I hope you enjoyed Part 1 diagnosing some common swimming problems.

Here’s part 2

4. Finding Balance In The Water

If you didn’t grow up around a Swimming pool, being able to balance and
float in the water can seem scary at first. Immediately we
imagine ourselves sinking rapidly to the bottom because we
believe we are too heavy and there is no way we could possibly
stay on top of something that isn’t a solid.
The opposite is in fact true. We were meant to float!

The human body consists of 55-70% water and our lungs can pretty
much keep the rest of us afloat. When our lungs fill with air,
they are able to maintain us on top of the water.
Being able to manage the buoyancy of our lungs so our bodies are in the optimum
swimming position is a matter of managing a few things;
keeping a relaxed breathing pattern, making slight changes in
our head position and adjusting how much we ‘push’ our
torso down while swimming.

5. Increasing Speed

Do you ever wonder how Olympic swimmers can power
through the water with such grace and still maintain speed,
correct technique and not be tired at the end of it?

Have you sprinted for one or two laps and been completely exhausted at
the end of it but only increased your swim speed by a marginal
amount?

There is a trick to swimming really fast which nobody knows
unless they have been told it by a coach, a fellow swimmer or
they discovered one day after a really hard training session.
Swimming fast has very little to do with how strong or how fit
you are. Swimming comes done to staying relaxed as you sprint.

6. Technique

You may have experienced the confusion of trying to focus on
correcting too many things at once. Let’s face it; there is a lot to
think about. The pull, the catch, the recovery, the rotation, the
list goes on! So what is the best way to fix most technique
errors? The answer is simple, it’s by doing swimming drills. Drills done
correctly allow you to single out an aspect of your stroke, and
work on it without being distracted by the hundreds of other
elements of your stroke.

The best way to develop a good swimming technique is from the ground
up. That means by starting out with the basics such as floating
and balance in the water and then moving on to rotation,
kicking, using the arms and finally putting it all together. There
is a sequence of drills for each stroke which allow you to
gradually develop each aspect of it.

7. The Pull Phase

The pull phase of each stroke is where many swimmers get it
wrong. Rotation may be great, their kick can be strong but a
incorrect or poor pull through can be the cause of a not so nice looking
freestyle stroke. In freestyle most amateur swimmers will either pull
across their body, pull with a straight arm, pull too wide or a
combination of each.
Watch any video of an elite swimmer and you’ll see their arm
bent at the elbow, they pull close to their body and they keep
their elbow high throughout. Think of when you pull yourself
out of the pool on the pool edge. Where are your hands and
how are your arms positioned? They should be shoulder width
apart, you bend at the elbow and your body is kept close to
them. This is where you have the most strength and is where
you should be pulling in freestyle.

I hope this video helped improve your swimming.