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Breaststroke is probably the easiest stroke to learn, however, the toughest along with butterfly to learn correctly. If you look around your local swimming pool, you will see many people casually swimming breaststroke or at least something that very distantly resembles proper breaststroke. Many open water swimmers or triathletes also use breaststroke to take a break from their swim or to take a few moments to orientate themselves and sight their target (whether breaststroke is the best choice of stroke for this is another discussion ). So, one could make the assumption, there is not much to breaststroke since majority of people can perform some sort of variation of the stroke. As someone wise once said though, “the devil is in the details” and this principle can also be applied to swimming breaststroke on a higher competitive level.

Breaststroke glide – Needs a bit more work

On my masters swim team in Finland, I have one very capable breaststroker (Johanna) who is a multiple national record holder in her age category and was second in all her breaststroke events in the 2011 European Masters Championships in Yalta. Very impressive results, however, there is always room for improvement right? And furthermore, one should never stop striving to be better otherwise we’d never evolve.

Since Johanna is an advanced swimmer, she masters all the common beginner breaststroke mistakes, so we need to look at her stroke from different angles. One of the approaches is to streamline her stroke with the focus on converting all her power and energy to help her go forward by minimalizing any other movement which would cause her body to slow down in the dense water. This may seem a simple concept, but it is not as easy to achieve as one might think.

We made an underwater video of her breaststroke swim and looked at different ways (not all) to make her body glide through the water smoother. Here are just a couple of pointers which you can take away from the analysis:

1) Streamline off the wall and on the underwater pullout: It is very important to keep the body in a long tight streamline when coming off the wall or off the start. Since you have a great momentum from your push off, your speed is the fastest during this part of the swim, therefore you need to take as much of an advantage of this as possible by making sure your body is as smooth as an arrow. (btw, this does not pertain to only breaststroke). After the initial streamlined glide, you will need to do the underwater pull with a breakout which consists of one double arm pull, one double leg kick and another double arm pull to get you swimming at the surface. Even if your off the wall streamline is as smooth as a javelin, a lot can go wrong during this arm pull and leg kick sequence. Any movement of your arms and legs which deviates from your body line or goes against the direction you are going in is a hindrance, so eliminating as much of any unnecessary big movements is a key.

a) On your initial arm pull, make sure to pull water backwards and not lift your body one or two steps up in the water column. Very common mistake indeed. Many swimmers, are very excited and try to make the initial underwater pull as large as possible not realizing that while doing so, their entire body is bending under the exerted arm pressure and instead of going smoothly forward, they travel upwards in a very abrupt jump. This first breaststroke pull is nothing else then anchoring your arms in the early vertical forearm stage and moving your body around those anchors forward. It cannot be rushed otherwise you will miss out on finding the proper initial catch. Hint: after you finished your catch and are gliding through the water in head first position, try shrugging your shoulders, you will be amazed at the effect:).

b) After you pulled and glided for a bit, you need to move the arms back forward (also called the recovery). We usually do not pay much attention to this, however, during the recovery your elbows can easily come high above your back and your hands far away from your body thus causing a disruption in your body line. Keep your arms and elbows as close to your body and chest as possible, so you minimize the drag and finish in an extended streamlined position again.

c) The breaststroke kick that comes after the recovery can also cause you to slow down. (this does not only pertain to underwater breaststroke, but to breaststroke as a whole). If you think about it, when you are loading your legs by bringing them closer to your body, the motion is against the direction where you are going. So ideally, the kick will be quite narrow staying within the constrains of the hole our body already made through the water. Obviously this is impossible as we have to bend the legs, but we can get very close. First, do not bring your knees forward, keep them back and think of it more as bringing your heels to your butt (practicing breaststroke kick on your back while keeping your knees under water is very good drill for this). Second, when you do the actual kick, do not concentrate on pressing out with your legs, but push the water backwards as if there was an imaginary wall and you are using your outer rotated ankles and shins to push off of it. Finally, don’t forget to squeeze your legs together. Use those butt cheeks and inner thighs at the end of every one of your kicks to squeeze the soles of your feet together at the end of the kick. This will make sure your body is nicely streamlined during the glide phase of breaststroke. Word of caution here though, this squeezing part of the stroke, as simple as it sounds, is actually quite tiring on your body and on your mind, so introduce it into your stroke gradually. Perhaps, you can utilize this techniqe every other lap and see how you get on, before you add it to your stroke permanently. Just a reminder, don’t forget the dolphin kick at the end of the breaststroke kick in the pullout phase.

Inch your way to breaststroke success by just_a_name_thingie

2) Horizontal body line is another aspect of how swimming breaststroke can go all wrong. If you look under water at majority of people who swim breaststroke, I bet you’d see an up and down motion at the beginning of their stroke. During the arm recovery, hands are shot out forward and downward which causes the entire body to follow down into the water only to later angle up to start the breaststroke pull closer to the surface again. This wave at the beginning of the stroke causes a bit of resistance as oppose to just shooting arms forward and keeping them at the same water level without going down and up again. Many coaches compare breaststroke to butterfly and teach it in a similar fashion, however, I am not convinced this is as good of an idea as it sounds, exactly for this reason. When we tell a swimmer that the breaststroke motion is like the butterfly motion which in turn is very wavy (at least from the sternum down), it brings up the idea in the swimmer’s head that he/she should move the body as in butterfly which is one cause of the initial arm dip after recovery. A more accurate way to swim breaststroke would be to compare it to an inch worm movement, where the front legs and back legs are in the same horizontal plane and only get closer or further apart from each other as the worm inches forward. There is no up and down motion of the front body anywhere.

Johanna, the masters swimmer I mentioned at the beginning of this breaststroke streamlining post, has been working very hard to optimise her stroke in the last few months, so it will be very interesting to watch, what the little tiny improvements she has made to her stroke will do to her swims at the 2012 World Masters Championships in Riccione. So far, it has been quite exciting as she has been breaking one record after another to cause any disturbance in forward motion.

The above pointers are quite advanced when it comes to learning the correct breaststroke technique as they are tedious details, however, no matter what your breaststroke skill level is, you can take away the fact that swimming is not as simple sport as one might thing. The truth is actually the opposite, since water is so much denser than air to optimise a swimming movement, one must really pay attention to everything a body does, be it better streamline or less up and down motion etc. So if you are frustrated with your swimming skill level, don’t worry, even the top swimmers in the world are battling little tiny details. So, be patient, mindful, and go out there and optimise your breaststroke .

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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Should I eat those smiley gummy bears lurking at me from the cupboard? One more piece of chocolate before I give it back. I’ll just even out this corner of the ice cream box and then stick it back to freezer. I know we have all been there . The temptation is everywhere and the media bombardment with delicious looking advertisements do not offer much help. However, eating something in your regular daily life is totally something else than creating a diet in order to give your body maximum chance to perform at its best. In this post, Marina will give us more insights on what it means to have a swimmer’s diet.

Eat more sweet potatoes

This is a guest post by Marina Salsbury who planned on becoming a teacher since high school, but found her way instead into online writing after college. She writes around the web about everything from education to exercise.

Enter Marina:


Swimming is an excellent form of exercise, not only providing huge improvements in cardiovascular fitness but also developing muscle strength. In addition, swimming is easy on the joints, making it ideal for anyone with aches or injuries that other sports like running simply exacerbate. For those who consider themselves to be swimmers, a healthy swimmer’s diet is an important part of feeding the muscles, having enough glycogen for workouts each day and adequate protein for recovery. Medical transcription services are beginning to be used in sports-related injuries, and as a result medical experts are becoming more understanding of the rigors of sports injuries. This guide introduces readers to the typical recommended diet for swimmers, as well as how to calculate calories required to perform as peak potential. It will also outline what foods and drinks are necessary leading up to and immediately following an important swim practice or swim meet.

What should your daily diet consist of?

During a typical week, swimmers should focus on their carbohydrate consumption. Carbohydrates are the main sources of energy that will be used during exercise. However, it is important not to think that focusing on carbohydrates means eating processed foods like cookies or chips. Instead, focus on healthier, wholesome foods like rice, whole wheat breads, fruits and sweet potatoes. Avoid high-fat and high-sugar foods that provide only empty calories and no nutrition. Having a small dose of these high-sugar foods will give you a temporary burst of energy, but the energy that comes will only result in a crash later in the day.

Pasta me up baby

Determining how many calories to consume?

In order to determine how many calories you’ll need to consume daily, consider wearing a waterproof heart rate monitor during a typical week of swim training. This will help you see exactly how many calories your body burns in a week, which will need to be added to the maintenance calories you already consume. You should be consuming enough calories to provide you with adequate energy for swim workouts, but not so much that you are gaining weight while training.

What to eat BEFORE a swim meet or an open water/triathlon race?

The days and hours leading up to an important swim event are the perfect time for you to load your body with sufficient food to perform your best. Swimmers should ramp up their carbohydrate consumption in the days prior to a major event, but when doing so being careful not to over consume calories. Simply replace some of the typical fats or proteins you eat with high-carbohydrate items instead. Avoid trying any new foods or liquids, and focus on plain, typical foods that the body agrees with. Eat 3 hours prior to the swim meet, topping up your glycogen stores with pure carbohydrates just prior to the event.

What to eat AFTER swim meet or an open water/triathlon race?

After a strenuous swim event, it is important to refuel with food immediately. Some swimmers don’t feel hungry right after exercising, but it is important to consume some calories within 30 minutes of the swim meet. There is a small window of opportunity where protein and carbohydrates can do the most good to replenish and restore muscles for a faster recovery, so take advantage of this and drink chocolate milk or eat a protein bar for quick nutrition.

By understanding what to eat during a typical week, it is possible to get more from your swimming and dryland workouts. With the right nutrition before and after your swim races, you give your body best shot on having a great race.

Note from Swimator Blog: I am no nutritionist, and am true believer of eating what you are hungry for, however, I’ve had my fair share of good and bad eating and swimming experiences, so I do know thing or two about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to swimming. One anecdote that I find the most interesting would relate to the carbohydrate rich diet before swimming competition. Long time ago, when I still lived in the Czech Republic, I was in Viareggio, Italy at a Carnevale swim meet. We were there a few days and every day for lunch and dinner we had exactly the same pasta (baked Ziti I believe). As a young kid, I hate it to eat the same thing every day, however, that meet was one of the best ones in my life. I broke all my records and I felt like my swimming was out of this world. You also have to realize we drove down to Italy, so it was like 24hrs in a small car, no great picnic to be competing after . Magic authentic Italian al dente pasta .

Get more tips to improve your swimming by joining our growing Swimator Facebook community or following us on Twitter @360swim. If you are on the go, you can get your swimming tips by subscribing on your tablet (iPad) or phone.

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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After a short break, we are back with some highlights from the Swimator Blog archives for 2011. What swimming tips did you find the most interesting in 2011? That is the question. Below is a short list of the top 10 Swimator Blog swimming tips:

Libor from Swimator Blog in action

1) As traditionally, our novice and beginner swimmers are taking over with the two part beginner tips series on floating and standing up from floating tips and on relaxation and elementary body position tips.

2) Many visitors also wanted to know more about the proper body position in swimming and how to be more efficient in the water. Without mastering this concept, you might as well swim against the current.

3) Swimming faster is an elusive reality for many swimmers, so no wonder everyone wants to know how to do it. However, swimming faster is about stroke technique improvements, not being a yard/meter junkie, so be patient and master the basics first and always come back to them.

4) Among the popular topics on Swimator Blog is also a brief freestyle video analysis. One step in the learning to swim process is the ability to recognize issues in someone else’s stroke, so knowing how to pick out the top freestyle stroke flaws brings you one step closer to your swimming success.

5) Getting water up the nose is an ongoing problem for many swimmers. Some swimmers master it from the start without even thinking about it, for some it is an unbeatable challenge. The two part series on how to stop water from entering your nose teaches you about the connection between the mouth and nose and how to close it and the more advanced human nose clip technique. Say no to choking on water .

6) Ahh, the legs and the kick. This continues to be a pitfall for many triathletes and beginner swimmers. You should learn what to do with your body when your legs sink and how to improve your kick with special kicking workouts.

Open water and triathlon swimming tips

7) Swimator Blog has also avid breaststroke enthusiasts who are keen to learn more about the complex breaststroke arm movements, to conquer the even more difficult breaststroke kick and to recognize the top breaststroke flaws.

Finally, many swimmers and coaches are starting to focus more on the “if this than that” approach, than just blindly swimming laps. Swimator Blog’s article on the effect of streamlining and better technique on the drag forces is also among the top 10, so that is exciting.

9) Along the same thinking as above, knowing what your freestyle swimming type is can help you determine what drills and workouts are the most beneficial for you. Do you know which freestyle type you are?

10) Not everyone is as comfortable in water as the most of us. And it appears it is actually more people than we might think, so no wonder that our novice swimmers or concerned parents found the “what should I do when I am drowning” article useful.

Bonus: To improve your swimming even more, join our 360swim Facebook or Twitter @360swim communities where we have daily posts of useful swimming tips, swimming advice, swimming trivia, swim workouts and many more.

There you have it. The most popular swimming tips from Swimator Blog for 2011. Happy belated New Year to everyone and don’t be afraid of 2012, for what we know, the end of the world prediction was just a clerical error .

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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If you are after some challenging yet exciting New Year resolutions, why not set your goals a bit higher this year and attempt to properly train for and then undergo an extreme swimming event. I stress one more time the “train” part of the resolution as taking part in extreme swimming events without proper training is just plain reckless and could lead to serious injuries as we saw with David Walliams’ Thames swim charity event. However, don’t let this put you off. If you train a correct and smart way, your venture into the world of extremes should be an exciting one.

Polar Bear Swimming by farlane

This is a guest post by Jenna, a journalism student at Saint Louis University. Upon graduation, she hopes to travel the world while producing compelling content for the masses. When she isn’t writing, you can find Jenna with her nose in a book, or her headphones in to block out the rest of the world.

Extreme Swimming Events

As swimmers, we like to challenge ourselves to go a little bit further or a little bit faster every time we hop into the water. While at times, we do enjoy a leisurely swim or snorkel, there are also times when we feel as though pushing ourselves to our outermost abilities is a must. For those swimmers who are looking for a way to spice up their swimming, here are a few challenges that just may be right up their alley:

Note: While entertaining, we don’t necessarily recommend that all swimmers, even those with advanced skills attempt any of the following without proper training and preparation:

Swimming the English Channel (La Manche)

If you are looking for a challenge, then by all means try to swim the English Channel. The swim is a 21 mile swim in cold water with strong currents which are bound to move you over and double your distance. The best days for swimming the Channel are in the summer, but even then the water is only 60 degrees, and those that keep records of the swim only certify swimmers that do not wear wetsuits. On top of combating strong currents and chilly waters, swimmers will also have to keep an eye out for boats and jellyfish – neither of which are too fun to encounter.

English Channel Swimming Association

However, there are people certified to help you out if you so choose to cross the Channel. Certified pilots will help you stay on course and help you avoid jelly fish and boats so that you can experience the safest and most efficient swim. They will also give you food and water, and help you if you should run into an emergency situation. Either way, you will be in for one heck of a swim. Swimming the Channel is by no means an easy feat. In fact, more people have climbed Everest than swam the La Manche.

Polar Bear Plunge

If you live somewhere that gets cold in the winter, or is just near a body of water that stays pretty chilly all year long, then you have probably heard of the Polar Bear Plunge. These events are usually held on or around New Year’s day and require swimmers to strip down to their swimsuits in chilly temps to jump into frigid waters. While this may not be a great swimming challenge, it is definitely a water challenge in and of itself that will be sure to shock your system. The largest plunge in the U.S., called Plungapalooza, is held in Maryland at the Sandy Point State Park every year.

While many Polar Bear Plunge veterans claim that the event cleanses them and boosts their mood, many doctors forewarn plungers of the dangers of jumping in to ice cold water because of the shock it can have on the body. (Note from Swimator Blog: It is much better to take it nice and slow when getting in and make sure to do some test runs before the actual event, so your body gets slowly used to the extreme temperatures).

Swimming the Cook Strait

Although not as long as the English Channel, swimming Cook Strait in New Zealand is just as daunting. This 19 mile swim is between the North and South island of New Zealand in waters that are teeming with marine life, and is considered one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the world. In addition to giant squid, Cook Strait is home to numerous species of dolphins, fur seals, and whales, including Orcas. However, it isn’t the marine life that you have to worry about.

Cook Strait extreme swimming conditions

The Strait often has strong winds, large swells, and rough waters, and it is also right in the path of the roaring forties. The Strait also has strong currents which are often undetectable due to lack of tidal height change. Only 65 people have successful swam the Cook Strait, so you can imagine it is not for the faint-hearted.

So if you are in shape, undergone the proper training and looking for a challenge, consider one of the aforementioned. A few other honorable mentions include Catalina Channel and the swim around Manhattan Island. You could even attempt the Triple Crown of Open Water if you feel up to it.

From Swimator Blog: There are literally thousands of opportunities out there to get your extreme swimming bug out of your system. The above mentioned events are just a few of the most challenging examples. However, I will stress it one more time. If you are thinking about taking part in any of the plentiful extreme swimming events around the world, please do make sure you have a proper training plan starting many months prior to the event. As with marathons in running, swimming in extreme conditions in open water is becoming more accessible and more interesting for swimmers from all over the world, however, it could cause serious injuries if not taken seriously. So, don’t be foolish, get your swimming technique sorted, then build up some endurance and rough/cold water conditions tolerance before becoming an extreme swimming junkie . All the best to the New Year, may all swimming dreams and attempts come true.

Get more tips to improve your swimming by joining our growing Swimator Facebook community or following us on Twitter @360swim.

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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Since I am on the topic of breathing while swimming, let me explain, what seems as an obvious procedure, how to breathe through the swimmer’s snorkel. Before we get to that, perhaps a bit of an introduction of what the swimmer’s snorkel is and how it can help you improve your swimming technique.

Swimmer’s Snorkel – #1 swim gear

Contrary to a common belief, the centrally mounted snorkel is actually not a modern invention. The first documented record of a front mount snorkel as an aid to swimming can be traced back to 1860s. Wow, how impressive is that? And today 99.99% of swimmers thing how hip and cool they are swimming with the newest gadgets . Funny, how most of us associate things with the first experience we have.

Well, anyway, so what is swimmer’s snorkel. As the name indicates the front mount snorkel attaches to the front of the head instead of the side as regular scuba or snorkelling snorkel equipment. It also has a more of a streamlined shape where the tip bends towards the back of the head and the snorkel body is flatter instead of round. And finally, it attaches to the head with a strap and not clumsily to a scuba mask (I opted into not wearing my snorkel when I scuba dive as it always just gets in the way).

Front mount snorkel is designed to help swimmer’s technique and the snorkel can do this in several ways. First, when swimming with the center mount snorkel, the swimmer does not have to worry about breathing, therefore has one less thing to worry about and can bring undivided attention to some other part of the stroke such as body roll, early vertical forearm or healthy kick. Second, the snorkel serves as a sensory cue to keep ones head down while swimming. The swimmer can use the snorkel as a reminder to look at the bottom. Third, it is just plain fun to swim with a snorkel and it breaks up the monotony. Fourth, a swimmer can also use the center mount snorkel to help with chicken peck breaststroke problem by attaching the snorkel upside down and in the back along the spine. Fifth, using the front mount snorkel can help strengthen your lungs and here we come to the whole idea of this article.

So how do you breathe with the front mount snorkel you may ask? There are two basic ways. Obviously the intake of air has to go through the snorkel pipe, so I will not discuss that. However, the variation comes in when we talk about exhalation (getting rid off your air or blowing the air out of your lungs).

Exhaling through your nose

First method is to utilize your nose to blow the air out before the next inhale. This method makes sure that you are not sending breathed out air back into the snorkel pipe, so your pipe air is nicely rich with oxygen at all times. As we all know, when we exhale, our breath contains much higher concentration carbon dioxide than during the inhalation process, so by exhaling into the water we are getting rid off it there instead of the pipe. Furthermore, by exhaling through your nose, you actually get rid off the air quicker since you cannot control the amount of air coming out of your nose as you can with your mouth. However, this is not necessarily an advantage at first as it takes some time to get used to the fact that you inhale and exhale through different parts of your face. So, until you get used to it, you might feel like you get rid off all your air and then need to very quickly inhale. Also, don’t forget that you still need to purge the water from the snorkel via your mouth when you push off the wall or if you get water in your snorkel at any time of your swim.

Exhaling through your mouth

The second method uses only the mouth to exhale, so the excess CO2 gets sent back into the pipe, it mixes with the fresh air and then it is inhaled as mixture back into the lungs. You may be wondering, why in the hell would I want to breathe out into the pipe through my mouth, that doesn’t make any sense. I want oxygen, you told me so in the bilateral breathing article, don’t I? Yes, you are correct, however, as anything in training, we always strive to improve something about what we do, be it perfecting your technique, strengthening your kick or improving your lung performance. And this is where the swimmer’s snorkel also comes into place. Since you inhale and exhale through your mouth into one single plastic pipe, the air that you subsequently inhale has less oxygen and more carbon dioxide than normal fresh air. This in turn makes it over time a bit more difficult to breathe and you need to really focus on properly purging the air out as well as your stroke. Think of it in similar terms as in hypoxic breathing swimming sets where you’d breathe every 3rd stroke, every 5th stroke and every 7th stroke for a certain distance (25,50,100 or more if you are advanced).

There is one handy piece of additional attachment which can be placed on top of the snorkel tube and the sole purpose of this gadget is to restrict the flow of air into the tube. It is called the Cardio Cap. While using the Cardio Cap your lungs have to work even harder to get the appropriate oxygen intake. In a way, it is like swimming in an altitude where the air is a bit thinner. So, you can be in Colorado or apparently now even in Australia, even if you are at your local swimming joint. If you are not into buying gadget and you’d rather try this in some other way, you can always stick your tongue into the tube during the inhalation process which makes the inhalation a bit harder as you are restricting the intake flow.

Dry Top – keeps water away

So what is the key take away from all this breathing through swimmer’s snorkel stuff? It is simple, there is no right and wrong here. If you use the snorkel to improve some part of your stroke and do not want to worry about getting into an oxygen debt, then breathe out through your nose (if you can master this technique). If you are a bit more advanced and can do many things at ones or if breathing out through your nose causes you some issues, then why not purge your excess air out through the pipe to make you work a bit harder. Ideally, you’d be able to switch your breathing type and pattern on the fly, so either of these is possible, but this comes with time and practice as everything else in the complex world of swimming motions . For example, I’ve been always using only my mouth to breathe in and out of the snorkel. If I switch to the nose exhalation, I get a bit confused and constantly have to think about breathing through my nose, so in theory it actually defeats the purpose of the snorkel as I cannot concentrate on something else. Of course, if I were to practice the nose breathing technique, after while it would be like second nature to me and I could enjoy my technique work in more comfort.

If you really struggle with using the center mount snorkel, perhaps the issue is that you are afraid of getting water into the tube and choking on it. In that case, you should check out the Dry Top attachment. The Dry Top is a small, yet sophisticated device which attaches to the top of the snorkel and prevents any water seeping into the tube while you are swimming. So, leave your worry behind and get snorkeling .

Get more tips to improve your swimming by joining our growing Swimator Facebook community or following us on Twitter @360swim.

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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If you are still on a hunt for the one perfect Christmas swimming gift for your loved ones or even for yourself, don’t look any further. Let me highlight a few swim items which I think would make a perfect gift for a swimmer.

Gifts for swimmers of all abilities

Firstly, I apologize to those swimmers who do not celebrate Christmas, but this swim gift list does not have to be only for this holiday occassion, so feel free to get ideas for your holiday or for any other celebration such as birthday or nameday. Or sometimes giving a swim gift, just because it is a nice thing to do, can go a long ways.

Personally, I am not a big fan of useless gifts which one does not need or which are for decorative purposes. If I give a Christmas gift, then it has to be a true useful item which the person will get to utilize in their live. I know, I know, this ideology does not work well with many as it should be the idea of a gift that counts and not the gift itself. But I still have hard time giving something that I know the other person will not use. With that in mind, same ideaology can be applied to swimming gifts. Some swim items are not very useful, even though they might be cool looking, on the other hand, some swim items make swimmer’s journey to a good swimming technique much easier. With further ado, here are the top 2011 gifts for swimmers:

Swim Gift #1: Swimmer’s snorkel to get your mind focused without the breathing distraction. Whether you want to work on your rhythm or your above water recovery using the Swimmer’s snorkel will keep you distraction free.

Swim Gift #2: TechPaddles or Antipaddles to get that forearm feeling the water and improving your stroke efficiency with the high elbow catch also called the early vertical forearm.

Swim Gift #3: Zoomers Gold or shinfing leg fins to stop your legs from sinking to the bottom, to teach you the right way to kick and to strengthen the right kicking muscles.

Swim Gift #4: SafeSwimmer Float or Aquaspotter for your open water safety. If you are in the triathlon or open water group, safety is the number one concern when you are out there without any swimming lanes or swimming pool walls. So do not take it for granted.

SwimSense Performance Monitor

Swim Gift #5: Wetronome or the Finis Tempo Trainer to find your perfect stroke rhythm and to keep you going like the Duracell bunny.

Swim Gift #6: Subscription to goswimtv.com or the Clean Up Your Stroke DVD set to be better equipped with the right knowledge from the best in the swimming business.

Swim Gift #7: SwimSense or Swimovate Pool Mate performance monitoring watch gadgets to give you even more to think about when you swim . These swim gadgets are really only for the advanced group who need to keep track of their swimming with online training logs, analyze their stroke counts and pace. However, they do add a bit of a motivation to your swimming which is always useful.

Bonus Swim Gift: last but not least you can recommend Swimator Blog to all the enthusiastic swimmers on your list to give them the gift of knowledge , so their swimming improvements come in leaps and not in strides.

There you have it, the best Christmas gift ideas for swimmers as I see them. I just concentrated on swimming technique related gifts, so have omitted some obvious swim items such as swimming Ts with different slogans, customized swimming caps or just plain ol’ swim suits.

Get more tips to improve your swimming by joining our growing Swimator Facebook community or following us on Twitter @360swim.

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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Learning to float can be a daunting tasks for many novice swimmers. If you are just starting out or tried it out before and got discouraged because you couldn’t get passed the floating stage, perhaps the following piece of advice will help you to get over the initial learning curve.

Keeping your arms at the surface or out of the water causes your butt and legs to sink

Whatever the reason may be, whether you are afraid of falling due to the weightlessness feeling in the water or you are afraid of hitting your head on the bottom of the pool or just the thought of tipping over to your back scares you, without learning to float you cannot continue and enjoy swimming. Learning to float is an absolute necessity in a good learn to swim program, so do not try to skip this step. The more time you spend on learning to float and the better you will get at this will determine your next progress.

From my previous head and body position posts, you already know that your eyes need to be pointing towards the bottom of the pool and you need to stretch your body into a nice straight line at the surface of the water. However, as simple as this sounds, it is still very difficult for many to get to the relaxed long position. So let me give you a few tips which will ease your transition from standing up to floating, thus setting you up for success.

1) Eliminate any unnecessary movement

How you start your exercise determines in many cases how well you can do the exercise, so let’s focus on what to do with your body before you actually get into the floating position. The main point here is that you need to be flush with the water and ease yourself into the float instead of starting your float from high up and falling into it. Imagine the following, take a tennis ball and drop it into the swimming pool while standing on a chair on the side of the pool. Chances are the tennis ball, driven by gravity, will hit the water and get submerged and then pop back up to surface and then again gets submerged a little less and pop back up to surface. The tennis ball will do this few times until it reaches a calm floating state. Now, instead of dropping the ball from the standing on a chair position, bend down to the pool’s edge and nicely place the tennis ball onto the water. Because you were gentle, there is no bopping in and out of the water, the tennis ball just nicely floats without any distractions. Similar concept applies to anything you do in swimming, especially when you are just starting out to learn to float. If you start too high, you will more than likely be sinking and coming back to surface and sinking again, so it is important to eliminate this extra movements from the start. So, next time you are practicing your floats, assuming you are in a shallower water where you can stand up, squat down (bend your knees), so your shoulders are flush with the water. I don’t mean, bending forward, just get yourself lower into the water, so your distance from the surface of the water is smaller (like with the tennis ball). The only thing that is sticking out of the water is your head. Your body is still vertical, just lower in the water due to your knee bend.

Keep those hands under water.

2) Start below the water

When you are nicely submerged up to your neck in the water, you are basically in a good position to get started. When you first learn to float, you should have your arms extended forward (no elbows bending here please ), so you add more weight to the front of your body which in turn will make it easier for your legs to float. However, this is where many novices run into trouble as they try to stretch very tensely with their arms forward like they’d be reaching for apples. This causes their body to be rigid and more importantly their arms stick out of the water when they float. So, extend your arms forward and relax them. You can pretend there is a ledge 1/2 foot (~15cm) below the water and you want to rest your palms on that ledge. Let the water support the arms and relax your neck and shoulders. At no point in time should your fingers or hands break the surface of the water, otherwise, you will start slowly sinking.

3) Get into the position before you start

Let’s recap, you are close to the surface with your shoulders below the water, your arms are extended forward, yet relaxed and they are below the surface of the water. The only thing that remains is to take a breath, put your face in the water, so your eyes are looking at the bottom of the pool and your entire head is below the water. At this stage you are ready to give yourself a little gentle push from the bottom of the pool or from the side of the pool and you can float. Note: if you want to blow bubbles, feel free to do so, but I’d suggest to try both variations, with blowing bubbles and without as some folks do not float very well and when they start blowing bubbles, they are getting rid off their floating ability even more . However, don’t be afraid, most of you will float very well as your lungs will keep you at the surface.

Applying downward pressure on the arms and upper body.

As mentioned above, the major issue here is that your arms should never ever break the surface of the water as it is with majority of novices which try to float. Another way to think about it is that your arms and your body do not actually form a true straight line, you are pushing your arms a bit down when you float. This is very bad analogy in terms of our history, but it could work in this sense. Do you remember Hitler’s straight arm greeting which was used by Nazis during WWII? If so, then just move the arm from that position another foot (~30cm) up towards the sky and you will have the right position for your arms. Maybe a bit less gloomy analogy is to pretend you are laying on your stomach on a bench (as if you are floating). The bench is about a 1/2 foot (~15cm) high off the ground. Your chin is right at the edge of the bench, eyes looking down and your arms are extended forward and your fingers/palms are touching the ground somewhere in front of the bench as opposed to being a straight line extensions of the bench itself.

Have fun with it and remember, patience and gentle movements are very important when learning to float. You can get more tips to improve your swimming by joining our growing Swimator Facebook community or following us on Twitter @360swim.

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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What is the first thing you say to a little girl when you meet her, when your friend’s daughter comes over to play, when you see her at church or at a restaurant?

GaGa Sisterhood

Everyone has seen those lists of Ten Hot Toys that run this time of year. My recommendation–ignore them! These qualities of a good toy will help you create your own list.

GaGa Sisterhood

That got your attention didn’t it? Well, now that you are here, let me reveal the well guarded secret how you can get your own Fastskin3 from Speedo totally free.

Fastskin3 Swimmer Models (sponsorship=slavery)

What is Fastskin3?

It is a supposedly revolutionary swimming equipment composed from 3 parts of swim gear: swimming cap, goggles and a jammer suit for men and shorty suit for women. Not much innovation there in terms of type of equipment, is it? However, the main idea here is that by wearing the Fastskin3 equipment you eliminate or streamline certain contours of your body to make yourself more efficient in the water, therefore become faster swimmers. Sounds good so far?

Well, don’t go celebrating an efficient swimming stroke just yet . I have nothing against Speedo and am a great fan of people who try to promote swimming or bring swimming to the next level, which obviously Speedo’s Fastskin3 racing system is doing, however, I just can’t help and be critical in response to the video Speedo put out as an introduction to the Fastskin3 swim wear. It just seems that swimming is becoming more about technology than about the swimmer him/herself which makes the sport exciting (at least for me). However, who can argue with our society if this is what it takes to keeps people interested in the sport. Without interest, any sport is as good as dead, so introducing a new technology is unfortunately a necessity in today’s world.

If I watch and listen to the Fastskin3 video (watch it below), I can’t help but wonder what the hell they are talking about half the time. Perhaps this was their marketing approach to provide a video full of terms 99% of people on the planet do not understand and confuse trustworthy swimmers into thinking that by purchasing the Fastskin3 equipment they will become faster. Sure, we can’t stop technology from entering our daily lives and we definitely cannot stop progress as that is a natural way of things. However, we can still wonder and question it can’t we? Let’s breakdown the Fastskin3 swim gear and see what we can get out of it for free.

Fastskin3 Swimming Cap

Speedo indicates that the swimming cap was designed with 3d global head scan. Hmm, unless they are going to custom scan everyone’s head, how does that help you, since everyone’s head and neck are different. They also indicate that the cap features IQ fit profile. I can’t even begin to understand what that is. Does that mean if you have certain IQ it works better for you? And don’t even get me started on the Speedo hair management system which goes below the cap. It totally resembles a very old school Lycra swimming cap, nothing more and nothing less. However, I can see how it helps to keep your hair out of the way and smooths out the contours of the head. Finally, the Fastskin3 cap is designed to fill the curve in the shape of your neck, to make the back of your neck more streamlined. From the video, I fail to see this feature, but let’s take their word for it.

So, how can you get the Fastskin3 swimming cap for free? Well, the cap helps to streamline your body, so let’s focus on how you can achieve the same result with your head without a cap. No matter what slick and fancy bleeding edge swimming cap material you have on your head, you will not swim faster unless you fix up your head position. I discussed the high head position problem on this blog on many occasions, so next time you are working on your head position with nice and tall body line and flat neck, just imagine you have the Fastskin3 cap on your head and perhaps this visualization will help you get the right streamline effect. So in a way you will use the new Fastskin3 cap technology to your benefit without actually spending a dime. If you really would like to get even closer to the Fastskin3 streamline efficiency, you can opt into wearing two swimming caps. One latex and another silicone over top of it. Beware though, this will increase your head’s buoyancy a little, so you will have to push your head down with a bit more effort, so get used to it before you race in it.

Fastskin3 Goggles

The goggles just look plain bizarre for my taste, but let’s say we give them a futuristic chance. Again and IQ fit type of stuff with 3D seal. Can you imagine something else than 3D seal? How would a 2D seal work? . The Fastskin3 goggles are advertised to improve contours of swimmers head. Ok, I can see how that would make some very small efficiency difference if the goggles were smoother, but then again, everyone’s eye socket sizes are different, so not one size fits all solution here I am afraid. The next thing is the advertised hydroscopic lense with 180 degree field of vision. First, humans don’t even have 180 degree field of vision and I am not so sure how something like that would help you in the swimming pool anyway. I’ve never heard anybody complain about needing more field of vision in the pool. In open water swimming, there it is a bit of different story and that is why those full goggle masks are quite popular. Speedo also says the Fastskin3 goggles have secure and confident fit. I say, any goggles have secure and confident fit if they are under a swimming cap, they match the swimmer’s face and the swimmer feels good about them.

Put goggle strap under your swimming cap

So, how can you get the Fastskin3 goggles for free? Well, make sure you buy goggles which are comfortable and not too large on your face. When wearing a swimming cap, put the goggle strap under the cap, so they are more secure. Then if you can, move the edges of your cap over the goggles, so the goggles and the cap create more of a smoother contour. That said, however, no goggles will make you swim faster if you do not fix your stroke. So instead of buying the newest of the newest swim goggles, why not concentrating on improving your head position during breathing. Keep your head low, make sure you blow out bubbles before you breathe, so your breath is brisk and try to maintain one goggle in/one goggle out of the water position. Another way to describe it, if you breathe during freestyle, push the top of the head into the water, so it will feel like you are swimming down the hill. This is an unusual feeling that many of use need to get used to before it becomes natural. The SwimSmooth guys explain it very well in their Clean Up your Stroke DVD set.

Fastskin3 Suit

Speedo is definitely onto something when they say their Fastskin3 suit is a network of bonded seems and panels. In fact, majority of newer swimming suits are just that. The Speedo Fastskin3 suit is uniquely zoned and graduated body compression system, it offers precision support and greater stability in the water. Ok, now this makes sense, the more you compress your body the more streamlined you will be in the water, right? However, what is precision support and how can you get greater stability with a swimming suit in the water? What you will get is your butt and thighs not flopping around while you swim, thus reducing a bit of a drag, which is a good thing of course, but unless it is a flotation device you will not get any extra support nor will you feel more stable. And we all know what happened to the full body suits, last time swimming companies tried to change the swimming rules. Speedo also claims that the suit enhances the speed of starts and turns which I actually believe, as your body is in the highest speed during the start or turn activity and it is fully submerged under water, so any small extra wiggle will slow you down.

So, how can you get the Fastskin3 suit for free? How about improving your core body muscle strength in order to be able to hold better streamlined position when your feet and arms are forcing your body in all the directions. Also, what about not swimming on your stomach during freestyle, but practice a proper body roll, so your body glides better. Finally, improving your freestyle kick efficiency by making sure your kick is small and compact as if you were kicking in a bucket and paying close attention to what your legs do when you take a breath. Do they go into scissor like motion? If it is a yes, then just keeping your feet in line with your body instead of doing a scissor kick trumps any drag reduction by utilizing a Fastskin3 suit or any suit as a matter of fact.

Speedo is a pioneer, but not for everyone

I don’t doubt that Speedo has done a great job on their research when producing the Fastskin3 cap, Fastskin3 goggles and the Fastskin3 suit and the claimed 16.6 passive drag reduction, 11% improved oxygen economy, 5.2% active drag reduction is probably true. However, this only applies to the top of the crop Olympic swimmers such as Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps, Jessica Hardy, Rebecca Soni, Ian Thorpe or Sun Yang. It is not an accident they mention the following sentence “the world’s fastest racing system combined with the world’s fastest swimmers”. Without the world’s fastest swimmers, it is just another ordinary cap, goggle and suit combination, so don’t be fooled by marketing and swim smarter instead of more expensive. On the other hand their marketing probably works well since I spend the time writing this article .

Get more tips to improve your swimming by joining our growing Swimator Facebook community or following us on Twitter @360swim.

See more swimming related articles at blog.swimator.com. If you happen to have a site or a blog of your own, please consider placing a link to blog.swimator.com.

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