Training To Swim Faster

Whether you are training for competitions, you are an enthusiastic swimmer or you are using swimming as an activity to keep yourself fit and healthy a question you probably regularly ask yourself is; how can I swim faster?

‘Swimming faster’ is a very general term as there are different levels and types of fitness that athletes are trying to attain. For example, someone competing in a 100m freestyle event would need to train very differently to someone doing 800m freestyle in order to reduce their time to completion.

The reason for the different types of training is that a 100m sprint would require more muscular power over a short period of time whereas an 800m sprint would require less muscular power and more muscular endurance, as energy output is over an extended period of time.

Thus training needs to be specific for the requirements of your swimming fitness. Swimming for short periods of time requires muscular strength and power and swimming for extended periods of time requires training for muscular endurance.

There are three main ways that you can improve your speed through the water:

Reducing drag

– Making sure that your body is as streamlined as possible. You can do this by trying to lengthen your body as much as possible whilst swimming. The theory behind it is that a long, slender object will move through the water with much less turbulence than a short, stubby one (imagine the shape of a naval submarine.)

Conditioning

– Weight training is an excellent way to improve speed in the water. Compound exercises are very useful as, like swimming, they involve the use of many muscle groups as opposed to isolating a single muscle. Examples of compound exercises are: Bench press, Press ups, Pull ups, Lat pull downs, Squats and the Plank. These exercises will help you to improve balance and rotation in the water making you more streamlined. Plus the increase in muscle should allow you to pull stronger for longer.

Technique

– Can be considered the most important factor when it comes to moving more efficiently through the water. Not only does the correct technique make you swim faster, it also helps to reduce drag therefore making you faster. A good way to see how effective your technique is is to do a stroke count. A stroke count is the amount of strokes it takes you to complete a length. Do a few lengths so you can get a quick average and then try to reduce that amount.

These are the main ways of improving swimming speed, however there are many ways to improve your efficiency and speed through the water. My suggestion would be to experiment, try new drills, if they don't work be creative and find new ways to improve. Swimming isn’t just about doing laps!

All the best, Anthony.