3 Swimming Drills You Should Master Before Your Next Triathlon
3 Swimming drills to master for your next triathlon:
1. Close your fists and swim freestyle. This helps improve your stroke technique, even if it does feel strange at first. You’ll feel awkward and clumsy, but doing this forces you to use proper hip rotation as you move through the water. Do two laps with fists and two laps straight freestyle, alternating for the set.
2. Six kicks per stroke – take one stroke, extend your arm out, and then kick six times on your side. The take one stroke with the other arm and kick six times on the opposite side. This makes you stay on your side, and gets you used to doing so.
3. Three quarters catchup – start your hip rotation as soon as your hand slices into the water. Touch your ear with your thumb if you need to, on the way by in recovery. This will help you to signal a switch from one side to the other. This drill is similar to the catchup drill where you touch your hands in front of you with each stroke.
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Practice drills or build endurance?
What should your focus in swimming be?
It really depends on what level swimmer you are.
If you’re:
-A new swimmer
-Still swimming flat in the water with no hip rotation
or
-Plateauing or having a tough time making gains
then I would recommend 90-100% of your time spent in the water to be practicing drills! It sounds extreme, but if you want to make significant improvements in the water, you have to make some short-term sacrifices to make bigger gains in the long run.
This massive amount of drills isn’t meant to last forever. True beginners will likely have to keep drill work at a high level for several weeks. More advanced swimmers may just need a few days of intensive drill work to get past a hurdle. Think of it more as a “boot camp” for your swim stroke.
As you begin to improve, you can start backing off on the drills and start adding on more yardage and endurance work. Never let go of drills altogether, there are benefits to doing the more advanced swimming drills even if you are Michael Phelps!
I recommend even if you have your swim completely handled to continue doing about 10-15% of your workout as drills.
