By Dan Bullock Well this opened a whole can of opinions…..! do you need to learn them to do an OW swim of course not. Like Tri Bars or a disc wheel on a bike, they could make you faster but they are not essential and any old wheel will do. Just like any old turn...

Building Endurance  Swimming is almost dull in that to swim faster you need to repeat with great accuracy the same movements repeatedly. The pathways, the same degrees, the same movements at the joints. Timing, breathing patterns, the number of leg kicks. If anything ‘fades’ in terms of no longer holding the same distance traveled with...

By Dan Bullock Technique swim tips for beginners, some Q&As How important is technique when you are learning to swim? Swim technique is harder to change later in life so the fewer mistakes made earlier when learning the more effective you will be later in your swim career. If you’ve never had swimming lessons/coaching, does...

By Dan Bullock The Others… There are many reasons for learning and developing your ability to swim the 3 other competitive strokes within your swim training. If you are well versed with the FC technique and looking for new ways to spice up your training this might help. Just like the Flip Turn article from last...

By Dan Bullock During the current fortnight you might have been asked to swim as far as possible in 10mins and record the distance. If not this week then certainly next week at the SFT fitness sessions. This is so that the coaches can nip off and refill coffee cups from next door. Along with this...

By Dan Bullock Single arm variations– At our Mile End & WF fitness sessions this week we played with the differences between the following variations on one of my favourite drills. A – breathing away from the pulling arm, as we have traditionally taught – + Easter to perform slower, keep the head still, watch the pulling ar

By Dan Bullock I had the good fortune to work with Susie Rogers last week. She often drops into the occasional London Disability Swim Club session that Michelle and I host. Post Gold in Rio Susie has announced her retirement but is still keeping fit and we have discussed wetsuits for maybe some OW swimming. It...

By Dan Bullock How they started. If you do too much of something it is well known its benefits can diminish. With swimming the accuracy of a certain movement will fade and its effect limited as we fatigue. Not just physically tire of performing the movement but also the psychological fatigue as when we engage...

By Dan Bullock Making timekeeping and length counting easy The big round thing at the end of the pool? Maybe to the side of the pool? Do you see it? Usually decorated with a blue/red bar across the middle? The bar usually moves in circles, through 360 degrees. Maybe now? Divided up into 5-sec increments around...

By Dan Bullock I was at the London Marathon Medical Seminar ahead of the big race and it was quite fascinating. A big revelation for me but it kind of makes sense if you think about it… there was research on how people while training improved performance if they smiled & frowned less. The lecturer...

By Dan Bullock  “Float like a canoe, Breathe like a dolphin,…Swim better in 10steps. What your swim coach, who means well, is not telling you or can’t tell you.” Is your  FB timeline getting clogged with the likes of these gems? mine is and some are quite enticing. My favourite comes not from a swim coach,...

By Dan Bullock I have been fortunate enough to conduct a concentrated block of submerged filming recently of nearly 40 swimmers. When this happens patterns are easier to spot and it was easy to see how few managed to set a good arm position to assist propulsion when breathing. It really is a tough one to...

“I can maintain 90secs for a 100m FC swim with a short rest over and over in the pool but am struggling to break 40mins for 1900m in Openwater (OW) What is happening?” This is a question that comes up a lot in lessons and at the lake. Considering we are not turning each 25m/50m,...

By Dan Bullock Had a client get a little upset during his lesson as we revisited an earlier part of the FC swim stroke. ‘But we did the catch a few months ago.’ Don’t be frustrated by the seemingly endless circle of swim drills! It might well seem they are never-ending but that is how it should be....

Have you ever noticed at the pool the fastest kickers tend to also be the fastest swimmers? not an exact science but next time if/when you are at the pool have a look at the people in the faster lanes. For us who coach, with multiple lanes to observe ie our London Bridge session it...

Triathlons and Your Body What happens to your body during a triathlon? Well, of course, it depends on the length of the triathlon, doesn’t it? Some sprint distance triathlons (400m swim, 20km bike and a 5km run) can take the fast boys just over an hour or so. Whereas the more extreme triathlons (an Ironman...

When you’re putting in the hours with your swimming lessons, you really want to make sure that you’re doing the things in and out of the water that is going to make the biggest impact on your technique. Learning the secrets to stroke development and upping your swim fitness in our swim coaching classes is...

We have a theme for our fitness sessions this week as race season is getting closer. Especially for those who have booked the early season 70.3s in Mallorca etc. ‘An increase in volume of metres swum while still swimming with an effective distance per stroke will be challenging but ultimately help your speed.’ Think about...

Do you have a non-wetsuit swim this Autumn/Winter, Kona even? should you factor in a swimskin from the likes of…. https://huubdesign.com/collections/swimskins http://www.wiggle.co.uk/zone3-swim-skin-suit/ https://www.blueseventy.com/products/pz4tx ?? When I went to watch Kona in 2015 everyone was in the Roka suit but they were loaning them o

Catch up is a drill. A good basic all round drill that gets utilised a lot in warm ups and general swimming since we all know about it. Sometimes when learning to swim some go too far and it becomes their swim technique. Think about it – alternating single arms. One arm at a time,...

One of our groups swam a T10 test set recently. This is where the athletes swim as far as they can in 10 mins. After the session I had some inquiries along the lines of, “why haven’t I improved?” and “how do I get faster?’ My response was, are you sure you aren’t faster? “Well,...

Good luck if you are racing this weekend, hope it goes well. Arrive early. Actually perhaps even earlier. Take your time putting a wetsuit on. Try not to work up a sweat, they get harder to put on. Flush and ensure your wetsuit is comfortable. https://www.facebook.com/SwimForTri/videos/602023729913867/ Don’t forget body glide. Read all literature

If you follow a program from a tri coach and want to follow their main sets for HR & zone purposes this might help. Often the warmups & subsets lack a little technical refinement so by all means add this simple ‘wrap’ to your main set. Just insert the following around the normal main set...

Coaches are devious creatures, engaging all sorts of tricks to get you to try a little harder, swim a little faster or further. This will be of interest whether you swim or coach and will offer an insight into the coaching mentality and the pressure created by swimming in a group. When the two of...

WRITTEN BY SAM HEWARD Sam is one of the Ultra X Co-Founders. If he’s not actually out running, chances are he’s busy writing about it (or plotting Ultra X strategy!) Over the last few years, we have seen ultra endurance races crowning female champions with increasing frequency. In 2019, there were a flurry: Jasmin Paris...

Competing in an extremely hot environment is not only physically grueling but overheating is a serious risk which needs to be planned for. Hot climates can lead to mild performance impacting problems like heat cramp or exhaustion but also more severe conditions such as heat stroke, when the bodies mechanism to control its own temperature...

Honest Swim Coaching. Why do you recommend I start my race really slowly and build into it? ‘So I beat you.’ Why should I swim with my head in the water? Is it more efficient? ‘Yes and you will scare fewer people in the other lanes.’ Can I dive in please? ‘Sure or how about...