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Written by Marc Grabisch, Photographs by Ron Amato and Dennis O’Clair

Models – Amity Hall and Marc Grabisch

Relax, stay long and smooth, breathe and of course, pull!  Don't fight the water, flow with it.

I can’t tell you how many people I’ve taught over the years who fight against the water, fight against breathing and consequently fight against themselves (though they may not know it).  Granted, water is not the most comfortable medium for us land mammals, but it is a necessary (evil to some) component of triathlon.  And, you know what they say, if you can’t beat them, join them.  So, you’ve got to learn how to flow with the water and let your momentum carry you through the swim with fluidity, efficiency and even power.  Now you ask, how can we accomplish this? 

Relax…For starters, try not to be tense.  All those isometrically contracting muscles that don’t contribute anything to your propulsion just keep you stiff, as opposed to streamlined and relaxed.  They also waste precious energy and scarce oxygen.  Learn to relax and loosen all those tight muscles.  You’ll find that you will not need to breathe as frequently (or desperately), be better able to get more roll and reach out in the front of your stroke as your arm enters the water.  This will make you more streamline (by reducing your cross-section in the water, minimizing drag) and hopefully smoother in the water.  Yes, beginning to flow with it, not fight it.  You will also be in a better position to start your pull and get more power out of it. 

Another way to reduce the oxygen demand and to save energy is to kick less.  Often, a person’s kick does not significantly help their forward motion.  Actually, in many cases it works against them by creating unnecessary drag, or, in rare cases, even creating reverse propulsion.  Yes, I’ve seen people kick backwards.  However, the large muscles in your legs use a lot of oxygen and energy regardless of whether they are helping your forward progress or not.  Allowing these muscles to relax and work less should also keep you less desperate for air and save you valuable energy for the bike and run portions of a triathlon. 

Breathe…Now that you are less stiff and not contracting all those muscles unnecessarily, you should be able to breathe more easily as you will not be demanding as much oxygen to keep those muscles contracted.  Another important aspect about breathing is that you should do it as often as you need, so learn to get comfortable with it.  A big mistake many people make is that they hold their breath for 3 – 4 strokes or more and then are desperate for air when they try to breathe.  Usually this means lifting their heads which then drops their body position in the water creating a lot of drag in the process.  This desperation for air usually also results in inhaling large gulps of water making it difficult to continue.

So, practice your breathing.  The more comfortable you feel when turning your head to breathe, the more relaxed you will be in the water and the better you will be able to keep your muscles supplied with oxygen so they can stay aerobic and keep you going.  Of course if it is comfortable for you to breathe every 3^rd stroke (bilaterally, meaning to alternate sides that you breathe to every 3 strokes), all the better.  This keeps your stroke more balanced and works the muscle groups on both your right and left sides more evenly.  Plus it is more streamline and therefore more efficient.

The ability to breathe to both sides is also a big bonus when it comes to open water swimming.  Depending on which direction the wind and the waves are coming from, this ability to breathe to either side can mean the difference between a breath of fresh air and a mouthful of water.  For the same reason, it can come in very handy for sighting. 

Pull…Hard!  Finally, now that you are longer and smoother, more efficient, and able to comfortably and continuously supply those muscles with oxygen, you need to get some power from your pull to propel you through the water.  In order to do this, you need to engage the large muscles in your back such as your lats and rhomboids.  Also, by incorporating more roll into your stroke, you engage your core muscles which help you gain leverage and power through your pull.

The proper form for the pull is to keep your elbow high in front and pretend that you are reaching your forearm over a barrel.  This is the “catch” phase and sets you up for the power phase of the pull where, once your arm is at about a 90 degree angle at the elbow, you push all that water straight back – underneath your body without crossing your body’s centerline along its long axis (splits your body in half from head to toe) and then past your hips (this last part is like a tricep extension) before your arm begins the recovery above the water.  It is very important that you don’t just pull with a straight arm and push most of that water down rather than back or that you do not pull too wide, outside the body, rather than underneath it.  The best way to get a feel for this is to go to the deep end of a pool and try to pull your body out of the water with your hands on the deck.  Start from under the water where your arms are completely extended over your head and slightly narrower than shoulder width apart (as if you are performing a regular pull up).  Then, pull yourself up and, if you can, completely out of the water to where your arms are fully extended again and your hips are out of the pool.  Typically, when people pull themselves out of the pool, they automatically put their arms in the position where they can get the most leverage and power, exactly what you want when you are swimming.

I see many people who stroke through the water but never really pull it.  To be sure that you are pulling properly, you should feel pressure against your arms, in your armpits and down your sides.  You should think about each pull as if it were a one arm pull up.  If performed properly, after a long, hard swim, you may even experience difficulty lifting your arms over your head due to soreness.  If you experience this, congratulations!  Chances are you were doing it right!  Of course, with proper training, these muscles will become more conditioned and you will experience this less and less.

Now, with your relaxed more streamlined body position (longer with more roll), steady supply of oxygen and more powerful pull, you should be flowing rather than fighting with the water and on your way to swimming faster and maybe even with less effort.  Of course for most, it takes practice and patience, lots of patience.

For more tips, to have your stroke critiqued and analyzed with video analysis (actual video will be of higher quality, from multiple vantage points and include split screen comparisons) check out our training options Contact Us.