#swim faster

Is it the genital outline of the swimsuit? Or something else?

Just curious.

And also, pools are still super gross.

The only thing stopping me is that competitive swimming is a gendered sport unless you only swim club teams, and to be honest, if you only swim club you won't get very far.

Because I love swim meets and all the “freak out” moments. Because of the adrenaline before the race. Because of the feeling when I beat my personal best or when I win a medal. Because of the feeling when I don’t beat my PB. Because of the feeling after (hard) practice. Because of all my teammates. Because in front of my teammates I can be myself, I can tell whatever I want and they won’t judge me. Because of the fooling around on the swim meets and after practices. Because of the friends from other swim teams. Because of the sore muscles the next day. Because of the moment when the coach says that it’s dry-land training. Because of the after practices complainants. Because of the feeling when I get a new swim gear. Because of the morning practices. Because of the feeling when I dive in. Because of the feeling after I finish my race. 

Simply because I LOVE IT! <3

One of the fastest ways to improve in swimming is to add strength training to your program. This might bring back memories of ‘hitting the gym’ or dragging yourself out of bed on a cold, icy morning to exercise. Luckily things have changed.

It’s now possible to increase your strength and endurance without slugging away at the gym for hours. By being smart and doing the exercises which work specific muscles, you can save time and squeeze in quick exercises before a swimming session.

I traveled to Queensland to visit Australian swimmer Sam Ashby and see what he was doing for strength training. I discovered the exercises they had been doing:

Got results within days, not months like most gym programs

Didn’t take 2-3 days to recover from, so you could get into the pool and feel fresh and strong

Could be done almost anywhere so you weren’t restricted to only doing strength training at the gym

This meant that you didn’t need to hire an expensive personal trainer, you didn’t need an expensive gym equipent and best of all swimmers of any age could do the program and get results fast.

I confirmed that these were the strength workouts that Australia’s best swimmers were using when I chatted with Jeremy Saunders who trains with numerous Olympic swimmers.

Most of the exercises can be done without any equipment, but they also use swiss balls and strength bands.

This video shows three exercises you can do in under 5 minutes before any training session. It will build strength and increase power if you do it consistently for a few days.

Michael Phelps has awesome technique. He is the best swimmer in the world because he can travel through the water with speed, but stay relaxed and controlled at the same time (this is key guys’). There is more to Phelps than his technique though. Check it out in the great article by ESPN.

Michael Phelps article

The only other swimmer I think has rivaled Phelps in technique is former world champion Alex Popov.

Popov held the 50m freestyle world record before the Fastskin suits were introduced. If your a sprinter or a long distance swimmer, Popov is the ideal person to model in your swimming. The video above gives a great explaination of the freestyle stroke.

Caption: "Oh f*ck!!!!" Luckily for the diver, this is a whale shark. They only eat plankton and junk. But I imagine that's not what comes to mind when you're looking deep into its 10-foot wide, open mouth.