“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”
- Albert Einstein
Coach Al along with elite swim coach and Masters World Champion, Karlyn Pipes
Hi Everyone! Coach Al here. I’ve got a quickie for you today, talking swim technique and common mistakes I see in developing triathletes.
As many of you know, for novices (and even for those who have experience) the swim portion of a triathlon is often THE segment of the race that creates the most amount of anxiety and nervousness. As a result, many triathletes spend countless hours doing drills up and down the pool to improve their technique, hoping that the changes they learn and practice WILL make the swim portion of the race easier come race day.
The problem becomes, what if you’re not working on the right skills or worse, grooving less-than-optimal form, in your attempts to improve?
In my experience, there are two mistakes that I see over and over again, that are arguably the most common mistakes. Today I shot a quick video so you can see for yourself.
Ironically, the 2nd mistake I point out is very likely one of the reasons why the 1st mistake is often happening and therefore difficult to correct.
To summarize, if you roll excessively to the side, not much else matters! Why? Because there really is no way you can get into a good catch from an “all-of-the-way-onto-your-side” position, without first returning or rolling back to a more prone position. And, rather than feeling fast or stable, you may actually feel the exact opposite.
Want to learn more? Check out this great video from Vasa (and elite swim coach Karlyn Pipes) on Better Freestyle Body Rotation.
And here’s another: In this video, Karlyn discusses fingertip orientation. Check it out.
Go other questions? Hit me up on our Pursuit Athletic Performance Facebook page!
Happy Swimming!
~Coach Al
ps: if you’d like to learn more about Karlyn and the services she offers designed to help you improve, go to her website here!
pss: we are HUGE fans of the Vasa Ergometer here at Pursuit Athletic Performance. Very few swim training tools offer a larger bang-for-your-buck than the Vasa. Check them out if you want to take your swim to the next level.
