Keep Your Core Connected

It is simple physics. The more you keep your body inline, core connected, the more efficient you will be moving through the water. Regardless of the stroke you are swimming, it pays to keep this simple fact in mind.

We have all seen swimmers that snake back an forth in the water during freestyle of backstroke. Likewise we have seen the fly swimmer who rears clear out of the water just to dive down deep for the next stroke. Or perhaps it was a breastroker who bobbed her head up and down like a chicken through each stroke cycle. These are all examples of swimmers who are not keeping their strokes connected.

Think of the plastic or wooden toy snake. With all of those hinges through it's body you can see that if you tried to push it through the water that it would just coil up and not go very far in the water. All of the energy of the forward motion in the water gets absorbed into the coil of the snake... energy is lost. That lost energy greatly diminishes efficiency. By improving your body's connectivity you will improve your efficiency... that means more speed in your swimming.

Take a toy torpedo. The kind you find in backyard pools and bathtubs. These rubber toys are a great example of efficiency in the water. When you push or throw one of these through the water, they really go! The rigid design allows nearly all of the forward energy of the release to go into forward motion of the torpedo... very efficient!

When swimming you want to keep your core (head through the upper leg) connected as much as possible. It does not matter which stroke you are doing... stay connected.

In, long axis strokes (Free and Back) it means rotating along the length of your body, keeping your arms and hands moving along the long axis (not swinging out wide from your body or crossing it's center axis), and allowing no hip sway, head drop/lift, etc.

In the short axis strokes (Breast and Fly) it means keeping head, shoulders, abdomen, and upper legs in line. In these strokes we want to avoid extreme height or depth. We want to keep from lifting our heads independent of our bodies, or arching at the back/bending at the waste. Undulations in fly should be tight, powerful, and quick.

The bottom line is that we want all movement in our strokes to lead to some sort of propulsion. Body movement that does not create, result from, or lead to propulsion is likely a waste of energy and efficiency.

When in doubt...stretch it out

Tip: When coming into a finish or an open turn keep your body extended, outstretched, with your body in line. Try to time the finish/turn so that you arrive at the wall just as you reach forward toward the end of a stroke. If you have room for one more full stroke...take it. If you are not sure that you have room for another stroke...reach and, if it is stroke appropriate, kick with all of your might.

Despite Michael Phelps' near miss success in the 100m fly at the last Olympics, it is still best to be completely stretched at the finish of a race. In the finals of the Olympic 100m fly Phelps took an incomplete stroke to beat his opponent, Milorad Cavic, who appeared stretched out. In the photos to the Phelps is on the left and Cavic is on the right.

Upon closer review you can see that Cavic had his head lifted going into his finish and he was, relatively speaking, casually gliding into the wall. I have no doubt that if Cavic had stretched his finish, with his head down, while continuing to kick, he would have beat Phelps'.

Phelps capitalized on Cavic's mistake by taking the partial stroke. Phelps got away with a huge mistake!

Don't rely on the mistakes of your competition. When in doubt...stretch it out!