroke technique. At this point you can start mixing in some swimming.

Here's a general sample training program for each type:

A-Type Triathlete (Novice)

14-week training plan for next race.

Weeks 1-2: Side kicking and shark fin drills (no swimming!)

Weeks 3-4: Practice the more advanced drills with some swimming mixed in (75% drills, 25% swimming)

Weeks 5-6: Drills combined with swimming (50% drills, 50% swimming), while building yardage slowly.

Weeks 7-10: Work on building up yardage, and on some interval training (75% swimming, 25% drills)

Weeks 11-12: Continue to build yardage, and work on intervals (80% swimming, 20% drills)

Weeks 13-14: Taper. Back off intensity and yardage (80% swimming, 20% drills)

B-Type Triathlete (Advanced Beginner/Intermediate)

12-week training plan for next race.

Weeks 1-2: Start with basic balance drills and move to more advanced drills, slowly adding in swim strokes (80% drills, 20% swimming)

Weeks 3-6: Build yardage. (75% swimming, 20% drills)

Weeks 7-10: Peak training. Keep building your yardage, and lowering your intervals. (90% swimming, 10% drills)

Weeks 11-12: Taper. Back off yardage and intervals. Focus on technique. (90% swimming, 10% drills)

Keep in mind, never sacrifice technique for speed! If you feel your stroke is slipping or if you are not ready to advance to the next level, keep hammering the drills! There is no hurry!

The above are very generalized training plans. You will have to be the judge and adjust accordingly for your level and your goals.

The upcoming interactive log product will help organize your plan further, but you can start now with the plans and drills in the Complete Guide.

Happy training!

The triathlon swim is the one that gets most people; you might be able to run 5k in under 18 minutes or do 20k

in just over 32mins, but if you cannot do the front crawl with proper breathing techniques then you will lose a lot of time.

Winter is a great time to get your core fitness back and work on the things that you are poor at like swimming. If you are like me and you could swim but badly then you need to get lessons, it is very hard to do the right things by yourself. The problem with getting swimming lessons I find is that a lot of the guys that do the lessons are not really that good at teaching swimming; in fact my first teacher could barely swim 2 lengths of a 25 metre pool. And after a few lessons, He told me that my technique was perfect, which was far from the truth. My advice is to try and get a good swimming instructor.

I gave up the swimming lessons and joined a swimming club; although I was poor at the start the instructor was excellent. I improved very quickly in a few weeks. So my advice is to:

1. Get swimming lessons

2. But try to locate a good swimming coach. Ring your local swimming club

3. Join a swimming club, even if just for the winter months, this is were you will improve the most.

Try and get to the pool maybe 3-4 times a week if even only for a few months. You will work new muscles

that you have not worked before, and although for the first month or so you might be sore you will soon get used to swimming.

Start out slowly and try and improve your technique before your distance or speed, as with bad technique you are only using more effort to get to each end of the pool. Also if your event is say 750 metres or 30 lengths of the pool. Do not swim 30 lengths of the pool every time you train. As you body will become accustomed to it and you will not see much improvement, the best way you can improve is to do sets, this will improve your speed to. If you are swimming in a club you will more than likely be doing this, an example of a set would be:

300 metre 12 lengths. 1min rest 70% effort

2* 200 metre 8 lengths 1min rest 75% effort

2*100 metres 4 length 80% effort

2* 50 metre 2 lengths 90%

2* 25 metres 1 length 100% all out effort

Again you will need to change the sets to help yourself improve

One of the biggest problems with swimmers is their choice of goggles. I have been threw so many brands, had so many leaks. Nowadays a lot of triathletes are using the Aquasphere range of Goggles, they do masks, normal goggles and tinted versions for open water swimming.

If you are serious about swimming then I would advice you to look into getting a pair of these AquaSphere Goggles! [http://www.aquaspheregoggles.com/] In Regards to the triathlon circuit the AquaSphere range [http://www.aquaspheregoggles.com/] are nearly the norm now for triathlons, also nearly every member in my club uses them.

Swimming is a fitness activity whose benefits are recognized by millions of practitioner all over the world. Exercising in the water, whether it is swimming or  water aerobics is an excellent physical training for everybody, teenager and elderly citizens, pregnant women and well fit men, overweight people and people recovering from an injury. If you are thinking about starting any fitness activity do not look anywhere else than at your local swimming pool. Keep reading to know why I am advocating so much in favor of the benefits of swimming.

Easy on the joints and effective on the muscles

Because of the support the water gives to your body, training in the swimming pool is like training in a weightless environment. Your joints and ligaments are not stressed as much as in other dry-land fitness activities such as jogging or tennis. Swimming is therefore a sport virtually free from injuries. Nevertheless, all the muscles of your body are trained very effectively. Because all the swimming movements are gentle and performed with stretched muscles, while you train your strengths and endurance  you also train the muscles flexibility. If you start swimming now, you will find yourself stronger and more flexible in a matter of few weeks.

Cardiovascular fitness benefits

Swimming activates all the major muscle groups in your body, but the benefits of swimming go further than just muscle strength. Regular swimmers get an overall conditioning which includes a great improvement on their cardiovascular system. Even just training twice or three times a week you will increase your lactate threshold. This means, your lungs and your heart will be able to support your body during the training effort with more oxygen and a more efficient use of it to fuel your muscles. You will then be able to train harder and improve further or simply to last longer doing any physical exercise. A better fitness level in your body will bring great benefits to your life balance. You will lower your sugar levels, burn calories, and feel mentally stronger to face the challenges of your daily life.

Burn calories

Because swimming activates all the major muscle groups in your body it burns more calories than jogging. Not only that, but being easy on your ligaments you won't get injured as much as going jogging and you will be able to keep up your training throughout the year because you will keep being healthy. To lose weight however, common sense needs to be applied. Training is essential, and the benefits of swimming for losing weight are clear, but you need to keep in mind that you will lose weight only if you burn more calories than you take in. So watch your diet and distribute the meals wisely during the day. A good advice is to try to wait a couple of hours before and after the training session for having something to eat, eat only healthy food and do not forget to drink plenty of water also during your training.   

Swimming During Pregnancy

All Doctors would recommend you to do some mild physical exercise during pregnancy. Walking, practicing yoga, or participating to some soft aerobics class for pregnant women are usually considered activities pregnant women can benefit from. Because of the peculiarities swimming has, pregnant women can benefits greatly by including a soft but regular swimming fitness routine in their life. Swimming trains very effectively the upper part of the body including your back. Your back needs to be strong to sustain the weight of your prominent belly. The best stroke to swim while you are pregnant is breaststroke. Breaststroke does not require rotation of the torso and thus it is more comfortable to do with a big belly. Even if a light training is generally advisable for all pregnant women, you should always ask your Doctor before starting exercising. Your main target with the training should be to maintain your level of fitness and not improving your swimming performance.

How to Get Started

If you feel ready to get started I would recommend you to go and check out what kind of activities are offered by your local swimming pool. You can start with getting a teacher to introduce you to the swimming techniques, in case you are a beginner, or join a master team if you want to train more and maybe have some fun competing. I would also advice you to just get to the swimming pool and plan your own training. There is plenty of information on the Internet and plenty of nice swimming training programs available for you to follow.

One resource I would recommend for information, suggestions and free coaching is [http://effectivewaterfitness.com]. There you can find all you need to get started with swimming as a fitness activity or to improve your swimming performance if your are more advanced. Download the "4 weeks swimming training plan" for free at [http://effectivewaterfitness.com/4-weeks-swimming-workout/]. This training plan is designed to make progress your swimming technique and your physical fitness level easily and effectively in only 4 weeks. Start now and enjoy the benefits of swimming for the rest of your life.