How to develop a strong and efficient swim stroke
Build focused mini drill sets into your swim training to develop a strong and efficient stroke
Through my time coaching I’ve found that many age-groupers don’t include enough specific technique work into their swimming programmes; they fail to understand which drills are going to have the greatest impact and why; and they end up rushing through and performing drill sets badly.
But now is the time to break your stroke down and work on specific drills that will improve your stroke efficiency and distance per stroke.
The next step is then to gradually put your improved technique under pressure by building cadence and speed, or by loading the stroke by wearing hand paddles, fins or resistance, e.g. with drag shorts, resistance parachutes, etc.
Try and focus on one element of your stroke technique at a time, targeting specific areas of weakness or inefficiency. All the drill/swim repeats in the session should be done at a controlled aerobic intensity with emphasis on quality not effort, so rest as you see fit.
The session
Warm up
- 200m easy
- 5 x sink-downs – Breathe in, relaxed exhalation as you sink to bottom
- 4 x 75m – As 25m breathing every 2 strokes left; 25m 2 strokes right; 25m every 3 strokes
Mini drill 1 – body position
- 6 x 15m – Push, glide, streamline/10m swim
- 4 x 50m – As 25m side kick with fins/25m swim
- 4 x 50m – As 25m 6-1-6 kick (6 leg kicks on one side; 1 full stroke; 6 leg kicks on other side)/25m swim
- 4 x 50m – As 25m 6-3-6 kick (as above but with 3 strokes, bilateral breathing, in between)/25m swim
Mini drill 2 – entry and catch
- 4 x 50m – As 25m scull/25m swim
- 4 x 50m – As 25m high-elbow doggy paddle/25m swim
- 4 x 50m, freestyle with hand paddles
- 4 x 50m – As 6 strokes fists only/6 strokes swim
Mini drill 3 – rhythm and propulsion
- 6 x 100m – As 6 strokes catch-up/6 strokes full-stroke swim/6 strokes build/6 strokes sprint
- 20secs rest after each rep
Cool-down
- 200m easy
Adapt for beginners
Reduce all reps from 50m to 25m, so they’re broken down as 15m drill/10m swim.
Adapt for Ironman
Your focus should be on swimming efficiency, optimising propulsion gains, while reducing drag and resistance.
Top 3 tips
Kick on your side
Side-kick drills not only develop your front crawl leg kick, but they’re also great for advancing your streamlining and help develop whole body rotation.
Challenge yourself
Don’t get stuck in a rut. Challenge yourself with progressive/advanced drill sets that have a positive impact on your stroke technique… but don’t forget to have
fun doing it!
Focus on exhalation
Breathing correctly is key to good technique. Focus on smooth, continuous breathing out underwater, and breathing in will become easier. Practise breathing to both sides.
Richard Smith
Performance coach 
